Raymond Chandler and Ross MacDonald Archived Message
Posted by SueC on April 6, 2023, 11:42 pm, in reply to "Off topic - Recs for Novels pls: gripping ones, perhaps crime, perhaps that expose sthg of the"
While Raymond Chandler, creator of Philip Marlowe ("Down these mean streets a man must walk who is neither tarnished nor afraid") probably needs little introduction, MacDonald is less well-known today. Both men wrote about unusual knights in unlikely armour, battling, usually alone, a corrupt world. In the 1940's, Chandler was writing about appalling policing practices; the number of folk getting shot through doors that didn't open fast enough and investigations into serious crimes that went nowhere because of the influence of the rich and powerful. Plus ca change and all that. Ross MacDonald is the pseudonym of Canadian-American writer Kenneth Millar. His hero, Lew Archer, like Marlowe was a PI working in California. MacDonald's books have greater depth than is usual in thrillers and he was fascinated by how crimes and bad decisions reverberate down the years for the people involved and their families. As a first choice, I'd suggest "The Chill" - kinda makes your hair stand on end.
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- Off topic - Recs for Novels pls: gripping ones, perhaps crime, perhaps that expose sthg of the - marknadim April 6, 2023, 7:41 pm
- Anything by James Ellroy. - Morrissey April 6, 2023, 8:15 pm
- Re: Graham Greene. Monsignor Quixote or anything else. nm - Jackie April 6, 2023, 9:25 pm
- Germinal by Emil Zola. Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky. The Dispossed by Ursula K leGuin. - Der April 6, 2023, 10:00 pm
- On crime novels: Karin Slaughter & Lisa Gardner... - Ken Waldron April 6, 2023, 10:40 pm
- Raymond Chandler and Ross MacDonald - SueC April 6, 2023, 11:42 pm
- Thanks. A tasty selection! The kind of backdrop that's taken for granted in most posts and articles - marknadim April 7, 2023, 5:30 am
- 100 Books to Read before the End - Fionn April 7, 2023, 8:08 am
- Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe. nm - Jackie April 7, 2023, 9:41 am
- Re: Off topic - Recs for Novels pls: gripping ones, perhaps crime, perhaps that expose sthg of the - Jackie April 7, 2023, 9:49 pm
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