The Awesome Archer

Lew Archer is an awesome character. The character is the subject of The Name is Archer by Ross MacDonald, MacDonald being a fifties writer whose work comes from the same place as other novelists Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. The only difference is Archer is better than both Marlowe and Nick and Nora. If he saw the thin man he'd break him in half. And thats the conceit of the novel. Archer walks into trouble and he solves it. Each case is wildly different from what would seem as conventional plots like jilted lover kills partner or motel slaying and yet he spins these routines on there proverbial heads. It's similar in fact to many Coen brother movies, where the main character has no place being where he is, and the rest is a struggle to stray out alive. Nearly everyone either dismisses Archer as a stupid grizzly bear of a man, or asks for his help looking to stab him in the back when the situation gets rough. But Archer is not stupid and you always feel as if he's a step ahead of you. I tried guessing the ending everytime, but I never even came close. The book divided in vignettes shows you the power of a good mystery before CSI came along and turned intrigue into lab work. After reading this it's easy to see why MacDonald was named grand master of the myster writers association of america.