Recommended reading - The Barbarous Coast (1956):

The Barbarous Coast (1956).

By Ross Macdonald.

Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0307279030

ISBN-13: 978-0307279033

Description:

“Ross Macdonald writes like a son of a bitch.” – Anthony Boucher.

“Not since the novels of Nathanael West has the theme of American innocence grinding to a stop at the polluted waters of the Pacific so consistently reverberated through a body of writing.” – Detroit News.

The beautiful, high-diving blonde had Hollywood dreams and stars in her eyes but now she seems to have disappeared without a trace. Hired by her hotheaded husband and her rummy “uncle,” Lew Archer sniffs around Malibu and finds the stink of blackmail, blood-money, and murder on every pricey silk shirt. Beset by dirty cops, a bumptious boxer turned silver screen pretty boy, and a Hollywood mogul with a dark past, Archer discovers the secret of a grisly murder that just won't stay hidden.

Lew Archer navigates through the watery, violent world of wealth and privilege, in this electrifying story of obsession gone mad.

“Macdonald makes a routine story of ocean-side murder among the rich take on a hard-edged, glistening solidity.” – AudioFile.