February 26, 2008 Filed Under: Book Reviews, Dan Coxon. A few years ago I won the Edgar Award for mystery writing. A girl is missing and Archer sets out to find her. The Barbarous Coast Book Description: The beautiful, high-diving blonde had Hollywood dreams and stars in her eyes but now she seems to have disappeared without a trace. The story moves at a fast pace but the character and scenic descriptions are impeccably detailed, so that it takes you into the 1950's world of film stars, country club wealth, criminals and Hollywood ambition. “She said surprisingly, in a voice as thin as a flute: “A taste of whiskey had changed her mood, as a touch of acid will change the color of blue litmus paper.”. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. What will you do when it's your turn to pick your book club's next read? Hired by her hotheaded husband and her rummy "uncle," Lew Archer sniffs around Malibu and finds the stink of blackmail, blood-money, and murder on every pricey silk shirt. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Well, this is what you won't do: panic. In The Barbarous Coast, tough, thoughtful private eye Lew Archer pursues a girl who jackknifed too suddenly from high diving to high living. We were becoming the wild things we most feared, but could not see it at the time. The term was coined in reference to the Berbers. It starts simple. The Barbarous Coast (Lew Archer Series Book 6) and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Enjoyed this like all his others, though not as good as, The was another very cleverly written and conceived plot in the detective mystery Lew Archer series. This book was the one that clicked for me, though I read all of the Lew Archer series, many times over. There are no "cities" on the Wild/Barbarous Coast, just "towns" which fall between village and city for population figures. Originally published in 1956, as the sixth novel in the Lew Archer crime series, The Barbarous Coast demonstrates exactly why Ross Macdonald’s name has survived when so many others have been forgotten. Obst. More specifically: twisted, dysfunctional families with dark secrets to hide; damaged individuals with complex, psychological issues; elements of desire, murder and betrayal, all set within the privileged social circle of 1950s LA. This was the book that I was reading during a snowstorm somewhere in Ohio on the way to grad school at IU, where a few months later I invented my own fictional detective. If you like Ross MacDonald, this will hit you in the sweet spot. T. The was another very cleverly written and conceived plot in the detective mystery Lew Archer series. If you’re already a fan of hardboiled detective fiction then this novel’s a dusky gem that’s well worth searching out, and kudos to the editors at Vintage Crime for uncovering it again. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. In The Barbarous Coast, tough, thoughtful private eye Lew Archer pursues a girl who jackknifed too suddenly from high diving to high living. An example: "...Miss Seeley came in.... She was a little older, a little thinner. The dialogue is terrific and murders solved with a twist in final chapter. If you haven’t stepped inside this noir-ish world before then here’s a brief rundown of what to expect: hot-headed gangsters, scheming women, smart-talking detectives, guns, seedy motels, under-the-table business deals and more than one murder. Resident/Client Library. On a Barbarous Coast poses an imaginary conundrum of what would have happened if after leaving Botany Bay, the Endeavour had wrecked on a coral reef off the far north coast of Australia. I hadn't read a Ross Macdonald for many years, and was surprised how much I enjoyed it. In The Barbarous Coast, Lew Archer's pursuit of a girl who jackknifed too suddenly from high diving to high living leads him to an ex-fighter with an unexplained movie contract, a big-time gambler who died by his own knife, and finally to an answer he would rather not have known. by Warner Books (NY). The barbarous coast Kent's local papers are whipping up anti-immigrant sentiment - but they're not, of course, racist. I recently read this author's "The Way Some People Die" and thought the writing and plot very good. Originally published in 1956, The Barbarous Coast has PI Lew Archer nosing around Malibu, looking for a freaked-out Canadian’s wife, a high-diving bombshell, Hester Campbell (in the vein of Esther Williams, for those who might not get it). If you haven't read him yet, here's not a bad place to start. The Barbarous Coast (eBook) : Macdonald, Ross : Lew Archer's pursuit of a girl who jackknifed too suddenly from high diving to high living leads him to an ex-fighter with an unexplained movie contract, a bigtime gambler who died by his own knife, and finally to an answer he would rather not have known. This book sneaked up on me like an Archer nemesis with a sap. The themes are all very adult, gory and risque for the 1950's but without being explicit. Macdonald's evocation of California and post-war angst opened my eyes to my own potential as a. One of a series of crime stories based in and around Los Angeles featuring the private detective Lew Archer. The book is both extremely readable and well-written. Macdonald, Ross, 1915-1983 imprint. He was truly one of the great American mystery novelists - in fact, like Hammett and Chandler, he deserves to be one of the great American novelists. Hired by her hotheaded husband and her rummy “uncle,” Lew Archer sniffs around Malibu and finds the stink of blackmail, blood-money, and murder on every pricey silk shirt. Disclosure: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and affiliated sites. This item: The Barbarous Coast (Lew Archer Series) by Ross Macdonald Paperback $15.00 Only 19 left in stock (more on the way). The set-up is familiar: a simple request to protect one man from another man turns into a hideously complex story, replete with blackmail, counter-blackmail, gangsters, false business fronts, a schizophrenic woman, several murders, and what seemed like dozens of false leads. Welcome back. "The Barbarous Coast" is a perfect example of a "hard-boiled" detective story. The story takes place over a couple of days, moves at incredible speed at the number of bodies that turn up and is solved as quickly with the wit, intuition and detective work of Archer. 190p. In The Barbarous Coast, tough, thoughtful private eye Lew Archer pursues a girl who jackknifed too suddenly from high diving to high living. You can always rely on a few great scenes, and Archer’s dialogue with his scriptwriting friend is wonderful, but there are some lulls along the way. Baycrest Hospital. Here you’ve got what you’ve usually got – very strong writing, a powerful moral viewpoint, some clever character work, and one too many twists. Consequently, it can be difficult to look at a novel of this genre as a stand-alone story. Learn more about The Barbarous Coast in the Marmot Library Network digital collection. Praise For The Barbarous Coast (Lew Archer Series #6)… “Ross Macdonald writes like a son-of-a-bitch.” —Anthony Boucher“Not since the novels of Nathanael West has the theme of American innocence grinding to a stop at the polluted waters of the Pacific so consistently reverberated through a … The Barbarous Coast is a hipster Hollywood sleaze mystery classic that has to be read to be believed: Ross McDonald tells a story of boxers and pool tramps bought and sold by Hollywood studios while movie studio dicks enforce damage control over their pilled-out and drunken stars while gangsters hustle men for sexual favors and rich wives foam at the mouth from Demerol seizures. The novel opens with Lew being called to The Channel Club, a private building at the southern end of Malibu beach. The beautiful, high-diving blonde had Hollywood dreams and stars in her eyes but now she seems to have disappeared without a trace. 'On A Barbarous Coast' is the retelling of Cook's journey along the far north coast of Australia. Set in 1956 America, the tone and style of Ross Macdonald murder mysteries featuring the detective Lew Archur is similar to a Raymond Chandler novel. by Craig Cormick, Harold Ludwick On a Barbarous Coast is an alternative retelling of Captain James Cook's story co-written by Craig Cormick and Harold Ludwick in the tradition of imagined histories. Fiction On a Barbarous Coast Harold Ludwick and Craig Cormick Allen & Unwin, $29.99. I like the hardboiled tone, lush California setting, and snappy dialogue. He was truly one of the great American mystery novelists - in fact, like Hammett and Chandler, he d. I am amazed that MacDonald seems to have fallen out of the mystery pantheon. The Barbarous Coast (Book) : Macdonald, Ross : The beautiful, high-diving blonde had Hollywood dreams and stars in her eyes but now she seems to have disappeared without a trace. This area was known in Europe as the Barbary Coast, in reference to the Berbers. Beset by dirty cops, a bumptious boxer turned silver screen pretty boy and a Hollywood mogul with a dark past, Archer discovers the secret of a grisly murder that just won't stay hidden.Lew Archer navigates through the watery, violent world of wealth and privilege, in this electrifying story of obsession gone mad. His command of English is superb. Given that the last Archer novel I read was ‘The Wycherly Woman’, a book I found more than somewhat dispiriting in its depiction of damaged people doing damaging things to each other, this was something of a relief. The terms Barbary Coast, Barbary, Berbery or Berber Coast were used in English-language sources (similarly to equivalent terms in other languages) from the 16th century to the early 19th to refer to the coastal regions of North Africa or Maghreb, specifically the Ottoman borderlands consisting of the regencies in Tripoli, Algiers and Tunis as well as, sometimes, Morocco. The one tragedy is that Ross Macdonald wasn’t actually the author’s name at all – his real name was Kenneth Millar, and he used the pseudonym to avoid confusion with his writer wife, Margaret Millar. But things never stay simple in a Macdonald mystery. 1,500 to 6,500 is the general guideline from the Greyhawk Glossography. Ditto for the leading authors of the genre Hammett, Chandler, and Ross MacDonald. The manager knows who the man's wife is but swears he has no idea of her whereabouts. What's wrong with a novella? Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. A murder on the fringes of gangland leads to blackmail, intrigue and further deaths. It’s the world that Roman Polanski portrayed so realistically in Chinatown, or that James Ellroy still plunders to this day. The dependence on local Aboriginal tribes for survival replaces the history we know, where so many of the Aboriginal population lost their lives because of Cook and his crew. But then I'll never be a detective. I devoured this book and am so glad the Library of America has re-issued these books. The average population for towns on the Wild Coast is around 6,000. Archer soon finds himself emerged in a web of stories told by Hester, which draw Archer to an unsolved murder involving a friend of Hester’s, a young ex-boxer turned aspiring actor, and a movie mogul in a partnership with a mob boss. Hired by her hotheaded husband and her rummy “uncle,” Lew Archer sniffs around Malibu and finds the stink of blackmail, blood-money, and … Archer's investigation leads him to an ex-fighter with an unexplained movie contract, a big-time gambler who died by his own knife, and finally, to an answer he would rather not have known. Ross Macdonald – The Barbarous Coast. It's dark, surprising, sad at times, and gritty all the time. ISBN. Clarence Bassett, the manager of an exclusive Malibu country club, has a problem. Refresh and try again. I found "The Barbarous Coast" of lesser quality: it seemed to me the plot was, well, all over the place with too many characters popping in and out of the story, some of them even feeling unnecessary to the central story, as if MacDonald was trying to stretch this one out. I found "The Barbarous Coast" of lesser quality: it seemed to me the plot was, well, all over the place with too many characters popping in and out of the story, some of them even feeling unnecessary to the central story, as if MacDonald was trying to stretch this one out. Macdonald's evocation of California and post-war angst opened my eyes to my own potential as a fiction writer. I am amazed that MacDonald seems to have fallen out of the mystery pantheon. If there was one author that brought me to that it was Ross Macdonald. In The Barbarous Coast, tough, thoughtful private eye Lew Archer pursues a girl who jackknifed too suddenly from high diving to high living. This comparatively early Archer novel feels almost carefree and easy-going compared to what was to follow. The 6th Lew Archer novel starts out as another missing person case. 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