The Zebra-Striped Hearse

One great thing about Macdonald is that his pitch is just right. His writing and his detective are both wise, tender, thoughtful, and unillusioned, without the reverse sentimentality of the hardboiled. Chandler all but invented that combination of cynicism and self-pity, and was forever trying to transcend it. Macdonald is a street or two past that, and so needn't hustle to maintain the tough front, he can just move through his world and invent it as he goes.

Col. Mark Blackwell is taking parental protection to a whole new level when he hires Lew Archer to check out his prospective son-in-law. Blackwell is convinced that this guy is no good, whereas Archer will take the case only on the condition that he be allowed to carry out his work impartially and without preconceptions. But very quickly he racks up a trail of murder, false identity and buried secrets. And what's with this zebra-striped hearse that keeps showing up?

As far as Archer cases go, this has an interesting premise but suffers from being a bit repetitive as Archer constantly has to fill in everyone he talks to about what he's just learned. (Come on guys, read the book and follow along! Stop making him have to explain show more everything.) Also, the hearse does not show up nearly as often as its place in the title would have you believe, which is mildly disappointing.

This would probably make a good second or third book to read, but not an introduction to the series. show less

Consistently interesting and well-plotted, yet glum in tone, without Macdonald's usual playfulness of description: even the wry comments seem muted in comparison with earlier books in the series. As usual, I loved the description of a California before the time when you needed to be a multimillionaire to live in a canyon above Malibu beach, but when the action goes down to Ajijic and Lake Chapala (communities near Guadalajara that have long served as colonies for American expats) the sense of place is thin. Archer seems barely to have noticed that he's left the United States.

There are many characters, virtually all of them mildly to extremely depressed. There's a twist in the last few pages that left me disappointed: it seemed one too show more many, and was less convincing than the previous (false) resolution. Although I was disappointed by the book, I don't regret spending time with it — you should remember that I'm a big fan of Ross Macdonald, and plan to read the entire Lew Archer series. But I wonder: had Macdonald lost a certain exuberance by the early 1960s, and did that loss affect all his remaining work? show less

To begin, I started reading this book right after I came back from Lake Tahoe, and I was tickled to find that LT figured so prominently in this story! And what a story! More twists and turns than the I-50! MacDonald gives us at least four possible killers, with several characters acting suspicious, and seemingly has three on the hook until the end! I had no idea who done it! AND, that ol' zebra-striped hearse driving about through it all! No one is really a good guy in his, other than Lew Archer - the Blackwells, Damis, Campion, - they all kind of suck. And LOTS of mysteries - who is the baby's father? why did this person marry that person? what is that guy's real name? And, of course, who killed who?! Join Archer in his investigation show more in L.A., L.T., the O.C., and down in Mexico. It's a very good read! show less

A few years ago, a person I worked with put down Ross Macdonald's stories saying they were all too family-related. I guess he was right: they are, but that's not a bad thing. In this one, a distraught father hires Archer to dig some dirt on a guy he is afraid his daughter is going to run off with, and thinks he's a gold digger. Of course this opens up a can of worms, and Archer ends up going to Mexico to seek out the guy, and finds out he has been traveling under a different name, the name of a man who was murdered. Not surprisingly there are several murders involved, and a couple of red herrings that aren't resolved until the very last pages. Archer is well-drawn here, and so are those he investigates. A very involving book, and yes, show more it is family-oriented, but not all families are just alike. show less

Like his other novels it's got all the elements: rich and poor, middle-aged and teens, many locations (mostly in California) and many intriguing clues that lead in various directions. Zebra-Striped Hearse is easily among his best and it somehow works on my like a feel-good novel. Not that I have any attraction for murder stories, but the Lew Archer stories always leave me feeling better about myself.

The Lew Archer series by Ross Macdonald needs very little introduction. Macdonald was the heir to Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett and wrote the novels from 1949 to 1976. This one begins with Archer being hired to investigate the prospective son-in-law of Colonel Blackwell with the hope that he will dig up some information that will stop the marriage. Burke Damis, the subject of Archer's investigation, is an artist who is a bit of a wild man. The Zebra-Striped Hearse is the the rolling home of a group of surfers who live on the beaches of Southern California.
The book quickly becomes a murder investigation as Archer digs into Damis's past. The story has some colorful locales, Lake Tahoe, Mexico and Malibu. The character I enjoyed show more most was a woman artist who lived in Mexico and had been living with Damis before he hooked up with Harriet Blackwell. She was serious about being an artist and someone who would be worthwhile taking the time to have dinner with. Archer ran into a female movie idol from his youth in Mexico who quickly threw him out of her house.
The book is not one of Macdonald's best which means it is a pretty good murder mystery. The plot has the usual quota of twists and turns and you think it is over three times before the final surprise. I enjoyed the book, but I can only give it three and one-half stars. The plot got lost in itself a couple of times and there were very few interesting or likeable characters. Still even going through the motions at times Macdonald is a good author and reading this book was a nice way to spend the time. show less