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Ross
Macdonald
from Aug. 1,
2007
The first Ross Macdonald novel I ever read
was The Way Some People Die. He was John Ross Macdonald then, still
going back and forth I suppose with John D. MacDonald about the use of names
so similar.
I
was fifteen, steeped in Gold Medals and Lions and Ace Doubles. By then I’d read
a good deal of Hammett and Chandler as well. None of it prepared me for Ross
Macdonald.
I
was too ignorant to pick up on stylistic differences. What I noticed were the
characters. Few of them were new to me as types, most of them in fact were in
most of the hardboiled novels I’d read, but Macdonald brought a depth and
humanity to them that made me think not of other crime writers but of authors
such as Fitzgerald and Hemingway and James T. Farrell and Graham Greene, my
idols at the time. This was real no bullshit psychological writing.
Just
as superheroes never outgrow their need for milk, I’ve never outgrown my need
for the novels and stories of Ross Macdonald. I share his view of humanity,
that amalgam of fascination, disappointment, anger, and sorrow that fill his
work.
If
you want to remind yourself of how good he was even early on, I’d recommend The
Archer Files edited by Tom Nolan and published by Crippen & Landru. In
addition to being a fine looking collection, it contains all the published Lew
Archer short stories plus an intriguing section called “Notes.” Macdonald
started stories that he planned to someday finish, a way of keeping thoughts
alive. Most of these sure would have made superb tales.
Then
there’s the long introduction by Tom Nolan in which he takes the reader into
the work and life of Kenneth Millar; a/k/a Ross Macdonald. Nolan wrote the
Edgar-nominated biography of Macdonald and this introduction is almost a
synthesis of it in its information, insight and elegantly arranged
presentation.
Oh,
yes—the stories. There are an even dozen and while some are better than others
all of them demonstrate why he became so important so quickly, even though his
real fame took many years to achieve. My favorite is an imperfect piece called “Wild
Goose Chase.” There’s a sort of gothic frenzy to it that kept me flipping those
pages.
This
is an essential acquisition for all libraries, home or public.
Click here to check out
The Archer Files at Amazon.
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This article
originally appeared on Ed Gorman’s blog, New Improved Gorman, on Aug. 1,
2007. It is reprinted here by permission. Ed wrote dozens of novels in a
variety of genres, but his most popular work (and my favorite of his work)
was in the crime and western genres. His ten Sam McCain mysteries—set in the
fictional Iowa town of Black River Falls during the 1950s, ’60, and ’70s—are
suspenseful, mysterious, and often funny excursions into small town America.
The New York Times called Sam McCain, “The kind of hero any small town
could take to its heart” and The Seattle Times called McCain “an intriguing
mix of knight errant and realist…”
But Ed was also a tireless reader and
promoter of other writers’ work. His blogs—there were three, none of them
operating at the same time—are treasure troves for readers of crime, horror,
and western fiction both old and new. Ed died Oct. 14, 2016.
Click here to
check out Ed Gorman’s Sam McCain novels on Amazon.
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