Archer, P: I

Long considered a literary heir of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, Ross Macdonald (1915–83) infused new life into the hardboiled detective genre with psychologically complex mysteries involving his intuitive and empathetic private eye Lew Archer. This omnibus presents three of Macdonald's best Archer novels. The Ivory Grin (a.k.a. Marked for Murder) begins when a wealthy woman hires Archer to track down a maid she suspects of stealing her jewelry. The Zebra-Striped Hearse finds Archer investigating a rich man's prospective son-in-law, and in The Underground Man Archer tracks a missing child and uncovers a secret history of wayward parents and wounded offspring.