"His living room was the kind of room you find in back-country ranch houses where old men hold the last frontier against women and civilization and hygiene. The carpets and furniture were glazed with dirt. Months of wood ashes clogged the fireplace and sifted onto the floor. The double-barreled shotgun over the mantel was the only clean and cared-for object in the room."

This entry in the Lew Archer series was a bit too hardboiled for my tastes. However, the ending was surprisingly heartrending so maybe it deserves another ½ star... ( )

Cuando Lew Archer recoge a un autoestopista herido, no sabe que deberá llevarle a una ciudad maldita, Las Cruces. Archer no lamentará tanto el haber ido como la decisión de quedarse allí, hasta que se resuelva un caso de asesinato. Quién sabe si el propio Archer será la siguiente víctima, a menos que atrape al escurridizo criminal antes de que ponga precio a su alma.

The fifth in the Lew Archer series is a classic whodunnit in which Archer, on the road between Los Angeles and Sacramento, stumbles into a fresh murder in the kind of small town where everyone knows everybody else, and no one tells all they know. Some readers may find the "solution" too easy to guess, but since I'm not a puzzle person, I had a grand time riding along on Archer's incomprehension and occasional misunderstandings. There is some ridiculous marijuana-related material—apparently MacDonald believed grass to be a fast-acting addictive narcotic barely distinguishable from opium. I also thought it funny that Archer happened to be carrying a case of 500 joints in the back seat of his car, supposedly to deliver to some sort of crime committee in the capital. Oh, that? Nothing in the box, officer! Aside from the reefer madness, there are the usual vivid characterizations, snappy dialogue, and wry narrative asides that keep me coming back to MacDonald. This is my favorite in the series so far, after The Way Some People Die (#3). ( )

This is a Ross one. Stumbles into a dead body in ... desert California. Leads him into messy small town imbroglio of corruption, cheating, incest and the rest. Good Lew Archer vehicle. ( )