“The writing is incisive and perceptive…forceful and fast-paced…powerful and personal…a strange and haunting blend...The American private eye, immortalized by Hammett, refined by Chandler, [is] brought to its zenith by Macdonald.”

“[Grover Gardner’s] relaxed, measured delivery suits well this thinking person’s detective novel. His leisurely approach facilitates an appreciation of Macdonald’s poetic metaphors (“Some random stars began to nail up the edges of the evening…”), and his favorite theme of family guilt.”

“[Gardner] unquestionably knows his way around a microphone…he interprets a variety of male and female characters believably and without fuss. His no-nonsense manner fits the whole stylistic range of Macdonald’s quarter-century oeuvre.”

“This Lew Archer whodunit finds the gumshoe stopping over in a small town for an inquest. The seemingly quiet community reveals itself to be a hive of incest, corruption, dope dealing, and stolen booze. All in a day’s work for a hard-boiled private investigator…[Recommended] for all mystery collections.”

"[Ross Macdonald] carried form and style about as far as they would go, writing classic family tragedies in the guise of private detective mysteries.”

“It was not just that Ross Macdonald taught us how to write; he did something more, he taught us how to read, and how to think about life, and maybe, in some small, but mattering way, how to live...I owe him.”