In the first Lew Archer novel, we meet the private detective who is commissioned to find the missing millionaire Ralph Sampson. His investigation leads him to encounter some of the millionaire’s unscrupulous and shady associates. He is beaten up several times during the novel, but he always maintains his optimism and ultimately uncovers the full story of Sampson’s kidnapping. Before reading this book as part of a challenge, I didn’t even know who Ross Macdonald or Lew Archer were. I liked Lew Archer’s demeanour and sense of humour. It was a really rewarding read. I will probably read others.
“I’ll take it from the beginning. When I went into police work in 1935, I believed that evil was a quality some people were born with, like a harelip. A cop’s job was to find those people and put them away. But evil isn’t so simple. Everybody has it in him, and whether it comes out in his actions depends on a number of things. Environment, opportunity, economic pressure, a piece of bad luck, a wrong friend. The trouble is a cop has to go on judging people by rule of thumb, and acting on the judgment.”