Diary PI Review: ROSS MACDONALD – The Drowning Pool.

ROSS MACDONALD – The Drowning Pool. Lew Archer #2. Knopf, hardcover, 1950. Reprinted many times, in both hardcover and paperback. Film: Warner Bros., 1975, starring Paul Newman. PI Lew Archer is hired to investigate an anonymous note sent to Maude Slocum’s husband 9accusing her of adultery], intercepted before he could read it, but one that could ruin a marriage. Yet it’s also one hardly worth saving, as James Slocum’s daughter has her own dark secrets . Then the grandmother is pushed into a pool, and Archer refuses to be pushed out of the case, More murder — and a suicide — occur before the ends are finally tied up, including verification of the real murderer, Smartly done, an early work of a craftsman. I liked the line, after Archer overhears some particularly nasty conversation: “I felt as if I’d been listening in on a microphone built into the walls of the hall.” Rating: **** — September 1969.