Ross MacDonald: A Biography [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Ross MacDonald wrote about twenty mystery books-most of which took place in Santa Barbara, California(he called it Santa Teresa because he feared lawsuits), and sometimes in Toronto where the demons that haunted him were birthed. This acquaintence all took place in Santa Barbara where I went to school. He liked to talk about student demonstrations, what a scum Richard Nixon was, the Viet Nam war-and after I left, student demonstrations(which he generally supported) I did not. He was, as Nolan descibes, a Stevensonian liberal.

His mystery books are a legacy of our country's literature. His first Lew Archer book, "The Moving Target"(made into the movie "Harper") brought a new Raymond Chandler style detective onto the Southern California landscape(he knew little about West L.A unlike Chandler). Archer was an outsider, a PI who observed and investigated people without touching them or being touched by them. The purity of his first book made it, in Michael Avallone's opinion-his best. The next Archer books seemed to flounder, but the author in the early sixties found his voice. Books began to come out each year- and each seemed better than the last. The "Galton Case"-a breakthrough book that parallels the author's own life; "The Far Side of the Dollar"-another orphan-mystery that delves into the lives of children without parents. "Black Money" introduced the spoof of the college professor, Tattinger, of whom Macdonald felt not only contempt for but jealousy of.(His Ph.d thesis was never published; he was refused a position at UCSB) "The Chill" and "The Zebra Striped Hearse" and "The Underground Man" hit the heart-this was really life played on the black keys.

Then, the author was discovered by the intellectual elite. William Goldman-who wrote the screenplay of "Harper" almost word for word from the book-started the promotion. Eudora Welty ended it by crowning Ross MacDonald as America's writer laurete.

Nolan's book is an exercise in bad taste. All the stuff that Millar tried to keep secret, Nolan has dug out. We hear about his sexual ambiguities, a faux paus that would have devastated this author had it come out in his lifetime; his failed attempts to join the academic community;the nitty gritty of his life with his wife and fellow mystery writer, Margaret Millar;the scandal over his daughter, detail by detail, and the tragic catastrophes about parent-child that Macdonald revealed in his books-but then they all happened to his daughter and to him. His hiring of a private detective to find his daughter seemed right out of his books. And when he did finally find her-the ghastly coda to her-and his-life. His death from Altzeimer's disease-which is still mysterious-he died very quickly ends the book.

To add insult to injury, the publishers have appended a preface by Susan Grafton who promotes herself as the successor to this author because she lives in Santa Barbara and calls it Santa Teresa.

Well, there is much more to this author than the city he wrote from, the beach club he enjoyed, or the city of the cash register and the red, polished Z9 convertible. Ross MacDonald led a tough life. He was hammered by events, from within and without, until his death. History often repeated itself in cruel ways in that life and his battle with alcohol didn't help. He emerged as a great mystery writer, but on my latest trip to the mall(I'll try Amazon from now on) I found all of his books had to be ordered. On the other hand, the shelves were filled with the alphabet of Grafton. It seems more of his books are read now because they are "assigned" than desired. All in all, in comparing the complete opus of this writer, he outdid Chandler. He wrote many more great books than Chandler did. However, Chandler, in three books-"The Big Sleep," "Farewell my Lovely," and, most of all, "The Long Goodbye" showed that he was the master of detective angst. I miss them both. No one has come near to equaling either.