When Lew Archer is hired to get the goods on the suspiciously suave Frenchman who's run off with his client's girlfriend, it looks like a simple case of alienated affections. Things look different when the mysterious foreigner turns out to be connected to a seven-year-old suicide and a mountain of gambling debts. Black Money is Ross Macdonald at his finest, baring the skull beneath the untanned skin of Southern California's high society.
I’ve recently read a Lew Archer short story which I thought was excellent; so I wanted to read one of the novels. What I’ve found is Ross Macdonald is trying to be like Dashiell Hammitt or Raymond Chandler but his is missing key elements that made their stories interesting. There was no witty banter, wise cracks and no unexpected plot twists. Archer was decent protagonist and I think the book was jammed packed with sex and violence but without the twists and wit it just doesn’t seem the same; maybe even boring in parts. I might try some more of his books, because the Lew Archer short story really was a thrill to read and maybe his other books will be too.
Reading updates
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23 February, 2012:
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23 February, 2012:
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