Black Money by
Ross Macdonald
hbk out October 02
Published by Orion
at £12.99
A further volume in Orion's 'Crime Masterworks' series, reprints of older
books which they consider to be the best of their kind. This is of 1965
vintage by a prolific writer of the time. It concerns a Californian private-eye
- the number of books about these must now easily exceed the number of
actual Californian private eyes!
It is a straightforward 'whodunnit' written in the first person as by Lew
Archer, a moderately hard-boiled detective, who is hired by a jilted fiancé to
investigate an alleged Frenchman who has stolen his girl. The plot thickens
and connects the girl's father's suicide with a Las Vegas gambling outfit. The
title of the book comes from the undeclared income of the casino owners,
undeclared to the Internal Revenue, which becomes a pivotal aspect of the
story. A series of murders follow, with complex relationships between the
girl, who marries the pseudo-Frenchman, her mother, the neighbours and
Lew Archer himself.
The plot seems to take a right-angled turn within the last few dozen pages
and ends rather unsatisfactorily. I got the impression that perhaps the author
changed his mind about 'whodunnit' after he began the book, but maybe he
intended the final twist right from the start. Well-written in a typical
American style, with people dropping in and out of diners for their meals,
but I don't see why this should qualify as a classic.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
