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Learn moreA hitchhiker stumbles to his knees on the side of a dark road. Private detective Lew Archer stops his car. When he gets to the young man, Archer realizes that he has stumbled into a mess—for the hitchhiker is dying of a gunshot wound.
In a matter of hours, Archer is suspected by the law, hired by a target-shooting trucking magnate, and propositioned by an adulterer’s wife. A hijacked truck full of liquor and an evidence box full of marijuana, $20,000 from a big-time bank heist by a small-time crook, corruption, adultery, incest, prodigal daughters and abused wives, and a band of sinners on the loose in the hills—all make the little town of Las Cruces seem a lot more interesting than noted in the guide book. As the murder rate rises, Archer finds himself caught up in a mystery in which everyone is a suspect and everyone a victim.
Ross Macdonald (1915–1983) was the pen name of Kenneth Millar. For over twenty years he lived in Santa Barbara and wrote mystery novels about the fascinating and changing society of his native state. He is widely credited with elevating the detective novel to the level of literature with his compactly written tales of murder and despair. His works have received awards from the Mystery Writers of America and of Great Britain, and his book The Moving Target was made into the movie Harper in 1966. In 1982 he was awarded the Eye Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Private Eye Writers of America.
Grover Gardner is an award-winning narrator with over a thousand titles to his credit. Named one of the “Best Voices of the Century” and a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, he has won three prestigious Audie Awards, was chosen Narrator of the Year for 2005 by Publishers Weekly, and has earned more than thirty Earphones Awards.
Reviews
“It was not just that Ross Macdonald taught us how to write; he did something more, he taught us how to read, and how to think about life, and maybe, in some small, but mattering way, how to live...I owe him.”
“The writing is incisive and perceptive…forceful and fast-paced…powerful and personal…a strange and haunting blend...The American private eye, immortalized by Hammett, refined by Chandler, [is] brought to its zenith by Macdonald.”
“[Gardner] unquestionably knows his way around a microphone…he interprets a variety of male and female characters believably and without fuss. His no-nonsense manner fits the whole stylistic range of Macdonald’s quarter-century oeuvre.”
“[Grover Gardner’s] relaxed, measured delivery suits well this thinking person’s detective novel. His leisurely approach facilitates an appreciation of Macdonald’s poetic metaphors (“Some random stars began to nail up the edges of the evening…”), and his favorite theme of family guilt.”
“This Lew Archer whodunit finds the gumshoe stopping over in a small town for an inquest. The seemingly quiet community reveals itself to be a hive of incest, corruption, dope dealing, and stolen booze. All in a day’s work for a hard-boiled private investigator…[Recommended] for all mystery collections.”
"[Ross Macdonald] carried form and style about as far as they would go, writing classic family tragedies in the guise of private detective mysteries.”
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