Carl Hallman shows up on Lew Archer’s doorstep in the middle of the night. The frantic young man has just escaped from the state mental hospital nearby. He says he left because his brother was trying to keep him locked up even though he was close to being discharged. Carl wants Archer to investigate the death of his father six months earlier. Although the old man’s passing was ruled accidental, Carl insists he was murdered. After agreeing to look into the case, Archer manages to persuade him to return to the hospital. And they’re almost there when Carl attacks Archer. The young man tosses him to the side of the road, and heads off down the highway in Archer’s car. Which is how Lew Archer becomes involved with the ill-fated Hallman family in Ross MacDonald’s classic detective novel, The Doomsters.
A case study in family dysfunction
The Hallman family is a classic case of dysfunction. Carl’s devoted wife, Mildred, appears to be the only well-balanced person in the mix. His mother had died years earlier after allegedly walking into the sea. His father lost his life in a bathtub, again supposedly taking his own life. Carl’s older brother, Jerry, is a non-practicing lawyer, and Zinnie, is the wife he picked up in a bar rule. They rule roost at the Hallman Citrus Ranch near the city of Santa Teresa. They’ll stop at nothing to prevent Carl from claiming his half of the $5 million family fortune. And Carl’s diagnosis of manic-depression gives them plenty of leverage.
Both the county sheriff and the family doctor, a certain Dr. Grantland, are eager to lend Jerry and Zinnie a hand. The doctor, who is clearly corrupt, has his sights set on Zinnie and the fortune she will command once she divorces Jerry. Or Jerry somehow leaves the scene. Which appears to be increasingly likely as Archer watches events unfold at the ranch.
The Doomsters (Lew Archer #7 of 18) by Ross MacDonald (1958) 258 pages ★★★★★
A hard-boiled private detective in the hands of a literary master
Ross MacDonald’s writing has many fans among literary critics who otherwise despise genre fiction. It’s easy to understand why. The penetrating character studies in The Doomsters, and the fresh, unadorned language in which he writes, qualify MacDonald as a master of literary prose. But Archer is a tough guy in the tradition of the hard-boiled private detectives of the genre’s golden era. “Everything was as pretty as a postcard,” Archer muses. “The trouble with you, I said to myself: you’re always turning over the postcards and reading the messages on the underside. Written in invisible ink, in blood, in tears, with a black border around them, with postage due, unsigned, or signed with a thumbprint.”
Archer’s a wiseguy, too. In his internal dialogue, he shows his sense of humor. Observing Zinnie, he thinks, “She had the kind of hips that are meant for child-bearing and associated activities.” And again, about Mildred, “She had on a dark business suit which her body filled the way grapes fill their skins.” Wiseguy, indeed. And not above sexual temptation. Lew Archer is real. He’s no two-fisted thug always on the ready to reach for a revolver. Archer’s brain rules his brawn.
About the author
Ross MacDonald was born Kenneth Millar in Los Gatos, California, in 1915 but raised in Kitchener, Ontario. His parents were Canadian. He and his wife moved to Santa Barbara, California, in 1946, and he lived there until his death in 1983.
MacDonald held a bachelor’s degree in history and English from the University of Western Ontario and a PhD in history from the University of Michigan. At various times he worked as a high school teacher, a communications officer in the US Navy, and as a short story writer for pulp magazines. Critics and readers know him best for the 18 novels in the Lew Archer series, the first of which saw the light of day in 1949, the last in 1976. He also wrote six other novels, four short story collections, and two works of nonfiction. To this day, critics praise the Lew Archer novels, some recognizing him as a major American novelist.
For related reading
I’ve also reviewed the author’s superb novel, The Galton Case – Lew Archer #8 of 18 (A classic detective novel that’s hard to put down). However, I had read all 18 of the Lew Archer novels in the 1960s and 70s, long before I began reviewing books.
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