I've mentioned my enthusiasm for Ross Macdonald's work several times over the years and recently - while on a flight to San Diego - I read a novel he wrote at the peak of his powers. The Far Side of the Dollar was first published in 1964 and it begins with a fairly low-key investigation, involving a boy called Tommy Hillman, who has just absconded from school. But this isn't just any school - it's a pricey place for problem children - and this isn't just any private eye case. It's quite compelling. And it won a CWA Gold Dagger, as well as being nominated for an Edgar.
The writing is very strong, and there are plenty of arresting turns of phrase to keep one hooked as the plot unfolds. Lew Archer is, in some respects, an 'everyman' character, less distinctively characterised than Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe, but in this story he encounters an old flame while pursuing his inquiry in typically determined fashion.
As usual with Macdonald, tangled family relationships lie at the heart of this story. I discussed Macdonald's own complex life in The Life of Crime and he seems to have been trying to work out in fiction some of the issues that troubled him in reality. Crucially, though, he never lets these concerns interrupt the flow of the story.
'Other people's lives are my business,' Archer says to Mrs Hillman, a rich man's wife and a key figure in the novel. 'I've never been able to see much in the world beside the people in it.' So no Maltese falcon here. I liked the way that Macdonald developed the story, and was hooked from start to finish. Private eyes can be samey, but this is a high-calibre example of the form.
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