The Ivory Grin, by Ross MacDonald (1952).
aka Marked for Murder.
By Ross MacDonald.
ISBN-10: 0307278999
ISBN-13: 978-0307278999
“Archer-Macdonald are
working together at their peak, piecing together a most modern American
Tragedy, making literature out of the thriller form, gazing more clearly than
ever into the future as it rolls through the smog.” – Newsweek.
A hard-faced woman clad
in a blue mink stole and dripping with diamonds hires Lew Archer to track down
her former maid, who she claims has stolen her jewelry. Archer can tell he's
being fed a line, but curiosity gets the better of him and he accepts the case.
He tracks the wayward maid to a ramshackle motel in a seedy, run-down small
town, but finds her dead in her tiny room, with her throat slit from ear to
ear. Archer digs deeper into the case and discovers a web of deceit and
intrigue, with crazed number-runners from Detroit, gorgeous triple-crossing
molls, and a golden-boy shipping heir who's mysteriously gone missing.
Traveling from sleazy
motels to stately seaside manors, The Ivory Grin is one of Lew Archer's
most violent and macabre cases ever.
“Ross Macdonald must be
ranked high amongst American thriller writers.” – The Times Literary
Supplement.