Recommendations for reading Ross Macdonald

Ross Macdonald has been enjoying something of a renaissance in recent months, as Vintage Crime/Black Lizard has been reprinting many of his books.

I had a conversation recently with Tom Nolan, crime fiction critic for the Wall Street Journal and the acclaimed biographer of Macdonald, in which I asked Tom for his recommendations for a reader who is new to Macdonald's work. This is his reply:

The Underground Man, with its forest-fire motif, is an exciting work, as much of a thriller as a murder-mystery; the fire itself is almost a character, racing towards its own destruction.

The Chill is maybe RM's masterpiece, combining his particular themes with memorable characters, terrific sequences, and a surprising plot.

The Galton Case is what he called the fulcrum of his oeuvre, upon which the rest of his work would turn; it was the book in which he most explored his own past (fictionally), and when he consciously committed his most serious writing ambitions to the mystery-novel genre.

I think any RM book from the golden period of the 1960s, when he had come into his mature prose style, would be a good Macdonald to start with; The Zebra-Striped Hearse, The Far Side of the Dollar, and Black Money are all excellent.

Then again, those who prefer a more hard-boiled approach might favor a '50s book. The Way Some People Die or The Barbarous Coast are among my own favorites.

I'm woefully unfamiliar with Macdonald's work, having only read (that I can recall) one novel and a couple of short stories. So I've definitely got some catching up to do.

Comments

[J. Kingston Pierce]

I'd have to add THE INSTANT ENEMY and the under-rated SLEEPING BEAUTY (set against an oil spill off the coast of Los Angeles) to Tom Nolan's list. Both excellent works, in my book.

[arhiderrr]

Nice article

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