Part of Lew Archer, book 15
First published 2000
Lew Archer takes a case that starts simple and turns deadly. Irene and Larry Chalmers hire him to investigate a burglary at their mission-style mansion. Their son Nick tops the suspect list, but Nick has vanished again. The Chalmers family has wealth and old secrets they'd rather forget. Archer tracks Nick through a maze of clues that includes a troubled blonde woman, a collection of wartime correspondence, and a vagrant with unclear motives. The investigation takes a dark turn when someone discovers a corpse in a vehicle parked on a deserted beach. Nick surfaces again, this time carrying a Colt .45. Archer must navigate between the family's money and their buried past. The detective learns that old sins have a way of demanding payment in the present. Ross Macdonald crafts Archer as more than a typical private eye. He becomes a moral compass moving through a landscape where criminal acts intersect with human weakness.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: moral-compass, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Chalmers Mansion
Period: 20th-Century
256 pages · Paperback · Vintage Crime/Black Lizard