Lew Archer is a famous fictional detective character created by Ross Macdonald which was immensely appreciated by the readers. Lew Archer has been portrayed as an intelligent, sharp and humble private eye detective that works in Southern California.
The popularity of the character as a private eye detective made him appear in different novels, short stories, TV series, radio shows and even movies. Some of his famous novels include ‘The Moving Target’, ‘The Drowning Pool’, ‘The Way Some People Die’, ‘The Doomsters’, ‘The Galton Case’, ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and ‘The Blue Hammer’ to name a few.
The Moving Target
The Moving Target is the first mystery novel written by Ross Macdonald featuring Lew Archer which became quite popular among people. The story is about an eccentric oil tycoon who goes missing and so his wife hires Lew archer, the private detective so as to find clues regarding her husband. The entire story is featured in a fictional city called Santa Teresa which was named after Santa Barbara in California. While investigating for husband of an unemotional wife, Lew Archer comes across many other crimes which are required to be solved prior looking for the tycoon. Ross originally titled the novel as ‘The Snatch’, but later on he decided the name as ‘The Moving Target’.
The Drowning Pool
Ross Macdonald published his second novel ‘The Drowning Pool’ featuring Lew archer as the detective. This second mystery novel was released in the year 1950 and the story revolves around a woman who receives a libellous letter. She hires Lew Archer and tells him about the slanderous letter that she receives. She stays on the line between two cities and this novel was the first one where he was hired for a case of blackmailing. The novel ‘The Drowning Pool’ was followed by ‘The Way Some People Die’ which was again appreciated a lot by the readers.
The Way Some People Die
In the year 1951, Ross got published his third novel ‘The Way Some People Die’ featuring Lew Archer where he finds a girl Galatea. A woman named Mrs. Samuel Lawrence hires Lew for fifty dollars per day of that time in order to find her daughter Galatea. After some investigation, Lew discovers that her daughter has got married to a mobster, Joe Tarantine. After a few months a big gangster offers heavy amount of money to Lew so as to find Joe. Lew keeps on investigating the case and travels to distant locations so as to find the evidences that can link him to the case.
The Doomsters
In the year 1958, ‘The Doomsters’ was published featuring Lew Archer and this was the seventh novel written by Ross. This is a series where the focus has been given on understanding the criminals rather than trapping them which made it quite interesting for the readers. Different turning points have been involved in the story making it quite fascinating to read. Apart from this, Lew Archer appeared in several short stories as well like ‘Find the Woman’, ‘The Imaginary Blonde’, ‘The Guilty Ones’, ‘The beat Up Sister’ and ‘The Sleeping dog’ to name a few.
