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The Ivory Grin Audiobook
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(4.00) - 488 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
If any writer can be said to have inherited the mantel of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, it was Ross Macdonald. Between the late 1940s and his death in 1983, he gave the American crime novel a psychological depth and moral complexity that his predecessors had only hinted at. And in the character of Lew Archer, Macdonald redefined the private eye as a roving conscience who walks the treacherous frontier between criminal guilt and human sin.
A hard-faced woman clad in a blue mink stole and dripping with diamonds hires Lew Archer to track down her former maid, who she claims has stolen her jewelry. Archer can tell he’s being fed a line, but curiosity gets the better of him and he accepts the case. He tracks the wayward maid to a ramshackle motel in a seedy, run-down small town but finds her dead in her tiny room, with her throat slit from ear to ear. Archer digs deeper into the case and discovers a web of deceit and intrigue, with crazed numbers runners from Detroit, gorgeous triple-crossing molls, and a golden-boy shipping heir who’s gone mysteriously missing.
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"The brashness of Hammett but with depth of character, the panache of Chandler without the slick Hollywood style, Macdonald's writing is free and flowing, not suffering the choppy one-liners of the genre. It relies more on wit and craft than tough-guy cliches without sacrificing the characteristics of pulp I enjoy: the circuitous mystery development; the shades of gray ethics and morality; the calling of all spades spades. Breezy summertime reading, breezy wintertime reading."
— Brendan (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“Macdonald’s spare, controlled narration, built for action and speed, conveys the world through which the action moves and gives it meaning, [bringing] scene and character, however swiftly, before the eye without a blur.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“Archer-Macdonald are working together at their peak, piecing together a most modern American tragedy, making literature out of the thriller form, gazing more clearly [than] ever into the future as it rolls through the smog.”
— Newsweek -
“Archer solves crimes with the instincts of a psychologist and the conscience of a priest, and the mid-twentieth-century Southern California setting is a wonderful ride in the Wayback Machine.”
— Los Angeles Times, praise for the series
Awards
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A Los Angeles Times Pick of Best Mystery Series
The Ivory Grin Listener Reviews
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" Ross Macdonald's The Ivory Grin is taut and barrels along at a good enough pace to keep the reader gripped to finish the book as franticly as the events in the novel unfold. The only issue I have is that I knew who the killer was early on, and had the majority of the mystery solved to soon for me to fully enjoy the book. That's the only reason it didn't receive a five star "
— Wolfgang, 2/11/2014 -
" Audiobook. More a 3.5. I am always pleased with time spent with Ross Macdonald. "
— Susan, 1/28/2014 -
" Good quick read, a little slow in the middle, but a good twist ending. I give it a 3.5 "
— Richard, 1/15/2014 -
" An early entry in the Lew Archer series. This was also published under the title "Marked for Murder." It was a very enjoyable read. At this time, Macdonald's plots had more variation but his rhetorical genius hadn't quite peaked. "
— Robert, 1/8/2014 -
" A very good example of a late hard-boiled detective novel. Very dark, very well written. This is the first Ross MacDonald book I have ever read and it won't be my last. "
— Laura, 12/31/2013 -
" Another solid Lew Archer novel. "
— Erik, 11/24/2013 -
" Wow, this is a downer even by Ross MacDonald standards. Gripping, nonetheless, and a twist to the ending right out of EC Horror comics. "
— Elaine, 10/14/2013 -
" Lew Archer does it again in this classic Macdonald mystery "
— Roshni, 10/9/2013 -
" Macdonald hit his stride in this fourth Lew Archer book. "
— David, 10/1/2013 -
" I'm coming pretty late to Ross MacDonald, but it's wonderful stuff. Hell, Eudora Welty was a fan. And Lew Archer is nowhere near a sour-puss as Philip Marlowe. "
— Oscar, 7/24/2013 -
" A labyrinth of a tale, where you can never quite get a handle on who's part of the solution or another piece of the puzzle. MacDonald characters have more facets to their personalities, never falling into the cliched characterizations found in lesser writers in the genre "
— doug, 3/23/2013 -
" Very 60's noir if you are a fan you'll like it "
— Michael, 11/20/2012 -
" There are some seriously nasty people in this book, which is awesome. "
— Colleen, 7/12/2012 -
" 4-4.5 stars. Good solid entry in the Archer series. Archer still feels a bit more like a window than a character here, but he's getting better, and the plot is nice and convoluted. "
— Weasel, 5/14/2012 -
" Another solid outing for Lew Archer. Really vivid, although the conclusion feels a bit rushed. "
— Matt, 5/10/2012 -
" Chandleresque...great...not the best of them but good... "
— Mark, 12/11/2011 -
" I had forgotten all about this series! Ross rocks. Also the new covers are su-poib. "
— Jason, 8/30/2011 -
" A very good example of a late hard-boiled detective novel. Very dark, very well written. This is the first Ross MacDonald book I have ever read and it won't be my last. "
— Laura, 1/8/2011 -
" Audiobook. More a 3.5. I am always pleased with time spent with Ross Macdonald. "
— Susan, 10/30/2010 -
" I'm coming pretty late to Ross MacDonald, but it's wonderful stuff. Hell, Eudora Welty was a fan. And Lew Archer is nowhere near a sour-puss as Philip Marlowe. "
— Oscar, 6/9/2010 -
" One of the best hardboiled crime novels I've ever read. "Her cut throat gaped like the mouth of an unspeakable grief.” Wow. "
— Corey, 12/2/2009 -
" A lesser Archer. Both more complex and tighter than <em>The Moving Target</em>, but not yet quite meaningful in its complexity. Macdonald was still working out his formula, his Gestalt mystery. <br/><br/>It is, at least, scoured of obvious Chandler/Hammett thefts. "
— Gabriel, 8/11/2009 -
" Lew Archer, CA private eye, runs again.<br/><br/>CA is a hotbed of sin and corruption.<br/><br/>And murder.<br/><br/>Great, simple detective procedural, uncomplicated by the private agonies and spouses and significant others of most detective stories. "
— Jackpl, 2/25/2009 -
" There are some seriously nasty people in this book, which is awesome. "
— Colleen, 7/18/2008 -
" I had forgotten all about this series! Ross rocks. Also the new covers are su-poib. "
— Jason, 7/14/2008 -
" An early entry in the Lew Archer series. This was also published under the title "Marked for Murder." It was a very enjoyable read. At this time, Macdonald's plots had more variation but his rhetorical genius hadn't quite peaked. "
— Robert, 5/3/2008
About Ross Macdonald
Ross Macdonald (1915–1983) was the pen name of Kenneth Millar. For over twenty years he lived in Santa Barbara and wrote mystery novels about the fascinating and changing society of his native state. He is widely credited with elevating the detective novel to the level of literature with his compactly written tales of murder and despair. His works have received awards from the Mystery Writers of America and of Great Britain, and his book The Moving Target was made into the movie Harper in 1966. In 1982 he was awarded the Eye Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Private Eye Writers of America.
About Grover Gardner
Grover Gardner (a.k.a. Tom Parker) is an award-winning narrator with over a thousand titles to his credit. Named one of the “Best Voices of the Century” and a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, he has won three prestigious Audie Awards, was chosen Narrator of the Year for 2005 by Publishers Weekly, and has earned more than thirty Earphones Awards.