Rare Books
The instant enemy
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The Galton case
Rare Books
"Why, after twenty years, should the dying Mrs. Galton so suddenly begin trying to find her long-lost (and well lost) son? Why--on the same day--should a hit-and-run killer stab Peter Culligan, the odd servant of the old lady's lawyer? These were the questions which Lew Archer, private investigator, asked himself: dangerous questions, which led him to the discovery of a headless skeleton, and a young man who claimed the Galton fortune. They sent Archer flying from one end of the American continent to the other, and back through a generation in time to the lawless twenties and the notorious Lempi gang. Still the questions leapt at him: is the boy's claim genuine, or is he just a brilliant actor playing for high stakes? What happened to the fabulous Galton rubies which disappeared with the runaway son? What did the dead houseman know about these things? Digging for the answers with his characteristic wariness of the obvious, Lew Archer's pertinacity led his investigations to an intriguing and brilliantly worked-out climax"--Half-title page.
636035
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Experience with evil
Rare Books
"John Ross Macdonald has four thrillers to his credit, and the word is used advisedly. Between his first, "The moving target," and his fourth, "The ivory grin," he has been called a new Dashiell Hammett, a new Raymond Chandler--take your choice. His latest story shows that he is no one's shadow; a new detective, a new style prove his vigorous individuality. The 'evil' looked like a simple, if unpleasant, case of kidnapping. But the kidnapping was only the outward manifestation of evil, like the eruption of a boil on a fair skin. And Howard Cross, who was morally responsible for the man who drove the boy away, spent the most crowded twenty-four hours of his life digging deeper and deeper to get at the root of the trouble, to justify his faith in the man. The true cause of it all lay buried in the past, overshadowed by the corruption it spawned, like a microscopic germ poisoning the whole body. Howard's hectic search for it seemed to lead to the one course he did not want to travel but he followed it through to a solution which, though completely logical, will surprise the experienced thriller reader"--Dust jacket.
636031
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The chill
Rare Books
"Hired to trace a runaway bride, Lew Archer uncovers a trail of murder that leads half-way across America and twenty years into the past. Beyond that, it need only be said that the story is every bit as exciting, baffling, and ultimately satisfying as would be expected from the author of "The zebra-striped hearse." In the direct line of succession that reaches from Dashiell Hammett to Raymond Chandler, Ross Macdonald adds, to the crackling dialogue and narrative tightness of his illustrious predecessors, impressive qualities of his own: a depth of psychological understanding, a sureness in handling a wide variety of social milieus, and a dazzling, unpredictable plot"--Half-title verso.
636039
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The zebra-striped hearse
Rare Books
"Lew Archer was hired by the bride's father to stop a wedding; he was to investigate the mysterious and romantic-looking young painter with whom Harriet was infatuated, and show him up as a good-for-nothing. Colonel Blackwell was very proprietary about his daughter although she was twenty-four years old. Inquiring into the young man's past, Archer soon finds not mere dissipation or minor delinquency--but murder. As his investigation proceeds, this first murder leads to others. The story moves with speed and steadily mounting excitement across the map of California and through its society from Los Angeles to the floating population of gamblers and their girls at Lake Tahoe. This is the tenth in this series of celebrated crime novels by Ross Macdonald. Brilliantly written and plotted, its climax comes as a triple shock and an all-too-credible revelation"--Half-title verso.
636038
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The Ferguson affair
Rare Books
"The young nurse charged with selling stolen property was to be defended by Bill Gunnarson, a lawyer who had yet to make a name for himself. Bill believed her to be innocent, despite her secretiveness and her lies. Before the case came to trail a murder was committed--a murder obviously linked with the multiple burglaries which had led to the girl's arrest. The young lawyer found himself embarked on a tough, complicated and dangerous investigation; there were to be several more murders, and some bewildering developments, before Bill Gunnarson could make sense of the Fergunson case. Very few readers will be head of Gunnarson in unravelling the story, or in penetrating the secrets of the character of the film star, Holly May, who was married to the oil magnate called Ferguson"--Half-title verso.
636036
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The three roads
Rare Books
"This is the story of a man whose sanity and chance for happiness depend on his ability to recapture his unremembered past. The Doctors know that the reason for Brett Taylors's mental suffering is guilt, but they point out that although guilt is normally thought of as the result of sin, it may really be its cause; their theory being that the sense of some guilt may have worked on Brett until he was driven to crime. Following the belief that nothing in a person's life is ever really forgotten--in a sense that with the right encouragement any memory can be recalled--Brett is determined to trace his life back to the point where his memory failed, and to find the reason for it. Paula, who knows what happened, believes that his mental health is not strong enough to stand the strain of knowing what was done. She knows, and is being blackmailed because she knows, that the cause of all his suffering is the mental shrinking of a brutal unsolved murder, and she is very much afraid"--Dust jacket.
636027