The Drowning Pool: Ross Macdonald

In this second Lew Archer novel by Ross Macdonald, the plot is complicated, with a large cast of characters. Archer's client is a woman who has intercepted a letter intended for her husband that reveals that she has been dallying with another man. She is concerned that her husband will see the letter, but even more than that, she does not want her mother-in-law to hear about it. Her husband's family was very well-to-do but at this point in time is living on a lovely estate on a relatively small fixed income and the mother-in-law controls the purse strings. The job she wants Archer to do is find out who sent the letter, and possibly prevent any future occurrences. When Archer visits the family home where they all live, the mother-in-law is drowned in a pool during a party.

The other characters include the client's teenage daughter; the chauffeur who is attracted to the daughter; the husband's friend, a playwright; and the sheriff who is a close friend of the family. Immediately the chauffeur comes under suspicion as the killer, but Archer is not convinced that he committed the crime. In his mind, just about anyone could be a suspect.

That is more of the set up and the story than I like to reveal about a novel, but there is plenty more to follow. The family is extremely dysfunctional, and there are various criminal elements involved. The initial setting is the southern California coast, in an area where oil is the prime source of money. Archer travels as far afield as Las Vegas looking for clues and evidence, and gets beaten up along the way.

Archer is one of those private eyes who won't give up, and gives the case his all. He goes above and beyond. The ending surprised me, and the book was a pleasure to read.

An example of the writing... which also demonstrates Macdonald's concern for the environment.

I was still chilly a half-hour later, crossing the pass to Nopal Valley. Even at its summit the highway was wide and new, rebuilt with somebody's money. I could smell the source of the money when I slid down into the valley on the other side. It stank like rotten eggs. 

The oil wells from which the sulphur gas rose crowded the slopes on both sides of the town. I could see them from the highway as I drove in: the latticed triangles of the derricks where the trees had grown, the oil-pumps nodding and clanking where cattle had grazed. Since 'thirty-nine or 'forty, when I had seen it last, the town had grown enormously, like a tumor. It had thrust out shoots in all directions: blocks of match-box houses in raw new housing developments and the real estate shacks to go with them, a half-mile gauntlet of one-story buildings along the highway: veterinarians, chiropractors, beauty shops, marketerias, restaurants, bars, liquor stores....

More had changed than the face of the buildings, or the number and make of the cars. The people were different and there were too many of them. Crowds of men whose faces were marked by sun and work and boredom walked in the streets and in and out of the bars, looking for fun or trouble. Very few women showed on the main street. The blue-shirted cop on the main corner wore his holster on the front of his hip, with the flap unbuttoned and the gun-butt showing.

After reading the book, my husband and I watched the film version with Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. I was very surprised that the story had been relocated to New Orleans and surrounding areas. The setting was lovely and the decadent culture of the rich and the dysfunctional family fit in perfectly there. The story was not identical; some relationships had been changed. But for the most part the basic structure remained and the acting was very good. Melanie Griffith plays the extremely flirtatious daughter. As usual, the book is better, but the film is very entertaining.

Other reviews:

• At Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine
• At Tipping My Fedora; Sergio also reviewed the film adaptation.
• At the crime segments.
• At Mystery*File.
• At JASON HALF : writer.

 -----------------------------

Publisher:  Vintage Crime / Black Lizard, 1996 (orig. pub. 1950)
Length:   244 pages
Format:   Trade paperback
Series:    Lew Archer, #2
Setting:   Southern California
Genre:    Mystery
Source:   I purchased my copy