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THE DROWNING POOL.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1950. Octavo, boards. First edition. The second Lew Archer novel. "A noirish, centrifugal amorality pervades Archer's world and The Drowning Pool does not conclude nicely or neatly. Yet this narrative ambiguity affirms the complexity of Macdonald's fiction, for as Archer observes bitterly at the denouement: "The happy endings and the biggest oranges were the ones that California saved for export."" - Lucian Robinson, book review 9/1/2012 for The Guardian/The Observer. Basis for the Paul Newman film, the second in which he plays the Archer character, renamed Harper. Pederson (ed.), St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers, (4th ed.), pp. 676-678.
THE MOVING TARGET.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1949. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Warmly inscribed and signed by Millar on the front free end paper, "To Jim Atkinson, / Carol's brother and / therefore my friend / Kenneth Millar / (John MacDonald)." The first book in the Lew Archer series. Archer is hired to find what has happened to a missing oil tycoon. A Haycraft-Queen cornerstone volume (addenda). Filmed with Paul Newman playing Lew Archer renamed Harper. Hubin, p. 527.