BlackHat Mystery BookstoreRoss Macdonald
Kenneth Millar [1915-83]
 | short profile |
"You can't get away from the past. It's built into one's life. You can't wall it off or evade it or undo it.
It's inescapably and inevitably there, like a deformed child in a secret room of one's house."
— Ross MacDonald (in "Meet Me At The Morgue" 1953)
"I'm on the side of justice when I can find it. When I can't find it, I'm for the underdog."
— character Lew Archer (in "The Barbarous Coast" 1956)
". . . she was one of the women who always had trouble. Too handsome and too rich, they wandered from
marriage to marriage and continent to continent, searching for something worth finding."
After writing for the pulp magazines, his first novel "The Dark Tunnel" was published in 1944. His wife was already successful with her own mystery novels (from 1941), so he changed his name to John Ross Macdonald and then to Ross Macdonald. The first Lew Archer mystery novel was published in 1949; his big breakout year was 1969, and the subsequent three novels were also bestsellers. He let it be known that he read Fitzgerald's 1925 novel "The Great Gatsby" every year. He served as president of The Mystery Writers of America, who gave him their Grand Master Award in 1974. He died of Alzheimer's disease on 11 July 1983, and his widow died in 1994.
Ross Macdonald is considered the third-most important hardboiled detective novelist, after Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. The novels and story collections are almost all in print (Margaret Millar's are not), and the several Paul Newman and other feature films are available on DVD.
Ross MacDonald entry at Wikipedia
Ross Macdonald books catalog at Amazon
Ross MacDonald movie & TV credits [1958-2002] at Internet Movie Database
Lew Archer Mystery Series
browse Lew Archer book series category at Amazon
Lew Archer entry at Wikipedia
On a trivial note: Lew Archer's office is specified as being at 8411½ Sunset Strip in West Hollywood;
whatever was there in the 1940s and 1950s was replaced by a hotel, circa 1960.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"The Moving Target" (aka 'Harper') [#1 = 1949]
  | The geography is mostly in Santa Teresa (Santa Barbara, California). Los Angeles detective Lew Archer's former boss advises the unhappy wife of an oil tycoon to hire Lew when the husband disappears in L.A. and she receives a subtle ransom note in his handwriting asking her to cash in some bonds for $100,000 in cash.
Vintage 8x5¼ pb [3/98] for $11.20 Bantam mass pb [7/84] out of print/used Gregg Press 8¼x5½ hardcover [5/79] out of print/used book entry at Wikipedia |
made into the movie "Harper" [1966] starring Paul Newman (see below)
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"The Drowning Pool" [#2 = 1950]
 | The geography is in Nopal (Ventura, California) and Quinto (Santa Paula, California) and Las Vegas, Nevada and West Hollywood. A woman intercepts a blackmail note sent to her wealthy husband about events in her past; Lew visits their estate in oil country, and soon the family matriarch is drowned, the chauffeur is shot and set on fire, and the woman commits suicide by strychnine.
Vintage 8x5¼ pb [6/96] for $10.17 Bantam mass pb [9/83] out of print/used book entry at Wikipedia |
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"The Way Some People Die" [#3 = 1951]
 | The geography includes Santa Monica, Pacific Point (La Jolla), San Francisco, the Palm Springs area, and Hollywood in California. A sweet old lady hires Lew Archer to find her daughter, who hasn't been in touch for two months; the trail leads to a beach resort town and a gang selling heroin.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard 8x5¼ pb [7/2007] for $11.20 Bantam mass pb [1971] out of print/used Random House hardcover [6/51] out of print/rare book entry at Wikipedia |
"The Ivory Grin" (aka 'Marked For Murder') [#4 = 1952]
 | The geography includes Bella City (imagined railroad town, not Bakersfield), Arroyo Beach (Avila-Pismo), and the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. A tough-as-nails wealthy woman hires Archer to track her recently-fired maid, based on a trumped-up story about missing costume jewelry. The parallel tale of a missing heir finally dovetails with the first, after the bodies pile up: one cut throat, one belly-shot, a car pushed off a cliff, and a shootout in Archer's office.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard 8x5¼ pb [7/2007] for $11.90 Bantam mass pb [1971] out of print/used ImPress 8½x5¾ hardcover [2009] out of print/used |
"Find A Victim" [#5 = 1954]
 | The geography includes Las Cruces (north of Bakersfield), Lake Perdida (in the Sierras) & Tehachapi Pass in California, and the ghost town of Traverse in Nevada. On the highway to Sacramento, private detective Lew Archer stops for a hitchhiker who turns out to be a Mexican with a gunshot in his chest. A truckload of booze is missing, and three intertwined families include the owner of the trucking line, the county sheriff, and an innkeeper about to be indicted for income tax fraud.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard 8x5¼ pb [8/2001] for $11.73 Bantam mass pb [1971] out of print/used Knopf hardcover [1954] out of print/used |
"The Name Is Archer" [7 stories; 1955]
 | paperback original containing seven short stories: "The Bearded Lady", "Find The Woman" (1956), "Gone Girl", "Guilt-Edged Blonde" (1954), "Sinister Habit", "The Suicide" (1953), and "Wild Goose Chase" (1954); later editions also include "Midnight Blue" (1960) & “Sleeping Dog” (1965) Warner Books mass pb [10/91] out of print/used Bantam mass pb [10/83] out of print/used Bantam mass [1979] out of print/used |
"The Barbarous Coast" [#6 = 1956]
 | The geography includes Malibu, the Palmdale area, West Hollywood, a movie studio near San Fernando Road, and Coldwater Canyon & Beverly Hills in California, and Las Vegas in Nevada. The frightened manager of an exclusive beach club calls Lew Archer to protect him from the husband of a former employee, but Lew ends up working for the husband to find the missing woman.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard 8x5¼ pb [12/2007] for $11.20 Bantam mass pb [1973] out of print/used Knopf 7½x5¼ hardcover [1956] out of print/used |
"The Doomsters" [#7 = 1958]
 | The geography includes West Hollywood, Purissima (Oxnard), Buena Vista (Ventura), and Malibu in California. An escapee from a psychiatric hospital talks Lew Archer into helping prove his innocence in several old murders; Lew tries to take the man north to turn himself in, but the man panics and knocks Lew out and steals his car. Serialized in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine as "Breakthrough", Oct-Dec 1958.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard 8x5¼ pb [12/2007] for $11.20 Bantam mass pb [1978] out of print/used Knopf hardcover [6/58] out of print/used book entry at Wikipedia |
"The Galton Case" [#8 = 1959]
 | The geography includes Santa Teresa (Santa Barbara), San Francisco, Luna Bay, San Mateo, and Arroyo Park (Montecito?) in California, and Reno, Nevada. A lawyer hires Lew Archer to try to find the long-lost son and heir of a dying woman.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard 8x5 pb [12/2007] for $11.23 Bantam mass pb [1980] out of print/used Allison & Busby hardcover [5/89] out of print/used Knopf 10¼x6¼ hardcover [6/58] out of print/used book entry at Wikipedia |
"The Wycherly Woman" [#9 = 1961]
 | The geography includes Meadow Farms (inland oil town), Boulder Beach, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Medicine Stone (near Santa Cruz) in California. A cranky oil baron hires Lew Archer to find his college-student daughter, missing for two months.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard 8x5¼ pb [3/98] for $11.21 Bantam mass pb [1984] out of print/used |
"The Zebra-Striped Hearse" [#10 = 1962]
 | The geography includes Sunset Strp, Malibu, Citrus Junction (Pomoma area), Westwood & Bel Air in Los Angeles area; Redwood City, Luna Bay & Saline City {San Lorenzo?) in the Bay Area; Lake Tahoe in Nevada; and Mazatlan & Guadalajara in Mexico. A husband & wife are at odds over hiring Lew Archer to find their daughter who came back from vacation at Mexico resort with a man, fought with the parents, and then eloped.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard 8x5½ pb [3/98] for $11.66 Bantam mass pb [10/84] out of print/used |
"The Chill" [#11 = 1964]
 | The geography includes Pacific Point (La Jolla), Indian Springs (Escondido?) in California, Bridgeton, Illinois (outside Chicago), and Reno & Lake Tahoe in Nevada. While in Pacific Point to testify in court, Archer stumbles on a newlywed whose wife suddenly walked out, who hires Lew to find her; the trail leads backward to murders 22 and ten years before, then another woman is the third murder victim. The book was awarded a Silver Dagger.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard 8x5¼ pb [6/96] for $11.20 Bantam mass pb [1978] out of print/used Impress Mystery 8½x6 hardcover [2003] out of print/used Knopf hardcover [1963] out of print/used |
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"The Far Side of The Dollar" [#12 = 1965]
 | The geography includes Laguna Perdida (Capistrano Beach?), El Rancho (Irvine), and Ocean View (Emerald Bay?) down in Orange County; Television City, Beverly Glen, Santa Monica Beach, Cedars Hospital, and Pacific Palisades in the Los Angeles area; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Pocatello, Idaho. Archer is hired to find a runaway boy who fled a reform school for troubled teens and then kidnapped himself for ransom. The book was awarded a Silver Dagger.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard 8x5¼ pb [11/96] for $10.20 Bantam mass pb [1966] out of print/used Knopf hardcover [1965] out of print/used |
"Black Money" [#13 = 1966]
 | The geography includes Pacific Point (Newport Beach, this time), Monte Vista (Costa Mesa?), and Brentwood (W.L.A.), and Las Vegas, Nevada. A rejected swain hires Archer to uncover the identity of the suave and mysterious Frenchman who stole his girl; the trail reaches back to a suicide seven years prior and then to the murders of the girl’s mother and of the Panama-born con man.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard 8x5¼ pb [6/96] for $10.36 Phoenix/Orion 7¾x5 pb [4/2011] import/new-used Warner Books mass pb [7/90] out of print/used Random House Value Publng hardcover [4/99] out of print/used book entry at Wikipedia |
"Archer In Hollywood: Three Exciting Novels" [omnibus 1967]
 | contains "The Moving Target" [1949], "The Way Some People Die" [1951], and "The Barbarous Coast" [1956] Knopf hardcover [1967] out of print/used Knopf hardcover [1967] out of print/used |
"The Instant Enemy" [#14 = 1968]
 | The geography includes Woodland Hills, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica, and the Sunset Strip in the Los Angeles area; San Francisco, Santa Teresa (Santa Barbara), Rodeo City (Shell Beach?), and Centerville (20 miles inland) on the California coast. A Valley banker father hires Archer to find his runaway daughter, who has been hanging out with a creepy ex-con teen.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard 8x5¼ pb [4/2008] for $11.20 Bantam mass pb [1970] out of print/used Knopf hardcover [1968] out of print/scarce |
"The Goodbye Look" [#15 = 1969 bestseller]
 | The geography includes West Los Angeles & Pasadena; and farther south: Pacific Point, Monte Vista, Point Loma, Imperial Beach, San Diego & La Jolla - all in California. A lawyer hires Archer to recover an antique gold box stolen from the safe in a client's house.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard 8x5¼ pb [12/2000] for $11.70 Bantam mass pb [1970] out of print/used Knopf hardcover [6/69] out of print/many used |
 | "Archer At Large" [omnibus 1970] "Three great novels of suspense": "The Galton Case" [1959], "The Chill" [1964], and "Black Money" [1966] Random House/Knopf 8½x5¾ hardcover [6/70] out of print/many, many used |
"The Underground Man" [#16 = 1971 bestseller]
 | The geography includes West Los Angeles, Northridge & Pacific Palisades in the L.A. area; Santa Teresa, Petroleum City (Santa Maria?), Dunes Bay (off Highway 1), and Sausalito - all in California. Archer meets the woman next door, who is estranged from her husband; she asks Archer for help when her small boy is kidnapped on the way to Santa Teresa, where the hills are covered with wind-whipped fires.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard 8x5¼ pb [11/96] for $11.20 Bantam mass pb [2/84] out of print/used Knopf hardcover [1971] out of print/many, many used |
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"Sleeping Beauty" [#17 = 1973 bestseller]
 | The geography includes West Los Angeles, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Topanga Beach, Long Beach & Redondo Beach, plus Pacific Point (Newport Beach) & Montevista (Costa Mesa) farther south. Return-ing from Mexico by plane, Archer sees a horrible oil slick off the California coast; he visits Pacific Point and meets an emotionally distraught woman treating an oiled pelican, then gives her a ride home to West L.A.; after she steals sleeping tablets from his apartment and runs away, he sets out to save her from possible suicide.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard 8x5¼ pb [12/2000] for $11.25 Bantam mass pb [11/84] out of print/used Knopf 8½x6 hardcover [5/73] out of print/many, many used book entry at Wikipedia |
 | "Sleeping Beauty" radio drama from K.C.R.W. [1996] Aired 1 January 1996 on KCRW 89.9-FM in Santa Monica (Los Angeles), California; directed by & starring Harris Yulin (as Lew Archer), also starring Shirley Knight, Stacy Keach, Pamela Reed, Bruce Davidson, Marian Mercer, Anthony Zerbe, Mary Kay Place & Ed Asner KCRW audio cassette [1996] 6 tapes - out of prodn/used |
"The Blue Hammer" [#18 = 1976 bestseller]
 | The geography includes Santa Teresa (Santa Barbara), U.C.S.B. campus & Sycamore Point in California, and Tucson, Copper City (Kearny?) & Chantry Canyon in Arizona. A wealthy copper miner & his wife hire Archer to recover a portrait stolen from the wall of their mansion; the painting was by a painter who disappeared 25 years prior, the daughter is missing, the art dealer who sold it gets his head bashed in, and Archer falls for a local reporter who disappears. (Archer and Betty the reporter are paired up at the end.)
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard 8x5½ pb [4/2008] for $11.20 Bantam mass pb [1977] out of print/used Knopf 8½x6 hardcover [6/76] for $27.95 |
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"Lew Archer, Private Investigator" [1977]
 | The seven stories of "The Name is Archer" {above} plus two additional stories: “Midnight Blue” (1960) & “Sleeping Dog” (1965) Mysterious Press 9½x6 hardcover [10/86] out of print/many used Ballantine hardcover [6/77] out of print/used |
"Archer In Jeopardy: Three Superb Novels" [omnibus 1979]
 | contains "The Doomsters" [1958], "The Zebra-Striped Hearse" [1962], and "The Instant Enemy" [1968] Knopf 8¼x5½ hardcover [9/79] out of print/many used Knopf hardcover [9/79] out of print/used |
"The Lew Archer Omnibus" [U.K. 1993-97]
 |
Volume 1 contains "The Drowning Pool" [1950], "The Chill" [1964], and "The Goodbye Look" [1969] Allison & Busby 7½x5 pb [10/93] out of print/used Volume 2 contains "The Moving Target" [1949], "The Barbarous Coast" [1956], and "The Far Side of The Dollar" [1965] Allison & Busby 7½x5 pb [8/94] out of print/used Volume 3 contains "The Ivory Grin" [1952], "The Galton Case" [1959], and "The Blue Hammer" [1976] Allison & Busby 7½x5 pb [10/97] out of print/used |
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"Strangers In Town" [omnibus 2001]
 | "Three Newly-Discovered Mysteries by Ross Macdonald" Edited by Tom Nolan includes the novellas "Death By Water" [1945], "Strangers In Town" (1950), and "The Angry Man" (1955) Crippen & Landru 9x6 pb [2/2001] out of print/used Crippen & Landru 9¼x6¼ hardcover [2/2001] out of print/used |
"The Archer Files" [2007 collection]
 | "The Complete Short Stories of Lew Archer, Private Investigator, including newly-discovered case notes" Edited by Tom Nolan includes Nolan's biographical sketch of Lew Archer; seven stories from "The Name Is Archer" [1955]; two additional stories from "Lew Archer, P.I." [1977]; three rediscovered novellas from "Stangers In Town" [2001]; plus the chapters & notes and snippets that are the 'case notes' Crippen & Landru 8¾x6 pb [6/2007] for $25.00 Spanish-language "El Expediente Archer" [2010] Grijalbo Mondadori SA pb [6/2010] for $18.68 |
"Lew Archer’s Back On The Case" [July 2007] in The Rap Sheet Magazine
a never-before-published, 2,500-word fragment of a story written by renowned detective novelist Ross Macdonald entitled
“Heyday In The Blood”; included in "The Archer Files: The Complete Short Stories of Lew Archer, Private Investigator" -
one of 11 such fragmentary 'case notes' featured in the collection
read text of fragment at The Rap Sheet Magazine
Books from Library of America
 | "Ross Macdonald: Four Novels of The 1950s (LOA #264)" [2015] Edited by Tom Nolan includes four Lew Archer novels: "The Way Some People Die" [1951], "The Barbarous Coast" [1956], "The Doomsters" [1958], and "The Galton Case" [1959] Library of America 8¼x5 hardcover [4/2015] for $27.08 | |
 | "Ross Macdonald: Three Novels of The Early 1960s (LOA #279)" [2016] Edited by Tom Nolan includes three Lew Archer novels: "The Zebra-Striped Hearse" [1962], "The Chill" [1964], and "The Far Side of The Dollar" [1965] Library of America 8¼x5 hardcover [4/2016] for $25.56 | |
 | "Ross Macdonald: Four Later Novels (LOA #295)" [2017] Edited by Tom Nolan includes four Lew Archer novels: "Black Money" [1966], "The Instant Enemy" [1968], "The Goodbye Look" [1969], and "The Underground Man" [1971] Library of America 8¼x5 hardcover [7/2017] for $23.72 | |
 | "The Ross Macdonald Collection: 11 Classic Lew Archer Novels Boxed Set" [2017] Edited by Tom Nolan includes eleven Lew Archer novels, 1951-1971 Library of America 8½x5¼ hardcover [9/2017] 3 books for $74.92 - price break only $1.44 |
Other Books by Ross Macdonald
browse Ross MacDonald books catalog at Amazon
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"The Dark Tunnel" as Kenneth Millar [1944 novel]
 | A spy novel, re-issued in 1955 as "I Die Slowly". A Midwestern college professor witnesses his best friend fall to his death from an office building; knowing that the man was suspicious of German spies on campus, he does not believe that the death was suicide.
Bantam mass pb [7/83] out of print/used Bantam mass pb [1972] out of print/used book entry at Wikipedia |
"Trouble Follows Me: A Detective Story" as Kenneth Millar [1946 novel]
 | A spy novel, re-issued in 1950 & 1955 as "Night Train". The geography includes Honolulu in Hawai'i, Detroit & Ann Arbor in Michigan; San Diego & Santa Barbara in California, and Tijuana, Mexico; the middle third takes place on the 'Grand Canyon Limited' train from Detroit to Los Angeles. Young Navy lieutenant Sam Drake and his longtime pal are caught up in a supposed suicide in Hawai'i, then a similar faked suicide in Detroit; contact with the F.B.I. does not prevent further murder attempts on the train to the West Coast. (Much of the tale involves race issues and 'Black Israel'.)
Bantam mass pb [8/83] out of print/used Bantam mass pb [9/72] out of print/used Lion Books mass pb [10/50] out of print/used Dodd, Mead & Co. hardcover [1946] out of print/used |
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"Blue City" as Kenneth Millar [1947 novel]
 | "The story of a desparate double manhunt." Army veteran John Weather returns to his home town and discovers that his town-leader father was murdered two years prior; in just three days time, he solves the murder of his father, cleans up the town's corrupt political machine, and finds true love.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard 8x5 pb [1/2011] for $11.25 Bantam mass pb [12/85] out of print/used Lawrence Hill Books 8¼x5½ hardcover [10/87] out of print/many used made into a 1986 feature film {see below} |
"The Three Roads" as Kenneth Millar [1948 novel]
 | The geography includes San Diego, La Jolla, Hollywood, Downtown Los Angeles & Glendale. Navy Lt. Bret Taylor has been in a Navy hospital for nine months; he has amnesia and remembers nothing much since his ship was sunk in the South Pacific. His steadfast screenwriter girlfriend visits weekly until he suddenly starts remembering – and takes off to solve a murder.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard 8x5¼ pb [1/2011] for $11.25 Warner Books mass pb [2/91] out of print/used Knopf hardcover [1948] out of print/used |
"Meet Me At The Morgue"
as John Ross Macdonald [1953 novel]
 | A condensed version ran as "Experience With Evil" in the March 1953 issue of Cosmopolitan Magazine. The geography includes Pacific Point (La Jolla), Westwood, Pacific Palisades, Long Beach, and Palm-dale in California. County probation officer Howard Cross gets involved when a toddler is kidnapped; when he tracks the ransom after the drop-off, he finds a sleazy ex-cop with an icepick in his neck.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard 7¾x5¼ pb [12/2010] for $10.95 Warner Books mass pb [2/91] out of print/used Bantam mass pb [4/84] out of print/used Knopf hardcover [1953] out of print/used |
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"The Ferguson Affair" as Ross Macdonald [1960 novel]
 | The geography includes Buenavista (Ventura?), Hollywood, Beverly Hills & Mountain Grove (inland resort). Attorney William Gunnarson is assigned the case of a girl who pawned a stolen ring, which leads to a burglary gang, several murders, and a kidnapping for ransom.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard mass pb [12/2010] for $11.25 Bantam mass pb [1967] out of print/used Knopf Crime Club hardcover [1961] out of print/used |
"On Crime Writing: The Writer As Detective Hero" [1973] by Ross Macdonald
 | about writing "The Galton Case"
Capra Press chapbook [1973] out of print/used Capra Press hardcover chapbook [1973] out of print/used |
"Ross Macdonald Selects: Great Stories of Suspense" [1974]
 | Edited & Introduction by Ross Macdonald; includes four complete novels: "The Big Clock" [1946] by Kenneth Fearing; "What Mrs McGillicuddy Saw" [1957] by Agatha Christie; editor MacDonald's Edgar-nominated "The Far Side of The Dollar" [1965]; and "Enquiry" [1969] by Dick Francis; PLUS 11 short stories by James M. Cain ("The Baby In The Icebox"), John Cheever ("The Five-Forty-Eight"), John Collier ("Wet Saturday"), Roald Dahl, Stanley Ellin, Michael Gilbert, Grahame Greene ("The Basement Room"), Dashiell Hammett ("Fly Paper"), Patricia Highsmith, Margaret Millar & Flannery O'Connor; and "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" [1886 novella] by Robert Louis Stevenson
Knopf hardcover [1974] out of print/used |
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"Early Millar: The First Stories of Ross Macdonald & Margaret Millar" [1982]
Privately published rare book, total edition of 170, bound in full leather
from Cordelia Editions in Santa Barbara, California
Movies & Television
Ross MacDonald movie & TV credits [1958-2002] at Internet Movie Database
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"Harper" [Warner Bros. Feb 1966]
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"The Underground Man" TV movie [Paramount/N.B.C. May 1974]
Directed by Paul Wendkos; script by Douglas Heyes, based on Ross Macdonald's novel; starring Peter Graves, Celeste Holm,
Sharon Farrell, Jim Hutton, Kay Lenz, Biff McGuire, Vera Miles, Jo Ann Pflug, Judith Anderson & Jack Klugman
VHS/DVD/Blu-ray not available (2021)•
full credits at IMDb
watch truncated movie, missing seven minutes [6/2020 Aussie upload; 1:33:00] online at Internet Archive
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"The Drowning Pool" [Warner/First Artists June 1975]
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"Archer" [Paramount/N.B.C. 1975 6-episode TV series]
Starring Brian Keith & John P. Ryan; full credits at IMDb
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"Double Negative" [Quadrant 1980]
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"Blue City" feature film [Paramount May 1986]
 | Billy Turner returns to the small Florida town where he grew up and learns that his father has been killed; with little help from the police, he takes matters into his own hands and goes up against a ruthless local mob boss to find the killer. Directed by Michelle Manning; script by Lukas Heller & Walter Hill, loosely based on Ross Macdonald's novel; music by Ry Cooder; starring Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, David Caruso, Paul Winfield, Scott Wilson, Anita Morris, Luis Contreras & Julie Carmen; nominated for 5 Razzie Awards, including Worst Picture
Legend Films widescreen color DVD [6/2008] for $7.99 Paramount color VHS [4/93] for $4.35 {sic} Warner/W.E.A. soundtrack CD [7/2002] out of prodn/used full credits at IMDb |
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"Criminal Behavior" TV movie [May 1992]
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"The Wolf of The West Coast" aka 'Le Loup de la Côte Ouest' TV movie [Dec 2002]
"Guilt-Edged Blonde"; video/DVD not available; full credits at IMDb |
Works About Ross Macdonald
 | "Dreamers Who Live Their Dreams: The World of Ross MacDonald's Novels" [1976] by Peter Wolfe Bowling Green State Univ Popular Press 8¾x5¾ pb [1977] out of print/used Bowling Green State Univ Popular Press 9¼x6 hardcover [1976] out of print/used |
 | "Ross Macdonald's Inner Journey" [25 essays; 1984] Edited by Ralph B. Sipper Mysterious Press 8¼x5½ pb [3/87] out of print/used Cordelia Editions of Santa Barbara hardcover [1984] out of print/used |
 | "Ross Macdonald" biography [1984] by Matthew J. Bruccoli
Harcourt 9¼x7¼ pb [3/84] out of print/used Harcourt hardcover [3/84] out of print/used |
 | "Ross Macdonald: A Biography" [1999] by Tom Nolan Poisoned Pen Press 9¼x6¼ pb [1/2001] for $12.57 Scribner 9½x6½ hardcover [3/99] out of print/used |
 | "Ross Macdonald Tribute" in the April 1999 issue of January Magazine [est. 1997] by crime fiction editor J. Kingston Pierce '50 Years With Lew Archer: An Anniversary Tribute To Ross Macdonald and His Heroic Yet Compassionate Private Eye' the 'Intro' page links to several articles |
 | "A Ross Macdonald Companion" [2002] by Robert L. Gale Greenwood Press 9x6¼ hardcover [7/2002] for $83.95 |
 | "Hardboiled Mystery Writers: Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Ross Macdonald - A Literary Reference" [2002] Edited by Matthew Bruccoli & Richard Layman Carroll & Graf 10x7 pb [7/2002] for $15.40 BlackHat Mystery Bookstore's Raymond Chandler [1888-1959] Pages BlackHat Mystery Bookstore's Dashiell Hammett [1894-1961] Pages |
 | "The Novels of Ross Macdonald" [2005] by Michael Kreyling Univ SC Press 9¼x6¼ hardcover [7/2005] for $32.31 |
Family & Friends
wife mystery author Margaret Ellis Sturm Millar [1915-94], married 1938, widowed 1983
browse books • IMDb listing [1960-86] •
Wikipedia
daughter Linda Millar [1939-70]
longtime friend Eudora Welty [1909-2001] of Jackson, Mississippi
browse books •
credits listing {since 1955} at IMDb •
entry at Wikipedia
 |
"Meanwhile There Are Letters: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and Ross Macdonald" [2015] Edited & with Introduction by Suzanne Marrs & Tom Nolan Documents the thirteen-year correspondence between two fellow writers and kindred spirits, sharing their lives in witty, wry, tender, and at times profoundly romantic letters, each drawing on the other for inspiration, comfort, and strength; book includes Welty’s story fragment "Henry", which addresses Macdonald’s decline from Alzheimer’s disease. Kindle Edition from Arcade [7/2015] for $14.99 Arcade 9x6 pb [6/2017] for $19.97 Arcade 9x6 hardcover [7/2015] for $16.25 |
not to be confused with a very talented illustrator named Ross MacDonald (but with a capital D) of Connecticut
browse the illustrator Ross MacDonald Store {returns 19 titles} at Amazon • official website
L i n k s
Ross MacDonald entry at Wikipedia
browse the author Ross MacDonald Store {returns 100+ titles} at Amazon
Ross MacDonald movie & TV credits [1958-2002] at Internet Movie Database
Guide to the Kenneth Millar Papers at U.C. Irvine
KL's Ross MacDonald fansite
Ross MacDonald Tribute - April 1999 Bibliography at January Magazine
Lew Archer page at Thrilling Detective website
here on the Ross Macdonald [1915-83] Page at BlackHat Mystery Bookstore
top of page • short profile • Lew Archer mystery series • other books • movies & TV • works about Ross Macdonald • family & friends • links
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