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Find a Victim (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) by Ross Macdonald
Book Description Las Cruces wasn’t a place most travelers would think to stop. But after Lew Archer plays the good samaritan and picks up a bloodied hitchhiker, he finds himself in town for a few days awaiting a murder inquest. A hijacked truck full of liquor and an evidence box full of marijuana, $20,000 from a big time bank heist by a small time crook, corruption, adultery, incest, prodigal daughters and abused wives all make the little town seem a lot more interesting than any guide book ever could. And as the murder rate rises, Archer finds himself caught up in mystery where everyone is a suspect and everyone’s a victim. Reader Reviews 1 of 14 people found the following review helpful: Tough guy P.I. takes a beating, but keeps on trucking, December 29, 2001 Reviewer: Gary A. Knoke from Sterling, VA USA This is a typical private detective book from the post-WWII era. In it, as usual, the hero (Lew Archer) is accidentally involved in a case, and then decides to pursue the case, even though DANGER is everywhere. There is the requisite amount of hero-being-beat-up stuff, combined with hero-beating-others-up. There are the "bad" girls, and the who-knows-what-they-are girls (or 'gals', perhaps). There are the seedy denizens of the seedy town doing seedy things. And those are just the cops! There is also the seedy motel owner and his dissatisfied wife. Also on hand is the young criminal (just graduated from the juvenile delinquent ranks) and the wise old man who has seen much heartache. I suspect this book was pretty hot when it came out, but it's almost a parody of the genre today, sad to say. I can stand about one Ross MacDonald a year, just to give me some perspective on this part of the mystery/suspense scene, and Find a Victim is it for this year.
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