Like many Southern California millionaires, Ralph Sampson keeps odd company. There’s the sun-worshiping holy man whom Sampson once gave his very own mountain, and the fading actress with sidelines in astrology and S&M. Now, one of Sampson’s friends may have arranged his kidnapping.
As private eye Lew Archer follows the clues from the canyon sanctuaries of the megarich to jazz joints where you can get beaten up between sets, The Moving Target blends sex, greed, misdirected love, and family hatred into an explosive crime novel.
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"When it comes to who is the greatest of the hard-boiled detective writers question? - I always go with Raymond Chandler without hesitation. It's only when I have recently read a Ross Macdonald book ..that my smile twitches at the corners and my eyes show a flicker of self-doubt." — Francis (4 out of 5 stars)
"When it comes to who is the greatest of the hard-boiled detective writers question? - I always go with Raymond Chandler without hesitation. It's only when I have recently read a Ross Macdonald book ..that my smile twitches at the corners and my eyes show a flicker of self-doubt."
“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.”
“This is hard-boiled detective writing at the top of its form.”
“One of the ‘Big Three’ in American hard-boiled detective fiction, with Chandler and Hammett.”
“Lew Archer was possibly the ultimate father figure and Ross Macdonald is probably still best read as a young man, preferably in a bus station at 1 a.m., with everything you own in a backpack, waiting for a bus to somewhere/anywhere else.”
“The greatest PI series ever written? Probably.”
" I can't tell you how many times I've pull this book off the shelf just to read the first page to someone. "
" This is the very first mystery from the excellent Lew Archer series by Ross MacDonald. It lives up to the hype! "
" Inspired by "The Galton Case" to read this one. While it isn't quite as good, it's still great! "
" An awesomel complex mystery et in California. Archer is a cynicist, humorist, and idealist somehow all at the same time "
" Loved Ross Macdonald's first book. While written in the 40s it still stands up. "
" Ah Lew Archer. Always an avuncular figure just trying to get to the bottom of all things "
" Very much a continuation of Chandler's style-- the spare narration that occasionally bursts into philosophical wordiness, entangled plot, pervading darkness and pessimism. I enjoyed it immensely. "
" Read many years ago when I was on my Ross Macdonald kick. "
" The first of Grandmaster MacDonald's Lew Archer series is pretty much what you would expect from a talented young writer trying to emulate Chandler and Hammett. It's better written than most that followed but it's also derivative and obvious. A solid start but he gets better with age and experience. "
" My first exposure to Ross Macdonald and Lew Archer. A good, page-turning mystery in the vein of Hammett & Chandler. Not terribly memorable, but amply enjoyable. "
" Lots of twists and turns in this yarn! And it is just over 200 pages, so it goes quickly! Maybe too quickly, as I got confused a few times over who done what to whom! But well worth the time! "
" Can people really kill someone and assume their identity without no one catching on? In Ross MacDonald's world it seems to happen all the time. I love Archer, but this one was not one of my favorites. "
" The most complicated Lew Archer I've yet read. Some fiendish twists, the impact of which is lessened somewhat by two chapters of exposition before the conclusion. "
" Fairly good LA-noir type mystery, but definately not one of his better ones. Still, great plot twists at the end. "
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.
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.
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