Comments on and another thing...: On THE CHILL by Ross Macdonald

I have pretty much all of Ross Macdonald's books o...

2008-09-09T18:26:00.000-07:00

I have pretty much all of Ross Macdonald's books on my shelf. I have read every one of them several times. I discovered Lew Archer quite accidentally in 1993. Ever since, I have been looking for similar modern-day writers, wholly in vain. He seems to have been one of a kind.

The ending of The Chill is truly masterful, it gave me the shivers the first time. I also am partial to the Zebra-striped hearse and the Far side of the dollar.

I guess RM's pull for me is the slow unveiling of family secrets that happens in book after book. Archer actually does very little deductive reasoning as such. There is a lot of legwork, and sometimes the plot is moved along by putting him in the right place at the right time. As a reader we don't mind. We are breathless to learn of people's motives, inter-relationships, and most importantly the relationship between long gone events and the present. In the meantime Archer's nobility and humanity - and not clever feats of deduction - suffices.

“His Adam’s apple throbbed like a grief in his thr...

2008-05-15T14:41:00.000-07:00

“His Adam’s apple throbbed like a grief in his throat.”

How do you recede from the imagery of that? What initially appeals to me about Millar’s writing is indeed his insight to the human condition. His unique style seems inevitable. Commentary of empathy can never be avoided and his psychological observation seems always on point.

Writing as John Macdonald and then John Ross (before finally settling on Ross Macdonald) displays a personal level of compassion and (that word again) empathy, and serves as admirable nod to the fellow author in the family. Personal tragedy overshadows the written word and is unavoidable. And the biting words of an envious author with an axe to grind must be seen as having set the stage for personal doubt.

In all fairness to Chandler, I would say that his novels translate incomparably to the screen, and that he entirely deserves credit as a father of film noir. But we’re talking apples and oranges here, and… screenplays.

I enjoyed so many of Ross Macdonald’s novels that I find it difficult to compare. But I would agree on The Chill.

Alert the media! It's official!Stuart Neville, my ...

2008-05-14T07:30:00.000-07:00

Alert the media! It's official!

Stuart Neville, my Prince of Darkness, and the writer formerly known as "Conduit," has landed an agent - and not just any agent - but literary powerhouse and legend, Nat Sobel.

His agency, Sobel Weber Associates, New York, represents a few scribes you might have heard of: James Ellroy (L.A. Confidential, The Black Dahlia, American Tabloid), Joseph Wambaugh (The Choirboys, The Onion Field, Hollywood Station), Pulitzer winner Richard Russo (Nobody's Fool, Empire Falls, Bridge of Sighs), F.X. Toole (Rope Burns - adapted for the screen as the multi Oscar winning Million Dollar Baby - and Pound for Pound), Robert Jordan (the Wheel of Time series), Tim Dorsey (the Serge Storms series), and many more.

Oh, Nat also loves him some cats. My kind of guy.

And how did Stuart get on the Uber agent’s radar? I’m going to steal a bit of Stuart’s thunder and reveal to my blog peeps that Mr. Sobel scouted him on the Internet. That’s right – a big name agent was scouring the online crime magazines and plucked our man from obscurity. (of course I’ve been singing Stuart’s praises loud and clear since last fall when I first read his work in Agent Nathan’s Bransford’s writing contest). To those of you that don’t believe agents are poking around the world wide web looking for The Next Big Thing – here’s your proof. Here. Is. Your. Proof.

So do stop by and give a big shout out to the literary world’s best and brightest rising star!

http://conduitnovel.blogspot.com/

*shake my booty*

Having already read Stuarts’s manuscript (it already holds the distinction of being only one of four books I liked well enough to finish this year) GHOSTS OF BELFAST, I can tell you it’s nothing by clover ahead for this blessed son of Northern Ireland.

So glad to see an assessment of Ross Macdonald. No...

2008-05-07T07:47:00.000-07:00

So glad to see an assessment of Ross Macdonald. Not just a great mystery novelist but an excellent writer whose books will never age. Most of his books are in print or being brought back into print by Vintage Crime. Yes, better than Chandler. It's time for a rediscovery of Macdonald!

Enjoyed the flow of the writing as much as the con...

2008-04-30T06:28:00.000-07:00

Enjoyed the flow of the writing as much as the content of the article. Not an easy balance to achieve.

I confess I have never read any MacDonald or Chandler or other 'classic' older crime writing. Do I get sent to the back of the class for having Walters, Cornwell, Rendell and Rankin on my shelf?

I have ordered a copy of The Chill and will comment when I've read it. Always assuming it arrives before next year...

I do believe publication of The Reapers is imminent. Why does it feel like Christmas Eve? Drum roll...?

there's a book club now?

2008-04-29T16:35:00.000-07:00

there's a book club now?

Fantastic. I thought I was the only person alive ...

2008-04-29T07:40:00.000-07:00

Fantastic. I thought I was the only person alive who believed Macdonald a better writer than Chandler. Thought there might be something wrong with me. And THE CHILL is one of my favorites of the genre. I'm going to have to go back and reread it now.

Thanks.

Great post and I agree about the shadow that the L...

2008-04-29T00:49:00.000-07:00

Great post and I agree about the shadow that the Lew Archer novels cast. The Chill is excellent, but I still have a great deal of fondness for THE GALTON CASE

Ali