Ross has produced some masterpieces and a couple of not so great works but that can be expected from the volume of his library. This title falls a little short of the masterpiece standard but is still very, very good.
The thing that shaves off that fifth star and masterpiece mantel is the conventional nature of the piece. Ross Macdonald is one of my top authors and all members thereof have distinct strengths, Parker is volume and wit, Thompson is psychological existentialism, Chandler is simply being a God. Ross' strength was always the interpersonality of the stories and reaching studies into the whys and wherefors of crime. His stories are family dramas containing realistically flawed people doing bad things for what seem to them to be good reasons. His stories nucleate from this seed, growing naturally before blossoming into a full blown confrontation. This story was different - it was a standard, fairly linear, clue-chasing detective stories with characters that crept a little bit more towards the archetypes in other stories.
However, ignoring what I seek Ross for and what I normally get, this is a very, very good standard detective story. There are twists and turns, nasty places occupied by nastier people all doing what they can to make a break. And like with most of his works I remember those places and people even now (I am on my third book since).
Still one of my top five authors and I can not see that changing any time soon.
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