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Lew Archer #4
La mort t’assenyala
“L’alè li feia tanta fortor, que hom s’hi hauria pogut repenjar”, diu l’autor d’un dels seus personatges. De fet, tot l’assumpte empudegava.
Tot començà un matí, quan la dona que duia anells de diamants autèntics i donava un nom fictici encarregà a Lew Archer que li retrobés una criada negra desapareguda. I la va trobar, no cal dir-ho, però amb un tall que li partia el coll pel mig. Lew, que no ho veia clar, retornà els cent dòlars que havia cobrat i emprengué la investigació pel seu compte.
“La mort t’assenyala” és la història de les coses que esbrina, una història violenta i tèrbola on els assassinats abunden i on no falta una rossa engrescadora que sap més coses que no diu. Ben cert, però que al final no li queda més remei que parlar. Escolteu-la.
Tot començà un matí, quan la dona que duia anells de diamants autèntics i donava un nom fictici encarregà a Lew Archer que li retrobés una criada negra desapareguda. I la va trobar, no cal dir-ho, però amb un tall que li partia el coll pel mig. Lew, que no ho veia clar, retornà els cent dòlars que havia cobrat i emprengué la investigació pel seu compte.
“La mort t’assenyala” és la història de les coses que esbrina, una història violenta i tèrbola on els assassinats abunden i on no falta una rossa engrescadora que sap més coses que no diu. Ben cert, però que al final no li queda més remei que parlar. Escolteu-la.
205 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1952
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994 people want to read
About the author
Ross Macdonald
160 books802 followersRoss Macdonald is the pseudonym of the American-Canadian writer of crime fiction Kenneth Millar. He is best known for his series of hardboiled novels set in southern California and featuring private detective Lew Archer.
Millar was born in Los Gatos, California, and raised in his parents' native Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, where he started college. When his father abandoned his family unexpectedly, Macdonald lived with his mother and various relatives, moving several times by his sixteenth year. The prominence of broken homes and domestic problems in his fiction has its roots in his youth.
In Canada, he met and married Margaret Sturm (Margaret Millar)in 1938. They had a daughter, Linda, who died in 1970.
He began his career writing stories for pulp magazines. Millar attended the University of Michigan, where he earned a Phi Beta Kappa key and a Ph.D. in literature. While doing graduate study, he completed his first novel, The Dark Tunnel, in 1944. At this time, he wrote under the name John Macdonald, in order to avoid confusion with his wife, who was achieving her own success writing as Margaret Millar. He then changed briefly to John Ross Macdonald before settling on Ross Macdonald, in order to avoid mixups with contemporary John D. MacDonald. After serving at sea as a naval communications officer from 1944 to 1946, he returned to Michigan, where he obtained his Ph.D. degree.
Macdonald's popular detective Lew Archer derives his name from Sam Spade's partner, Miles Archer, and from Lew Wallace, author of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. Macdonald first introduced the tough but humane private eye in the 1946 short story Find the Woman. A full-length novel, The Moving Target, followed in 1949. This novel (the first in a series of eighteen) would become the basis for the 1966 Paul Newman film Harper. In the early 1950s, he returned to California, settling for some thirty years in Santa Barbara, the area where most of his books were set. The very successful Lew Archer series, including bestsellers The Goodbye Look, The Underground Man, and Sleeping Beauty, concluded with The Blue Hammer in 1976.
Macdonald died of Alzheimer's disease in Santa Barbara, California.
Macdonald is the primary heir to Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler as the master of American hardboiled mysteries. His writing built on the pithy style of his predecessors by adding psychological depth and insights into the motivations of his characters. Macdonald's plots were complicated, and often turned on Archer's unearthing family secrets of his clients and of the criminals who victimized them. Lost or wayward sons and daughters were a theme common to many of the novels. Macdonald deftly combined the two sides of the mystery genre, the "whodunit" and the psychological thriller. Even his regular readers seldom saw a Macdonald denouement coming.
Millar was born in Los Gatos, California, and raised in his parents' native Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, where he started college. When his father abandoned his family unexpectedly, Macdonald lived with his mother and various relatives, moving several times by his sixteenth year. The prominence of broken homes and domestic problems in his fiction has its roots in his youth.
In Canada, he met and married Margaret Sturm (Margaret Millar)in 1938. They had a daughter, Linda, who died in 1970.
He began his career writing stories for pulp magazines. Millar attended the University of Michigan, where he earned a Phi Beta Kappa key and a Ph.D. in literature. While doing graduate study, he completed his first novel, The Dark Tunnel, in 1944. At this time, he wrote under the name John Macdonald, in order to avoid confusion with his wife, who was achieving her own success writing as Margaret Millar. He then changed briefly to John Ross Macdonald before settling on Ross Macdonald, in order to avoid mixups with contemporary John D. MacDonald. After serving at sea as a naval communications officer from 1944 to 1946, he returned to Michigan, where he obtained his Ph.D. degree.
Macdonald's popular detective Lew Archer derives his name from Sam Spade's partner, Miles Archer, and from Lew Wallace, author of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. Macdonald first introduced the tough but humane private eye in the 1946 short story Find the Woman. A full-length novel, The Moving Target, followed in 1949. This novel (the first in a series of eighteen) would become the basis for the 1966 Paul Newman film Harper. In the early 1950s, he returned to California, settling for some thirty years in Santa Barbara, the area where most of his books were set. The very successful Lew Archer series, including bestsellers The Goodbye Look, The Underground Man, and Sleeping Beauty, concluded with The Blue Hammer in 1976.
Macdonald died of Alzheimer's disease in Santa Barbara, California.
Macdonald is the primary heir to Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler as the master of American hardboiled mysteries. His writing built on the pithy style of his predecessors by adding psychological depth and insights into the motivations of his characters. Macdonald's plots were complicated, and often turned on Archer's unearthing family secrets of his clients and of the criminals who victimized them. Lost or wayward sons and daughters were a theme common to many of the novels. Macdonald deftly combined the two sides of the mystery genre, the "whodunit" and the psychological thriller. Even his regular readers seldom saw a Macdonald denouement coming.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 214 reviews
May 18, 2019
This, the fourth novel in the Lew Archer series, is very good but not exceptional (at least not according to the standards of this exceptional series). It does, however, have all the ingredients of a good mystery, and is graced with Macdonald's strengths such as his vivid cameos (the old invalid black woman whose hobbies are listening to the radio and her neighbors' business; a middle-aged milliner relaxing with a glass of wine and her cat; a decent small town sheriff distrustful of big city detectives and full of reflexive racism), and his incomparable descriptions of shabby rooms and splendid showplaces.
In addition, this book has some features of particular interest to Macdonald fans. First of all, The Ivory Grin is the first time that Macdonald writes about black Americans forthrightly and unapologetically, without his earlier white liberal patronizing tone which often seems more objectionable than outright racism. He observes his black characters closely but with compassion--as he observes all his other characters--and the results are realistic and occasionally memorable.
Secondly, one of his principal characters is a person (in this case a woman) from the wrong side of the tracks who adopts a new name and reinvents herself. This is a MacDonald theme that will appear later in a variety of forms, most notably in his masterpiece,The Galton Case.
Finally--and I must be vague here to prevent a spoiler--the "ivory grin" referred to in the title is the source of an incredibly obvious metaphor--so obvious that one of the characters makes a joke of it--and yet this metaphor turns out to be one of the keys to solving the mystery. I think the device is used a little crudely here, but Macdonald employs the same sort of thing much more successfully in the superb mystery "The Underground Man."
May 12, 2023
09/2021
From 1952
A complicated mystery but a very satisfying one.
Archer has mentioned his office before, but in this one we find out it is rigged with listening devices and a two way mirror.
Oh, and of course the ivory grin is the grin of a human skull.
From 1952
A complicated mystery but a very satisfying one.
Archer has mentioned his office before, but in this one we find out it is rigged with listening devices and a two way mirror.
Oh, and of course the ivory grin is the grin of a human skull.
November 14, 2021
"The side of justice when I can find it. When I can't find it, I'm for the underdog."
Much of the time it feels like Archer is the lone sane, even keeled person in a sea of nuts. Guilty or innocent, most everyone he encounters is off kilter - deluded, unstable or aggrieved in some manner. Yet he's able to deal with them all with a detached compassion, or at least tries to.
It's the vivid character portrayals, including a bevy of minor figures, of some of these wildly idiosyncratic personalities that lend psychological depth to Macdonald's stories and leave an impression. He has an uncanny ability to describe their appearance and demeanor through one witty and penetrating simile after another, akin to Raymond Chandler, though never quite as cheeky.
The plot itself is a bit convoluted, a tangle of dysfunctional relationships with a knockout femme fatale at the center of it all, but Macdonald unpacks it so expertly it never really becomes confusing. It begins with a burglary and then a string of murders, and ends in a dramatic showdown in Archer's office. The denouement is satisfying, though hardly shocking, as the book's title provides a glaring clue of what's to come.
Much of the time it feels like Archer is the lone sane, even keeled person in a sea of nuts. Guilty or innocent, most everyone he encounters is off kilter - deluded, unstable or aggrieved in some manner. Yet he's able to deal with them all with a detached compassion, or at least tries to.
It's the vivid character portrayals, including a bevy of minor figures, of some of these wildly idiosyncratic personalities that lend psychological depth to Macdonald's stories and leave an impression. He has an uncanny ability to describe their appearance and demeanor through one witty and penetrating simile after another, akin to Raymond Chandler, though never quite as cheeky.
The plot itself is a bit convoluted, a tangle of dysfunctional relationships with a knockout femme fatale at the center of it all, but Macdonald unpacks it so expertly it never really becomes confusing. It begins with a burglary and then a string of murders, and ends in a dramatic showdown in Archer's office. The denouement is satisfying, though hardly shocking, as the book's title provides a glaring clue of what's to come.
May 26, 2023
The best entry I've read so far in Ross Macdonald's "Lew Archer" series.
Archer is hired to find a missing African-American woman by an odd woman with a mannish appearance and the manners of a brute. She claims the "colored girl" is a former employee and that she stole a few pieces of jewelry -not valuable items, but they have sentimental value to this potential client.
Archer reluctantly takes the case.
After a few chapters, Archer picks up a second missing persons case. He's hired to find a missing man, the scion of an old California family who own original Spanish land grants. Eventually it so happens that both missing persons cases are intertwined in a way.
The doctor being interrogated by Archer in the exchange quoted above is, of course, a white guy. I can't say whether an African-American reader would find these sorts of descriptions that are occasionally dropped in this novel -observations by a white narrator of societal situations of minorities - offensive, but "Archer"/Macdonald seems to speak from a place of liberal sincerity.
After such a delivery, you half expect Archer to leave behind a silver bullet and ride away on a white horse up into the hills of Chatsworth, California. But in the end, Lew Archer is the one decent man in what so often is a shabby profession.
I guess my point is unlike Raymond Chandler's "Philip Marlowe" novels (which I love and find superior to the "Archer" series), intentionally racist terms and views are never expressed in the Macdonald novels I've read so far. But then Chandler's original stories & early novels were products of the thirties while Macdonald's novels reflect a slightly more enlightened post-World War II mindset.
This novel has it all. It's a fast-mover with abrupt changes of scenes and moods, interactions between Archer and other characters, blood and tears and crimes within crimes. The eventual solution of the various murders that occur throughout the novel are just thrillingly ingenious.
I loved this novel.
I would recommend this novel to newcomers to the Lew Archer series
Archer is hired to find a missing African-American woman by an odd woman with a mannish appearance and the manners of a brute. She claims the "colored girl" is a former employee and that she stole a few pieces of jewelry -not valuable items, but they have sentimental value to this potential client.
Archer reluctantly takes the case.
After a few chapters, Archer picks up a second missing persons case. He's hired to find a missing man, the scion of an old California family who own original Spanish land grants. Eventually it so happens that both missing persons cases are intertwined in a way.
"What were you treating her for?"
"It amounted to nothing really... do you follow me?"
"Partly. Her symptoms were caused by nerves."
"I wouldn't say nerves." [The doctor] was expanding in the glow of his superior knowledge. "The total personality is the cause of psychosomatic ills. In our society a Negro, and especially a highly trained Negro woman..., is often subjected to frustrations that could lead to neurosis. A strong personality will sometimes convert incipient neurosis into physical symptoms. I'm stating it crudely... She felt cramped by her life, so to speak, and her frustration expressed itself in stomach cramps.”
The doctor being interrogated by Archer in the exchange quoted above is, of course, a white guy. I can't say whether an African-American reader would find these sorts of descriptions that are occasionally dropped in this novel -observations by a white narrator of societal situations of minorities - offensive, but "Archer"/Macdonald seems to speak from a place of liberal sincerity.
Her diffident black hand touched my arm very softly and retreated to her bosom. A thin gold wedding-band was sunk almost out of sight in the flesh of its third finger. "You are on our side, Mr. Archer?"
"The side of justice when I can find it. When I can't find it, I'm for the underdog."
After such a delivery, you half expect Archer to leave behind a silver bullet and ride away on a white horse up into the hills of Chatsworth, California. But in the end, Lew Archer is the one decent man in what so often is a shabby profession.
I guess my point is unlike Raymond Chandler's "Philip Marlowe" novels (which I love and find superior to the "Archer" series), intentionally racist terms and views are never expressed in the Macdonald novels I've read so far. But then Chandler's original stories & early novels were products of the thirties while Macdonald's novels reflect a slightly more enlightened post-World War II mindset.
Seen from inside by daylight, the room was spacious and handsome in an old-fashioned way. Kept up, it might have been beautiful. But the carpets and the surfaces of the furniture were gray with dust, strewn with the leavings of weeks: torn magazines and crumpled newspapers, cigarette butts, unwashed dishes. A bowl of rotting fruit was alive with insects. The wall plants had drooped and died. Cobwebs hung in shaggy strands from the ceiling. It was a Roman villa liberated by Vandals.
This novel has it all. It's a fast-mover with abrupt changes of scenes and moods, interactions between Archer and other characters, blood and tears and crimes within crimes. The eventual solution of the various murders that occur throughout the novel are just thrillingly ingenious.
I loved this novel.
I would recommend this novel to newcomers to the Lew Archer series
April 13, 2011
This is the first time Archer went all sociologically profound on our genre-loving asses, and there's pros and cons. The good news is that Macdonald's racially tinged plot doesn't browbeat us with the politics, unlike, say, every episode of COLD CASE to ever feature an African-American. On the downside, it's pretty clear that Macdonald's knowledge of the Af-Am experience fell somewhere between Huggy Bear of Starsky & Hutch and Rog & Rerun on What's Happening!!!, with a little Esther Rolle of Good Times thrown in for good measure. Chester Himes could take these stereotypes and give them some flash and panache---mainy by infusing them with anger and aggression---but we're still decades away from the fully dimensioned characters of Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins. Ultimately, you have to take Macdonald's good intentions in historical context: as drama, the plot of a black man wrongfully charged with a crime obviously committed by whites invites all the queasy risks of condescension, EVEN IF IN REAL LIFE IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME (cf the chick who doused her own face with acid and claimed a black lady did it). But we're talking about 1952 here. Before Emmett Till, before the Bus Boycotts, before Brown vs. Board of Education even. So for R-Mac Daddy to venture across the tracks, so to speak, took some gump. Ultimately, the Ivory Grin is the death grimace of segregation, even if the title refers to a literal skeleton in somebody else's closet. And we give Archer props for being on the right side of history, unlike any number of other noir writers in the same era who might as well have written under the alias Bull Connor. As usual, the plot feels a bit improvised, with more staged revelations than the New Testament. Still, Archer is a blast of a hero---hardboiled but not stylized, he seems as real as they come.
April 23, 2012
Perhaps high expectations of Ross MacDonald's stuff is responsible for this book not rocking my world. I enjoyed it but there was something lacking that would've made me love it. So far I can't really put my finger on what it was.
Lew Archer is a great protagonist for the genre; a mean, self serving PI with a penchant for hard boiled dialogue.
Ross MacDonald's prose is filled with fantastic observations of both people and places.
The plot is wonderfully convoluted, not too confusing but not too straight-forward either and the secondary characters (all except Archer to be fair) are well rounded, believable and pretty much 'individuals' as far as secondary characters in pulp noir fiction go. The way MacDonald moves the pieces around the board throwing red herrings in to the mix is a joy to behold and the denouement involves a particularly gruesome description/reveal.
But still it didn't grab me the way other books and other writers of the genre have in the past. Maybe next time? I hope so.
Lew Archer is a great protagonist for the genre; a mean, self serving PI with a penchant for hard boiled dialogue.
Ross MacDonald's prose is filled with fantastic observations of both people and places.
The plot is wonderfully convoluted, not too confusing but not too straight-forward either and the secondary characters (all except Archer to be fair) are well rounded, believable and pretty much 'individuals' as far as secondary characters in pulp noir fiction go. The way MacDonald moves the pieces around the board throwing red herrings in to the mix is a joy to behold and the denouement involves a particularly gruesome description/reveal.
But still it didn't grab me the way other books and other writers of the genre have in the past. Maybe next time? I hope so.
March 16, 2018
Lewis Archer is hired to track a nurse passing for white and discovers her body in a run down motel.
Macdonald attacks the racism and police brutality of 1950's California with dark humor and dry wit.
Macdonald attacks the racism and police brutality of 1950's California with dark humor and dry wit.
August 18, 2019
COUNTDOWN: Mid-20th Century North American Crime
BOOK 74 (of 250)
"He [Alex] seemed to be seeing himself for the first time as he was: a black boy tangled in white law, so vulnerable he hardly dared move a muscle." This line comes early in this novel, and what a premise! But the author doesn't deliver on that premise. Perhaps Ross Macdonald would have liked to, but it's 1952 and we're a long way from the Civil Rights Act: most ideas would have fallen on deaf ears. So Macdonald delivers his trademarks:
HOOK - 3: "I found her waiting at the door of my office," is the opening line. Una wants Archer to find a 'colored girl who used to work for' Una. According to Una, Lucy had left and taken ruby earrings and a gold necklace. Archer tells her to go to the police. Una says no. Archer won't take the case, he even suggest Una take out an ad in a newspaper. Then Archer realizes this isn't about the jewelry at all, but perhaps something big Una is hiding. He takes the case." Standard opener for the genre.
PACE - 3: The plot is complicated: I like to take notes and try to figure everything out before the P.I. does. And I did get a lot of it right, but with 8 pages of notes, cross-references, timelines, etc., this turned into a lengthy read. I enjoy these brain exercises, though. But Macdonald doesn't write, usually, one-sit lightning-bolt thrillers as opposed to, say, Mickey Spillane.
PLOT - 3: It's as convoluted as one would expect. Una isn't interested in jewelry. And Archer soon learns she isn't really interested in Lucy, nor Lucy's boyfriend, Alex. Nor Alex's mother. But Lucy has friends, and Lucy knows things. Una has an insane man locked in her attic, so we're headed into gothic territory. A back cover blurb reads, "Traveling from sleazy motels to stately seaside manors, The Ivory Grin is one of Lew Archer's most violent and macabre cases ever." Macdonald delivers on violence and weirdness, certainly. And this really isn't even close to his more complicated novels.
CHARACTERS - 4: Archer is in superb form in action and thoughts. I've noticed in this series there is a recurring type of line/exhange like this one appearing here:
>>>Archer: "There's a chance that Alex may be railroaded for murder."
>>>Mrs. Norris, Alex's mother: "I believe you are a righteous man, Mr. Archer."
>>>Archer thinks to himself: I let her believe it.
Archer is as hard-boiled as they come, and he's probably the smartest of all the hard-boiled P.I.s in American crime literature. And he knows it.
Mrs. Norris is portrayed beautifully here: "Last night [a murder] was like all the things I'd dreaded for myself and Alex...Lucy Champion was from Detroit, and I lived there myself when Alex was an infant...we were moving from city to city trying to find a living in the depression." She's spent her life trying to do all the right things, and then out of the blue her son is arrested for a murder he didn't commit. (Readers know this early, that Alex is innocent, as does Archer, so I'm not giving anything away). Mrs. Norris though sees the race issue hanging over it all: yes, white law wants to convict Alex and move on. Una is off her rocker completely, lying to Archer, hiding out in her mansion with the insane man in the attic. During a visit by Archer, Una "in red Japanese pajamas she looked less like a woman than a sexless imp who had grown old in hell." Dr. Benning marrys a beautiful blonde 20 years younger: one doesn't need to guess where that plot line is heading. But Dr. Benning is indeed madly in love with her. And this Mysterious Blonde? I'll say no more.
ATMOSPHERE - 5: Sensational. Early, a room has a 'dingy yellow ceiling." But as the plot thickens and we descend into madness the sky itself becomes "a dingy yellow ceiling." And THIS is how to describe a creepy house: "The traveling moon accompanied me [Archer] to the house. The building was Spanish Renaissance with a strong Inquisition hangover." And picture this: "Under the sign a quartet of Mexican boys were watching the world go by. They leaned in a row, one-legged like storks, their lifted heels supported by the windowsill of the shop, displaying mismatched flourescent socks under rolled jeans." Los Angeles portrayed as filthy mess of crime has been done at this point, 1952, many times by many authors. But here, Macdonald paints a picture that might surprise some: Southern California has always been as diverse as it is now. And for that portrait of diversity, plus the insanity, the crimes, and even, yes, a real skeleton in a closet, I gotta give Macdonald 5 stars for placing the reader dead center in it all.
SUMMARY: My overall rating is 3.6. This is, to me, the most atmospheric of all the Ross Macdonald's I've read. The author ensures we understand the racial tensions, but doesn't dwell on it. ONE single line (Alex's situation above) says more about race than the entire novel, "The Hate U Give" which plummets and hammers us relentlessly and turns into a racist philosophy itself. But the plot of "The Ivory Grin"? Macdonald has completeed about half-dozen plots that are better. Still, here, atmosphere done by a master author is worth the read itself.
BOOK 74 (of 250)
"He [Alex] seemed to be seeing himself for the first time as he was: a black boy tangled in white law, so vulnerable he hardly dared move a muscle." This line comes early in this novel, and what a premise! But the author doesn't deliver on that premise. Perhaps Ross Macdonald would have liked to, but it's 1952 and we're a long way from the Civil Rights Act: most ideas would have fallen on deaf ears. So Macdonald delivers his trademarks:
HOOK - 3: "I found her waiting at the door of my office," is the opening line. Una wants Archer to find a 'colored girl who used to work for' Una. According to Una, Lucy had left and taken ruby earrings and a gold necklace. Archer tells her to go to the police. Una says no. Archer won't take the case, he even suggest Una take out an ad in a newspaper. Then Archer realizes this isn't about the jewelry at all, but perhaps something big Una is hiding. He takes the case." Standard opener for the genre.
PACE - 3: The plot is complicated: I like to take notes and try to figure everything out before the P.I. does. And I did get a lot of it right, but with 8 pages of notes, cross-references, timelines, etc., this turned into a lengthy read. I enjoy these brain exercises, though. But Macdonald doesn't write, usually, one-sit lightning-bolt thrillers as opposed to, say, Mickey Spillane.
PLOT - 3: It's as convoluted as one would expect. Una isn't interested in jewelry. And Archer soon learns she isn't really interested in Lucy, nor Lucy's boyfriend, Alex. Nor Alex's mother. But Lucy has friends, and Lucy knows things. Una has an insane man locked in her attic, so we're headed into gothic territory. A back cover blurb reads, "Traveling from sleazy motels to stately seaside manors, The Ivory Grin is one of Lew Archer's most violent and macabre cases ever." Macdonald delivers on violence and weirdness, certainly. And this really isn't even close to his more complicated novels.
CHARACTERS - 4: Archer is in superb form in action and thoughts. I've noticed in this series there is a recurring type of line/exhange like this one appearing here:
>>>Archer: "There's a chance that Alex may be railroaded for murder."
>>>Mrs. Norris, Alex's mother: "I believe you are a righteous man, Mr. Archer."
>>>Archer thinks to himself: I let her believe it.
Archer is as hard-boiled as they come, and he's probably the smartest of all the hard-boiled P.I.s in American crime literature. And he knows it.
Mrs. Norris is portrayed beautifully here: "Last night [a murder] was like all the things I'd dreaded for myself and Alex...Lucy Champion was from Detroit, and I lived there myself when Alex was an infant...we were moving from city to city trying to find a living in the depression." She's spent her life trying to do all the right things, and then out of the blue her son is arrested for a murder he didn't commit. (Readers know this early, that Alex is innocent, as does Archer, so I'm not giving anything away). Mrs. Norris though sees the race issue hanging over it all: yes, white law wants to convict Alex and move on. Una is off her rocker completely, lying to Archer, hiding out in her mansion with the insane man in the attic. During a visit by Archer, Una "in red Japanese pajamas she looked less like a woman than a sexless imp who had grown old in hell." Dr. Benning marrys a beautiful blonde 20 years younger: one doesn't need to guess where that plot line is heading. But Dr. Benning is indeed madly in love with her. And this Mysterious Blonde? I'll say no more.
ATMOSPHERE - 5: Sensational. Early, a room has a 'dingy yellow ceiling." But as the plot thickens and we descend into madness the sky itself becomes "a dingy yellow ceiling." And THIS is how to describe a creepy house: "The traveling moon accompanied me [Archer] to the house. The building was Spanish Renaissance with a strong Inquisition hangover." And picture this: "Under the sign a quartet of Mexican boys were watching the world go by. They leaned in a row, one-legged like storks, their lifted heels supported by the windowsill of the shop, displaying mismatched flourescent socks under rolled jeans." Los Angeles portrayed as filthy mess of crime has been done at this point, 1952, many times by many authors. But here, Macdonald paints a picture that might surprise some: Southern California has always been as diverse as it is now. And for that portrait of diversity, plus the insanity, the crimes, and even, yes, a real skeleton in a closet, I gotta give Macdonald 5 stars for placing the reader dead center in it all.
SUMMARY: My overall rating is 3.6. This is, to me, the most atmospheric of all the Ross Macdonald's I've read. The author ensures we understand the racial tensions, but doesn't dwell on it. ONE single line (Alex's situation above) says more about race than the entire novel, "The Hate U Give" which plummets and hammers us relentlessly and turns into a racist philosophy itself. But the plot of "The Ivory Grin"? Macdonald has completeed about half-dozen plots that are better. Still, here, atmosphere done by a master author is worth the read itself.
October 25, 2013
It didn't take me long to recall that I had read this book but heh, it's Ross Macdonald. That's THE Ross Macdonald one of the icons of the hard-boiled/pulp world. One of the writers that today's most popular authors say was an influence in their decision and desire to write mysteries/thrillers/detective books.
Lew Archer is the name of this P.I. who uses his head to solve complicated mysteries of "whodunit."
I've copied this from Wiki, which read my mind except the naming of Lew. Now that mystery is solved, how Macdonald came up with Lew's name.
Oh, as the norm those days especially, Macdonald's birth name was Kenneth Millar, and was born in California.
"Macdonald mentions in the foreword to the Archer in Hollywood omnibus that his detective derives his name from Sam Spade's partner, Miles Archer, and from Lew(is) Wallace, author of Ben-Hur, though he was patterned on Philip Marlowe.
Macdonald has been called the primary heir to Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler as the master of American hardboiled mysteries. His writing built on the pithy style of his predecessors by adding psychological depth and insights into the motivations of his characters. Author Tom Rizzo has pointed out that Macdonald's plots were complicated, and often turned on Archer's unearthing family secrets of his clients and of the criminals who victimized them.[4] Lost or wayward sons and daughters were a theme common to many of the novels. Critics have commented favorably on Macdonald's deft combination of the two sides of the mystery genre, the "whodunit" and the psychological thriller. Even his regular readers seldom saw a Macdonald denouement coming.
Was going to write something akin to what Wiki entered on Ross Macdonald's page, but why bother. The entry says it all.
The Ivory Grin was worth a second read.
Lew Archer is the name of this P.I. who uses his head to solve complicated mysteries of "whodunit."
I've copied this from Wiki, which read my mind except the naming of Lew. Now that mystery is solved, how Macdonald came up with Lew's name.
Oh, as the norm those days especially, Macdonald's birth name was Kenneth Millar, and was born in California.
"Macdonald mentions in the foreword to the Archer in Hollywood omnibus that his detective derives his name from Sam Spade's partner, Miles Archer, and from Lew(is) Wallace, author of Ben-Hur, though he was patterned on Philip Marlowe.
Macdonald has been called the primary heir to Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler as the master of American hardboiled mysteries. His writing built on the pithy style of his predecessors by adding psychological depth and insights into the motivations of his characters. Author Tom Rizzo has pointed out that Macdonald's plots were complicated, and often turned on Archer's unearthing family secrets of his clients and of the criminals who victimized them.[4] Lost or wayward sons and daughters were a theme common to many of the novels. Critics have commented favorably on Macdonald's deft combination of the two sides of the mystery genre, the "whodunit" and the psychological thriller. Even his regular readers seldom saw a Macdonald denouement coming.
Was going to write something akin to what Wiki entered on Ross Macdonald's page, but why bother. The entry says it all.
The Ivory Grin was worth a second read.
January 15, 2017
Ross Macdonald was nothing if not a gifted stylist when it came to writing prose. THE IVORY GRIN starts off with a tension-filled meeting between the protagonist, private eye Lew Archer, and an unpleasant (in attitude and looks), but well-dressed, woman who wants to hire him.
You know the kind of person Archer's dealing with when he says that she "looked up at me with the air of an early bird surveying an outsize worm," then goes on to state that after giving him a handshake "as hard as a man's . . . she placed [her hand] behind my elbow, ushered me into my own office, and closed the door behind her." She then "seated herself in an armchair by the door and looked around the waiting-room. It was neither large nor expensively furnished, and she seemed to be registering those circumstances."
Right away, with a few short lines and a modicum of humor, we know quite a bit about this woman. And Archer. And we know any business between them won't go easily.
The woman wants Archer to find her former maid, who she says has stolen jewelry from her. The woman gives a name (Una--no last name, just Una), but won't give her address. Archer doesn't like Una or believe her story (right down to her name). However, (to paraphrase The Maltese Falcon) he does believe the hundred dollar bill she tosses his way to do the job. Archer sticks the bill in his wallet, "where it looked rather lonely." Despite his low cash flow, he almost returns it to Una as he gets to know and dislike her further.
He does, of course, take the case. But what Archer is hired to do and what he actually ends up doing are quite different.
The story mainly takes place in two small Southern California towns and involves such a tangle of characters and plot lines, I sometimes felt like I needed a score card (better yet, a flowchart) to follow what was going on.
But that's okay, because Macdonald was such a superb writer. He could deliver a wicked (often funny) turn of phrase that summed up character, situation, mood and/or viewpoint in a few well-chosen words. He had a flair for great dialogue, as well as for writing about dark issues from people's pasts, and a way with metaphors that rivaled Raymond Chandler.
Besides, at one point in the story, Archer describes his client being "in a spiteful rage, less than half a woman now, a mean little mannish doll raving ventriloquially."
Now "ventriloquially" is a real word (I looked it up in Webster's online dictionary), but how many writers would have the gumption to actually use it?
Addendum: I'd like to thank the people at Vintage Crime/Black Lizard for reissuing this and several of Macdonald's other Lew Archer novels, which had previously been out of print. They are classics and it's great to see them back in circulation.
You know the kind of person Archer's dealing with when he says that she "looked up at me with the air of an early bird surveying an outsize worm," then goes on to state that after giving him a handshake "as hard as a man's . . . she placed [her hand] behind my elbow, ushered me into my own office, and closed the door behind her." She then "seated herself in an armchair by the door and looked around the waiting-room. It was neither large nor expensively furnished, and she seemed to be registering those circumstances."
Right away, with a few short lines and a modicum of humor, we know quite a bit about this woman. And Archer. And we know any business between them won't go easily.
The woman wants Archer to find her former maid, who she says has stolen jewelry from her. The woman gives a name (Una--no last name, just Una), but won't give her address. Archer doesn't like Una or believe her story (right down to her name). However, (to paraphrase The Maltese Falcon) he does believe the hundred dollar bill she tosses his way to do the job. Archer sticks the bill in his wallet, "where it looked rather lonely." Despite his low cash flow, he almost returns it to Una as he gets to know and dislike her further.
He does, of course, take the case. But what Archer is hired to do and what he actually ends up doing are quite different.
The story mainly takes place in two small Southern California towns and involves such a tangle of characters and plot lines, I sometimes felt like I needed a score card (better yet, a flowchart) to follow what was going on.
But that's okay, because Macdonald was such a superb writer. He could deliver a wicked (often funny) turn of phrase that summed up character, situation, mood and/or viewpoint in a few well-chosen words. He had a flair for great dialogue, as well as for writing about dark issues from people's pasts, and a way with metaphors that rivaled Raymond Chandler.
Besides, at one point in the story, Archer describes his client being "in a spiteful rage, less than half a woman now, a mean little mannish doll raving ventriloquially."
Now "ventriloquially" is a real word (I looked it up in Webster's online dictionary), but how many writers would have the gumption to actually use it?
Addendum: I'd like to thank the people at Vintage Crime/Black Lizard for reissuing this and several of Macdonald's other Lew Archer novels, which had previously been out of print. They are classics and it's great to see them back in circulation.
February 10, 2022
The Ivory Grin by Ross Macdonald.
A very fun read because of this wonderful author although he's written better. This story was narrated by Grover Gardner who also narrates the Andy Carpenter series. He is a golden voice and has received acclaim for his outstanding performances.
A word of caution. This book was written in the early 1950's and using the terminology of that era when referring to people of color. It does not use any vulgar slang.
A very fun read because of this wonderful author although he's written better. This story was narrated by Grover Gardner who also narrates the Andy Carpenter series. He is a golden voice and has received acclaim for his outstanding performances.
A word of caution. This book was written in the early 1950's and using the terminology of that era when referring to people of color. It does not use any vulgar slang.
February 13, 2022
Noir murder mystery with (consistently) interesting narrator. Author works under aliases and this is one. Story occurs in the 1950’s (70+ years ago so it’s history, right?). Love this type of mystery as there’s usually no (or fewer) profanities and less sexually descriptive phrases…guess they thought we already knew about that. 🤓
May 7, 2019
От известно време ми се беше дочела кримка. Кримка, ама не модерна, че нещо взеха да ми писват, а класическа, от noir жанра, чиито основи са положили Дашиъл Хамет, Реймънд Чандлър, Джеймс Кейн и цяла плеяда автори, творили във времевия интервал 30-те- 60-те години на миналия век в Америка. Кримка с фатална перхидролена хубавица, въртяща на пръста си всичко живо с пикало между краката, кримка с устато частно ченге, водещо разказа от първо лице (много любим мой похват), което не се свени да използва неудобни вече думичики от сорта на негър и пуши като комин и в ресторанта, и във влака, просто защото пушенето все още е разрешено навсякъде, ех... Абе сещате се Сам Спейд, Филип Марлоу, Майк Хамър...
Та-а разходих се до "читанка", въведох в търсачката "криминална проза" и хоп, изникна ми името Рос Макдоналд, псевдоним на писателя Кенет Милър, вихрил се точно през въпросния период. Уви, в залисията си не съм обърнал внимание, че "Усмивката на черепа", издадена у нас през 1992, всъщност е №4 от поредицата за частното ченге Лу Арчър, а Подвижна мишена, излязла година по-късно под шапката на друго, потънало вече в забрава издателство (о, блажени, романтични и хаотични 90's :) ), всъщност е първата..., ама вече бях отхвърлил доволен обем от четивото, та да поправя тази (в случая не толкова фатална) грешка. Абстрахирайте се от корицата, такива бяха те в началото на 90-те - кичозни, шарени и папагалски, привличащи вниманието на зажаднелия за нещо по-различно от соц-реалии читател - романът е един път - с напрегнато действие, с разкошен, описателен език, идеален за убиване на някой мъглив следобед. Разбира се, част от авторовите решения към момента звучат наивно, но точно в това е чарът, и не бива да се забравя кога е писана книгата. Изкефих се на макс!
Та-а разходих се до "читанка", въведох в търсачката "криминална проза" и хоп, изникна ми името Рос Макдоналд, псевдоним на писателя Кенет Милър, вихрил се точно през въпросния период. Уви, в залисията си не съм обърнал внимание, че "Усмивката на черепа", издадена у нас през 1992, всъщност е №4 от поредицата за частното ченге Лу Арчър, а Подвижна мишена, излязла година по-късно под шапката на друго, потънало вече в забрава издателство (о, блажени, романтични и хаотични 90's :) ), всъщност е първата..., ама вече бях отхвърлил доволен обем от четивото, та да поправя тази (в случая не толкова фатална) грешка. Абстрахирайте се от корицата, такива бяха те в началото на 90-те - кичозни, шарени и папагалски, привличащи вниманието на зажаднелия за нещо по-различно от соц-реалии читател - романът е един път - с напрегнато действие, с разкошен, описателен език, идеален за убиване на някой мъглив следобед. Разбира се, част от авторовите решения към момента звучат наивно, но точно в това е чарът, и не бива да се забравя кога е писана книгата. Изкефих се на макс!
October 6, 2012
Unlike the recent Thompson book The Grifters (set in the same time period and locations) which I found a bit too Dostoevsky-like, Ross MacDonald delivers well crafted, excellently plotted novels that leave one little to doubt as to the skill of this author. Many a writer of mystery/crime novels have MacDonald on their favorites reading list (I researched this, and in fact came to MacDonald because of this).
Unlike Burke who brings a certain sense of literature to his Robicheaux novels, MacDonald's Lew Archer series are straight-forward, hard boiled mystery/detective novels all the way. Just when you think you could use a little dialogue, MacDonald delivers. Just when you think you know what'll happen next, MacDonald dispels everything you thought you knew. Just when you think you could use a bit more exposition, MacDonald delivers finely honed sentences that make the novel come alive in your mind. The pacing of his style is superb, timed just right, delivering punch bowls of satisfaction to sip from.
Lew Archer is a curious private eye, seeming to shun involvement with women though he is attracted to them which leaves tension in the minds of the reader. Women often are the culprits in his novels and Archer seems to have a sixth sense about them, providing both comfort and a hefty dose of suspicion where it comes to dealing with the dames. He has a good relationship with the various police forces (Arches used to be a cop), often teaming up with law enforcement and so unlike the traditional rivalry between the private eye and the police in other detective novels. Lew Archer delivers justice, every time for both the private citizens and the police forces with whom he works.
I highly recommend reading the Lew Archer series. And for those reading this review...if you've read this review, you've read all the Lew Archer reviews.
Unlike Burke who brings a certain sense of literature to his Robicheaux novels, MacDonald's Lew Archer series are straight-forward, hard boiled mystery/detective novels all the way. Just when you think you could use a little dialogue, MacDonald delivers. Just when you think you know what'll happen next, MacDonald dispels everything you thought you knew. Just when you think you could use a bit more exposition, MacDonald delivers finely honed sentences that make the novel come alive in your mind. The pacing of his style is superb, timed just right, delivering punch bowls of satisfaction to sip from.
Lew Archer is a curious private eye, seeming to shun involvement with women though he is attracted to them which leaves tension in the minds of the reader. Women often are the culprits in his novels and Archer seems to have a sixth sense about them, providing both comfort and a hefty dose of suspicion where it comes to dealing with the dames. He has a good relationship with the various police forces (Arches used to be a cop), often teaming up with law enforcement and so unlike the traditional rivalry between the private eye and the police in other detective novels. Lew Archer delivers justice, every time for both the private citizens and the police forces with whom he works.
I highly recommend reading the Lew Archer series. And for those reading this review...if you've read this review, you've read all the Lew Archer reviews.
December 6, 2009
One of the best hardboiled crime novels I've ever read. "Her cut throat gaped like the mouth of an unspeakable grief.” Wow.
July 19, 2024
Ridiculously good. Macdonald is up there with Chandler and Hammett. Maybe even better. Maybe even the best.
February 11, 2019
A morally repugnant client hires Archer to find her runaway black maid. Her motives for finding the maid are plain lies as believable as elephants living in chicken coops. Archer's professional experience tells him that his life will be full of bad work for bad money. This one at least offers something novel, the work is still bad but the money is good. So he takes it but both readers and Archer knows it won't stop at a skip and trace. The plot with blackmail and murder is as serpentine as any mountain road and as knotty as a hangman's noose.
I really loved the resolution of The Ivory Grin. It will be confusing to some but to me it perfectly demonstrates that why no plot should be called too complex as long as it wraps up all its red herring and subplots satisfactorily. There are multiple murder victims and murderers but all of them earn a slice of my sympathy. That's possible because Macdonald is much more willing to explore the psychology behind the crime compared to his contemporaries.
At one point Archer fortunately intercepts a telegram to another detective which gives him a couple of crucial clues. This will be a prime deus ex machina moment in a lesser narrative but here Archer has done enough legwork for the reader to believe that he would arrive at the same conclusions even without its help provided he is given a bit more time. Just giving this random example to show why Macdonald is a much better plotter than most crime authors I have read.
The signs of Macdonald's maturity as an author are more prominent here. He is much less liable to shoehorn in genre conventions. Archer doesn't get knocked out by gangsters / lackeys/ brutes every five chapters or so like he was at the start of the series. His relationship with cops ring truer. Earlier Archer had misogynistic tendencies but they are forgotten now. Archer feels for a black kid being set up as a patsy. This is a still an old school noir so don't expect the black kid to be a multifaceted character but Archer shows genuine concern without any hints of condescension. That is not bad for a genre known for its casual bigotry.
Archer has a become a really good character with Macdonald figuring out that he can be a tough guy without becoming a hard man. And the series had always thrown up great femme fatales. This entry's Bess Benning has got brains, guts, beauty and even some compassion but no luck.
The Ivory Grin 's immediate predecessor - The Way Some People Die, had Archer chasing more rotten characters in a more rancid part of town, so that one had a more suffocating atmosphere. But this is no slouch in the ambiance or the dialogue department. If I have to nitpick though the resolution itself was strong, a more proactive Archer could have arrived at it sooner. Archer makes a couple of mistakes that feel like errors of judgment and not bad plotting.
Macdonald's plots are proving to be better than Hammett and Chandler. What greater compliment to give to a noir writer. The ending of The Ivory Grin might suggest love makes fools of everyone, but it will be foolish to not love this series if you are a crime fiction fan. Rating - 4/5
I really loved the resolution of The Ivory Grin. It will be confusing to some but to me it perfectly demonstrates that why no plot should be called too complex as long as it wraps up all its red herring and subplots satisfactorily. There are multiple murder victims and murderers but all of them earn a slice of my sympathy. That's possible because Macdonald is much more willing to explore the psychology behind the crime compared to his contemporaries.
At one point Archer fortunately intercepts a telegram to another detective which gives him a couple of crucial clues. This will be a prime deus ex machina moment in a lesser narrative but here Archer has done enough legwork for the reader to believe that he would arrive at the same conclusions even without its help provided he is given a bit more time. Just giving this random example to show why Macdonald is a much better plotter than most crime authors I have read.
The signs of Macdonald's maturity as an author are more prominent here. He is much less liable to shoehorn in genre conventions. Archer doesn't get knocked out by gangsters / lackeys/ brutes every five chapters or so like he was at the start of the series. His relationship with cops ring truer. Earlier Archer had misogynistic tendencies but they are forgotten now. Archer feels for a black kid being set up as a patsy. This is a still an old school noir so don't expect the black kid to be a multifaceted character but Archer shows genuine concern without any hints of condescension. That is not bad for a genre known for its casual bigotry.
Archer has a become a really good character with Macdonald figuring out that he can be a tough guy without becoming a hard man. And the series had always thrown up great femme fatales. This entry's Bess Benning has got brains, guts, beauty and even some compassion but no luck.
The Ivory Grin 's immediate predecessor - The Way Some People Die, had Archer chasing more rotten characters in a more rancid part of town, so that one had a more suffocating atmosphere. But this is no slouch in the ambiance or the dialogue department. If I have to nitpick though the resolution itself was strong, a more proactive Archer could have arrived at it sooner. Archer makes a couple of mistakes that feel like errors of judgment and not bad plotting.
Macdonald's plots are proving to be better than Hammett and Chandler. What greater compliment to give to a noir writer. The ending of The Ivory Grin might suggest love makes fools of everyone, but it will be foolish to not love this series if you are a crime fiction fan. Rating - 4/5
February 3, 2020
'The best entry in the series I've read so far,' says reviewer Still. Agree. A perfect whodunit. (On Youtube as an audiobook - kudos to the reader.)
June 25, 2024
One of my favorites -- so far -- among the early works in the Lew Archer series. Terrific writing, taut plot. You can begin to see the early psychological influences in this novel which Macdonald would explore more fully from "The Galton Case" onward.
August 3, 2020
This had elements that made it interesting to read (finished it in a day) and the usual convolution of characters. But this time I didn't care as much as with the other Archer mysteries. Towards the end I was just thinking to get it over with, whatever the outcome.
May 13, 2018
Типичен, класически Чандлъров стил, живописен и образен. Но скучноват сюжет, който не ме грабна особено.
April 6, 2012
I had been waiting to get my hands on the great man's books for months (nearly a year) and the wait had been "excruciatingly beautiful" if I could describe it thus.
Had read only 3 of his novels before and loved 'em so my appetite was fully whetted by the time I grabbed 4 of his rare Omnibus editions.
Started with "The Ivory Grin" and I experienced "one of those days" where the rest of the things and the people around you seem utterly insignificant. Yes, I was in "the Zone" as the more articulate would like to put it. I spent close to 7 heavenly,other-worldly hours today and if anything else, "The Zebra-Striped Hearse" left me panting for more after I was done with this one. Damn, at this rate; I'll finish the 12 novels in a couple of weeks! :-\
But boy, what a coupla weeks its gonna be?! \m/
After all, we strive and aspire to get such intense pleasure from reading as often as possible. To make it all seem worthwhile. That is why we are here, ain't we?
Macdonald has moved into my all time fav. authors list if he hadn't already.
Had read only 3 of his novels before and loved 'em so my appetite was fully whetted by the time I grabbed 4 of his rare Omnibus editions.
Started with "The Ivory Grin" and I experienced "one of those days" where the rest of the things and the people around you seem utterly insignificant. Yes, I was in "the Zone" as the more articulate would like to put it. I spent close to 7 heavenly,other-worldly hours today and if anything else, "The Zebra-Striped Hearse" left me panting for more after I was done with this one. Damn, at this rate; I'll finish the 12 novels in a couple of weeks! :-\
But boy, what a coupla weeks its gonna be?! \m/
After all, we strive and aspire to get such intense pleasure from reading as often as possible. To make it all seem worthwhile. That is why we are here, ain't we?
Macdonald has moved into my all time fav. authors list if he hadn't already.
July 11, 2012
(The five-stars here, of course, is relative to the genre..., not to Proust)
MacDonald's mastery of his craft is evident on nearly every page here - both in the writing, and in the construction and characterization and believablity. Everything I find lacking in science fiction, I find present in crime fiction... including a certain moral tenderness.
In the Ivory Grin, RM also deals with the issue of race - circa 1952 -- and though he writes as a white man, and pretends nothing else, he has an eye for detail and nuance that rings largely true. (One exception was the idioms used in the letter written to Lucy, early in the book). Macdonald was an excellent observer of human character and physionomy, linguistically inventive, and a patient constructor of plot.
MacDonald's mastery of his craft is evident on nearly every page here - both in the writing, and in the construction and characterization and believablity. Everything I find lacking in science fiction, I find present in crime fiction... including a certain moral tenderness.
In the Ivory Grin, RM also deals with the issue of race - circa 1952 -- and though he writes as a white man, and pretends nothing else, he has an eye for detail and nuance that rings largely true. (One exception was the idioms used in the letter written to Lucy, early in the book). Macdonald was an excellent observer of human character and physionomy, linguistically inventive, and a patient constructor of plot.
January 7, 2019
So I guess Lew Archer is 2-2 with me. While I love the time capsule atmosphere of post war California in all the books, something is missing in these last two: pulp. All the elements are in place for a really fun hard case crime story but this one nearly crumples under its own oppressive vibe. Bella City oozes atmosphere and I could downright smell it but that doesn’t mean I wanted to hang out there. The revelation of what the title means was surprisingly effective but was too little too late. I hope Archer has a more fun case next or maybe I need to jump ahead because this one was a bummer.
June 6, 2023
The Ivory Grin, Lew Archer series book4, by Ross Macdonald.
“The packing houses of the growers’ associations stood like airship hangars on the edge of the green fields. Parched nurseries and suburban ranchos offered tomato plants and eggs and lima beans for sale. There was a roadside traffic of filling stations, drive-ins, motels slumping dejectedly under optimistic names. In the road the big trucks went by in both directions, trailing oil smoke and a long loud raspberry for Bella City.
The highway was a rough social equator bisecting the community into lighter and darker hemispheres. Above it in the northern hemisphere lived the whites who owned and operated the banks and churches, clothing and grocery and liquor stores. In the smaller section below it, cramped and broken up by ice plants, warehouses, laundries, lived the darker ones, the Mexicans and Negroes who did most of the ...”
Ross Macdonald, pen name of Canadian American Kenneth Millar, was a master of noir and story telling in the popular Lew Archer detective series of the Southern California scene spanning ‘49 to the ‘70’s. Raised poor in a broken family and moved from place to place, Vancouver to Ontario, but college educated Eng. Lit and History, culminating U of Michigan phd.
It is evident Millar/Macdonald possessed a full and heavy understanding of the “social equator bisecting the community into lighter and darker hemispheres. He settled on the genre of mystery fiction, and the location of Southern California, to tell stories of intrigue, of peoples and families of the American upper and lower levels of economic, social and racial classes. A master of plot and story, his writing is most distinguished by a keen sociological and psychological awareness, sensitive understanding of familial and personal drama, and trauma.
Truly a master writer in mid century American Civilization. Having read a dozen, or so, of the series, I would rank this as one of his best. I hope to read them all, and encourage other readers to take part.
“The packing houses of the growers’ associations stood like airship hangars on the edge of the green fields. Parched nurseries and suburban ranchos offered tomato plants and eggs and lima beans for sale. There was a roadside traffic of filling stations, drive-ins, motels slumping dejectedly under optimistic names. In the road the big trucks went by in both directions, trailing oil smoke and a long loud raspberry for Bella City.
The highway was a rough social equator bisecting the community into lighter and darker hemispheres. Above it in the northern hemisphere lived the whites who owned and operated the banks and churches, clothing and grocery and liquor stores. In the smaller section below it, cramped and broken up by ice plants, warehouses, laundries, lived the darker ones, the Mexicans and Negroes who did most of the ...”
Ross Macdonald, pen name of Canadian American Kenneth Millar, was a master of noir and story telling in the popular Lew Archer detective series of the Southern California scene spanning ‘49 to the ‘70’s. Raised poor in a broken family and moved from place to place, Vancouver to Ontario, but college educated Eng. Lit and History, culminating U of Michigan phd.
It is evident Millar/Macdonald possessed a full and heavy understanding of the “social equator bisecting the community into lighter and darker hemispheres. He settled on the genre of mystery fiction, and the location of Southern California, to tell stories of intrigue, of peoples and families of the American upper and lower levels of economic, social and racial classes. A master of plot and story, his writing is most distinguished by a keen sociological and psychological awareness, sensitive understanding of familial and personal drama, and trauma.
Truly a master writer in mid century American Civilization. Having read a dozen, or so, of the series, I would rank this as one of his best. I hope to read them all, and encourage other readers to take part.
June 14, 2019
When I began reading Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer novels last year, I built my acquisitions around the three-volume collection published by the Library of America. These bring together many of the Archer novels that Macdonald published over the span of a quarter century, encapsulating nicely the corpus of his work. The collection is far from comprehensive, though, which led me to search out copies of the novels missing from them.
The Ivory Grin was my latest find. It begins when Archer is approached by a woman asking her to locate a nurse hiding in a small California town. This soon results in a series of encounters that hit the marks familiar to readers of Macdonald's novels, with murders, clashes with local law enforcement, and encounters with a cast of sharply-written characters. Yet while an enjoyable read there is a reason why it didn't make the "best of" collection published by the LoA, as the elements of the story don't come together as well as they do his other novels. It just goes to prove that, no matter how good they are or how effective their formula is, not even the best writer can produce a great work every time.
The Ivory Grin was my latest find. It begins when Archer is approached by a woman asking her to locate a nurse hiding in a small California town. This soon results in a series of encounters that hit the marks familiar to readers of Macdonald's novels, with murders, clashes with local law enforcement, and encounters with a cast of sharply-written characters. Yet while an enjoyable read there is a reason why it didn't make the "best of" collection published by the LoA, as the elements of the story don't come together as well as they do his other novels. It just goes to prove that, no matter how good they are or how effective their formula is, not even the best writer can produce a great work every time.
June 5, 2020
Maybe three and a half stars. As several Goodreads reviewers say, it's not the best of the Lew Archer series. But it does have a lot of the characteristics--beautifully observed minor characters, sketched with a minimum of fuss, a real placiness about southern CA around 1950. The plot is extremely convoluted, and I often didn't know what Archer was thinking, but that's because Macdonald, unlike a lot of more modern mystery writers, wasn't spoon-feeding me. This is a novel you have to work at, not just float along with.
January 25, 2018
I got so much deja vu reading this, because I read Strangers in Town first (a short story with a similar plot) - but long enough ago that I forgot many of the details. there are many characters and many stories. the story is quite grim and tragic, with so many characters who have lived their lives wrong and don't know how to live with the regret. the title refers to a set piece that's particularly disturbing...
January 5, 2020
Archer is asked to look for a missing woman. He is immediately suspicious of his employer and things soon take a turn for the worse. The Ivory Grin has a great twist at the end. I keep saying this but Macdonald is a must read for any fan of crime fiction.
July 6, 2021
My least favourite Lew Archer novel so far. The conclusion was fine and redeemed the previously muddled plot (or maybe that was just me not being smart). As always there's lots of fine writing I just wasnt taken by the mystery as much in this one.
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