I finished reading Ross Macdonald's THE BARBAROUS COAST
(1956) last night. This is an early entry in the Lew Archer
series, and a good one, too.
One thing I noticed is that Lew never gets paid for his PI
work here. He states what his rates are but he never collects
his fee. At one point, he's offered a fat bribe but turns it
down.
This is in contrast to, say, The Nameless Detective who's
always drawing up a contract with his client, and paying the
bills.
I remember Jim Rockford on TV always got screwed out of his
money by the end of the show.
Maybe getting paid is more important to some PI folks than to
others. Early Lew Archer seems to take an almost crusading
zeal in seeing the case to its end, good or bad. Making a
buck is secondary.
Ed Lynskey
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