On this day in movie history - The Drowning Pool (1975 movie & novel):

The Drowning Pool

directed by Stuart Rosenberg,

written by Tracy Keenan Wynn, Lorenzo Semple Jr. and Walter Hill,

based on the novel by Ross Macdonald,

was released in the United States on July 10, 1975.
Music by Michael Small.

Cast:

Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Richard Derr, Anthony Franciosa, Murray Hamilton, Gail Strickland, Melanie Griffith, Linda Haynes, Andre Trottier, Richard Jaeckel, Paul Koslo, Joe Canutt, Andrew Robinson, Coral Browne, Helena Kallianiotes.

Recommended reading:

The Drowning Pool

By Ross Macdonald.

Crime fiction.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0679768068

ISBN-13: 978-0679768067

Published 1950.

Description:

When a millionaire matriarch is found floating face-down in the family pool, the prime suspects are her good-for-nothing son and his seductive teenage daughter. In The Drowning Pool, Lew Archer takes this case in the L.A. suburbs and encounters a moral wasteland of corporate greed and family hatred – and sufficient motive for a dozen murders.

Recommended reading - The Ferguson Affair, by Ross Macdonald (1960):

The Ferguson Affair

By Ross Macdonald.

Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

First published 1960.

ISBN-10:030774079X

ISBN-13: 9780307740793

Description:

It was a long way from the million-dollar Foothill Club to Pelly Street, where grudges were settled in blood and Spanish and a stolen diamond ring landed a girl in jail.  Defense lawyer Bill Gunnarson was making the trip – fast.  He already knew a kidnapping at the club was tied to the girl's hot rock, and he suspected that a missing Hollywood starlet was the key to a busy crime ring.  But while Gunnarson made his way through a storm of deception, money, drugs, and passions, he couldn't guess how some big shots and small-timers would all end up with murder in common...

Recommended reading - Meet Me at the Morgue, by Ross Macdonald (1953):

Meet Me at the Morgue

By Ross Macdonald.

Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

First published 1953.

ISBN-10: 0307740773

ISBN-13: 9780307740779

Description:

“My favorite . . . [Macdonald] is first among those novelists who raised the genre from its roots in pulp fiction to serious literature.” – P.D. James, from Talking About Detective Fiction.

“[The] American private eye, immortalized by Hammett, refined by Chandler, brought to its zenith by Macdonald.” – New York Times Book Review.

“Macdonald should not be limited in audience to connoisseurs of mystery fiction.  He is one of a handful of writers in the genre whose worth and quality surpass the limitations of the form.” – Los Angeles Times.

“Most mystery writers merely write about crime.  Ross Macdonald writes about sin.” – The Atlantic.

“Without in the least abating my admiration for Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, I should like to venture the heretical suggestion that Ross Macdonald is a better novelist than either of them.” – Anthony Boucher.

“[Macdonald] carried form and style about as far as they would go, writing classic family tragedies in the guise of private detective mysteries.” – The Guardian (London).

“[Ross Macdonald] gives to the detective story that accent of class that the late Raymond Chandler did.” – Chicago Tribune.

Somebody in Pacific Point is guilty of a kidnapping, but what probation officer Howard Cross wants to find most is innocence: in an ex-war hero who has taken a tough manslaughter rap, in a wealthy woman with a heart full of secrets, and in a blue-eyed beauty who has lost her way. The trouble is that the abduction has already turned to murder, and the more Cross pries into the case the further he slips into a pool of violence and evil. Somewhere in the California desert the whole scheme may come down on the wrong man. Somewhere Cross is going to find the last piece of a bloody puzzle – a mystery of blackmail, passion, and hidden identities that might be better left unsolved.

Recommended reading: The Three Roads, by Ross Macdonald (1948):

The Three Roads

By Ross Macdonald.

Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

Vintage Crime/Black Lizard.

First published 1948.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0307740765

ISBN-13: 978-0307740762

Description:

[The] American private eye, immortalized by Hammett, refined by Chandler, brought to its zentih by Macdonald. – New York Times Book Review.

Macdonald should not be limited in audience to connoisseurs of mystery fiction.  He is one of a handful of writers in the genre whose worth and quality surpass the limitations of the form. – Los Angeles Times.

Most mystery writers merely write about crime. Ross Macdonald writes about sin. – The Atlantic.

Without in the least abating my admiration for Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, I should like to venture the heretical suggestion that Ross Macdonald is a better novelist than either of them. – Anthony Boucher.

[Macdonald] carried form and style about as far as they would go, writing classic family tragedies in the guise of private detective mysteries. – The Guardian (London).

[Ross Macdonald] gives to the detective story that accent of class that the late Raymond Chandler did. – Chicago Tribune.

Silken skin pale against dark hair, red lips provocatively smiling at him – that’s how Lieutenant Bret Taylor remembered Lorraine. He was drunk when he married her, stone cold sober when he found her dead. Out on the sunlit streets of L.A. walked the man – her lover, her killer – who had been with her that fatal night. Taylor intended to find him. And when he did, the gun in his pocket would provide the quickest kind of justice. But first Taylor had to find something else: an elusive memory so powerful it drove him down three terrifying roads toward self-destruction – grief, ecstasty, and death.

Recommended reading - The Ross Macdonald Collection, by Ross Macdonald (2017):

The Ross Macdonald Collection

By Ross Macdonald.

Edited by Tom Nolan.

Published by Library of America.

Box edition.

Published 2017.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 1598535528

ISBN-13: 978-1598535525

Description:

“The finest series of detective novels ever written by an American.” – The New York Times Book Review.

“Macdonald brought a new method of psychological construction to the hard-boiled novel … he was in line with many of the important mid-century movements of American literary fiction, and deserves to be seen as a worthy addition to them.” – The Times Literary Supplement.

Ross Macdonald transformed the detective novel into a literary expression of unique psychological depth and drama. Here, for the first time in a deluxe three-volume Library of America boxed set, are eleven of his classic Lew Archer mysteries.

Contents: The Way Some People Die; The Barbarous Coast; The Doomsters; The Galton Case; The Zebra-Striped Hearse; The Chill; The Far Side of the Dollar; Black Money; The Instant Enemy; The Goodbye Look; The Underground Man.

Recommended reading - The Lew Archer Omnibus Volume 2, by Ross Macdonald (1994):

The Lew Archer Omnibus Volume 2

By Ross Macdonald.

Paperback.
Published 1994.
Published by Allison & Busby Ltd.
ISBN 13: 9780749002015
ISBN 10: 0749002018
ASIN: 0749002018

Description:

Omnibus of three novels featuring Lew Archer, "The Ivory Grin", "The Galton Case" and "The Blue Hammer".

Recommended reading - The Lew Archer Omnibus Volume 1, by Ross Macdonald (1993):

The Lew Archer Omnibus Volume 1

By Ross Macdonald.

Published by Allison & Busby.
Published 1993.
Paperback.
ISBN 13: 9780749001094
ISBN 10: 0749001097
ASIN: 0749001097

Description:

This first volume of Lew Archer novels presents "The Drowning Pool", "The Chill" and "The Goodbye Look".

Recommended reading - Archer in Jeopardy, by Ross Macdonald (1979):

Archer in Jeopardy

By Ross Macdonald.

Anthology.

Published by Alfred A. Knof.

Published 1979.

Hardcover.

ISBN 13: 9780394508047

ISBN 10: 0394508041

ASIN: 0394508041

Description:

Brings together three of the acclaimed mystery writer's Lew Archer novels – The Doomsters, The Zebra-Striped Hearse, & The Instant Enemy – three winners with the incomparable Macdonald touch.

Recommended reading - Blue City, by Ross Macdonald (1947):

Blue City

By Ross Macdonald.

Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

First published 1947.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0307740730

ISBN-13: 978-0307740731

Description:

“[The] American private eye, immortalized by Hammett, refined by Chandler, brought to its zenith by Macdonald.” – New York Times Book Review.

“Macdonald should not be limited in audience to connoisseurs of mystery fiction.  He is one of a handful of writers in the genre whose worth and quality surpass the limitations of the form.” – Los Angeles Times.

“Most mystery writers merely write about crime.  Ross Macdonald writes about sin.” – The Atlantic.

“Without in the least abating my admiration for Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, I should like to venture the heretical suggestion that Ross Macdonald is a better novelist than either of them.” – Anthony Boucher.

“[Macdonald] carried form and style about as far as they would go, writing classic family tragedies in the guise of private detective mysteries.” – The Guardian (London).

“[Ross Macdonald] gives to the detective story that accent of class that the late Raymond Chandler did.” – Chicago Tribune.

He was a son who hadn’t known his father very well.  It was a town shaken by a grisly murder – his father’s murder.  Johnny Weatherly was home from a war and wandering.  When he found out that his father had been assassinated on a street corner and that his father’s seductive young wife had inherited a fortune, he started knocking on doors.  The doors came open, and Johnny stepped into a world of gamblers, whores, drug-dealers, and blackmailers, a place in which his father had once moved freely.  Now Johnny Weatherly was going to solve this murder – by pitting his rage, his courage, and his lost illusions against the brutal underworld that has overtaken his hometown.

Recommended reading - The Name Is Archer, by Ross MacDonald (1955):

The Name Is Archer

By Ross MacDonald.

Part of the Lew Archer mystery series.

Paperback

Published by Grand Central Pub.

First published 1955.

ISBN 13: 9780446361569

ISBN10: 0446361569

ASIN: 0446361569

Description:

Anthology containing the following stories: Find the woman; Gone girl; The bearded lady; The suicide; Guilt-edged blonde; The sinister habit; Wild goose chase; Midnight blue; Sleeping dog.

Recommended reading - The Blue Hammer, by Ross Macdonald (1976):

The Blue Hammer

By Ross Macdonald.

Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

First published 1976.

ISBN-10: 0307279065

ISBN-13: 978-0307279064

Description:

The desert air is hot with sex and betrayal, death and madness and only Detective Lew Archer can make sense of a killer who makes murder a work of art.

Finding a purloined portrait of a leggy blonde was supposed to be an easy paycheck for Archer, but that was before the bodies began piling up. Suddenly, Archer find himself smack in the middle of a decades-long mystery of a brilliant artist who walked into the desert and simply disappeared. He left behind a bevy of muses, molls, dolls, and dames-each one scrambling for what they thought was rightfully theirs.

Recommended reading - Sleeping Beauty, by Ross Macdonald (1973):

Sleeping Beauty

By Ross Macdonald.

Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

First published 1973.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0375708669

ISBN-13: 978-0375708664

Description:

# 17 of the Lew Archer Series.

"Ross Macdonald is either part or wholly wizard. . .conjuring the magic of real mystery. . . . A masterpiece." – Chicago Tribune Book World.

"Sleeping Beauty is particularly complex and satisfactory. . . . It is a marvelous formula that Macdonald has found; the wonder is that he keeps improving it." – Newsweek.

"Ross Macdonald remains the grandmaster, taking the crime novel to new heights by imbuing it with psychological resonance, complexity of story, and richness of style that remain inspiring." – Jonathan Kellerman.

In Sleeping Beauty, Lew Archer finds himself the confidant of a wealthy, violent family with a load of trouble on their hands – including an oil spill, a missing girl, a lethal dose of Nembutal, a six-figure ransom, and a stranger afloat, face down, off a private beach. Here is Ross Macdonald's masterful tale of buried memories, the consequences of arrogance, and the anguished relations between parents and their children. Riveting, gritty, tautly written, Sleeping Beauty is crime fiction at its best.

If any writer can be said to have inherited the mantle of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, it is Ross Macdonald. Between the late 1940s and his death in 1983, he gave the American crime novel a psychological depth and moral complexity that his predecessors had only hinted at. And in the character of Lew Archer, Macdonald redefined the private eye as a roving conscience who walks the treacherous frontier between criminal guilt and human sin.

Recommended reading - The Underground Man, by Ross Macdonald (1971):

The Underground Man

By Ross Macdonald.

# 16 in the Lew Archer series.

Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

First published 1971.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0679768084

ISBN-13: 978-0679768081

Description:

"There are certain books that bide their time, like plants, waiting decades to flower.... If a copy of The Underground Man, a novel from 1971, by Ross Macdonald, has been sitting on your shelf for ages, unread and barely noticed, try opening it now. Suddenly it's a book in full bloom." – Anthony Lane, The New Yorker.

"A more serious and complex writer than Chandler and Hammett ever were." – Eudora Welty.

"Ross Macdonald is an important American novelist!" – San Francisco Chronicle.

"I should like to venture that Ross Macdonald is a better novelist than either...Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler." – Anthony Boucher, The New York Times Book Review.

As a mysterious fire rages through the hills above a privileged town in Southern California, Archer tracks a missing child who may be the pawn in a marital struggle or the victim of a bizarre kidnapping. What he uncovers amid the ashes is murder – and a trail of motives as combustible as gasoline. The Underground Man is a detective novel of merciless suspense and tragic depth, with an unfaltering insight into the moral ambiguities at the heart of California's version of the American dream.

If any writer can be said to have inherited the mantle of Dashiell Hammet and Raymond Chandler, it was Ross Macdonald.  Between the late 1940s and his death in 1983, he gave the American crime novel a psychological depth and moral complexity that his predecessors had only hinted at.  And in the character of Lew Archer, Macdonald redefined the private eye as a roving conscience who walks the treacherous frontier between criminal guilt and human sin.

Recommended reading - The Goodbye Look, by Ross Macdonald (1969):

The Goodbye Look

By Ross Macdonald.

Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

First published 1969.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0375708650

ISBN-13: 978-0375708657

Description:

"The American private eye, immortalized by Hammett, refined by Chandler, brought to its zenith by Macdonald." – The New York Times Book Review.

In The Goodbye Look, Lew Archer is hired to investigate a burglary at the mission-style mansion of Irene and Larry Chalmers. The prime suspect, their son Nick, has a talent for disappearing, and the Chalmerses are a family with money and memories to burn. As Archer zeros in on Nick, he discovers a troubled blonde, a stash of wartime letters, a mysterious hobo. Then a stiff turns up in a car on an empty beach. And Nick turns up with a Colt .45. In The Goodbye Look, Ross Macdonald delves into the world of the rich and the troubled and reveals that the past has a deadly way of catching up to the present.

If any writer can be said to have inherited the mantle of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, it is Ross Macdonald. Between the late 1940s and his death in 1983, he gave the American crime novel a psychological depth and moral complexity that his pre-decessors had only hinted at. And in the character of Lew Archer, Macdonald redefined the private eye as a roving conscience who walks the treacherous frontier between criminal guilt and human sin.