RARA-AVIS: Re:Question about Ross MacDonald's works

From: JIM DOHERTY ( jimdohertyjr@yahoo.com)
Date: 13 Mar 2007


Arsenal,

Re your question below:

"Should I read Ross MacDonald's 'Lew Archer' cases in sequence, just like Lawrence Block's 'Matthew Scudder?' Do the personality of character varies as time goes on?"

He goes through changes, but nothing like what Matt Scudder goes through. He's more of a cypher than Scudder.

Nevertheless, he does get older. He's just gone through a divorce in the first novel, THE MOVING TARGET (which became the movie HARPER), and, in the first few books, we gets hints of the after-effects of that failed relationship.

I'd say read 'em in order, but if you can't do that conveniently, you won't be losing the thread of the character in the same way you would if you read the Scudders out of order. Start with the short story collection THE NAME IS ARCHER (aka LEW ARCHER - PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR), then go onto THE MOVING TARGET.

JIM DOHERTY

 
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