The Barbarous Coast (1956).
by Ross Macdonald.
Paperback.
ISBN-13: 978-0307279033
“Not since the novels of Nathanael West has
the theme of American innocence grinding to a stop at the polluted waters of
the Pacific so consistently reverberated through a body of writing.” – Detroit
News.
The beautiful, high-diving blonde had
Hollywood dreams and stars in her eyes but now she seems to have disappeared
without a trace. Hired by her hotheaded husband and her rummy “uncle,” Lew
Archer sniffs around Malibu and finds the stink of blackmail, blood-money, and
murder on every pricey silk shirt. Beset by dirty cops, a bumptious boxer
turned silver screen pretty boy, and a Hollywood mogul with a dark past, Archer
discovers the secret of a grisly murder that just won't stay hidden.