Recommended reading - The Chill (1963):

The Chill

By Ross Macdonald.

First published 1963.

Published by Vintage Crime / Black Lizard.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0679768076

ISBN-13: 978-0679768074

Description:

In The Chill a distraught young man hires Archer to track down his runaway bride. But no sooner has he found Dolly Kincaid than Archer finds himself entangled in two murders, one twenty years old, the other so recent that the blood is still wet. What ensues is a detective novel of nerve-racking suspense, desperately believable characters, and one of the most intricate plots ever spun by an American crime writer.

"The American private eye, immortalized by Hammett, refined by Chandler, brought to its zenith by MacDonald."

– The New York Times Book Review.

"The finest series of detective novels ever written by an American."

– The New York Times.