The Galton Case - Ross MacDonald - 1959

Ross MacDonald and I go way back. In fact it was MacDonalds books that filled the vast emptiness that was left in my life when I finished reading all of Raymond Chandlers books.I recently read that there is a film of the Galton Case in the works. At this time there is no info on IMDB as the film is in pre-production so I though I would get a little ahead of the game and read it first. I've read about half of the Lew Archer books. In my experience they've been consistently great reads and the Galton Case is no different, actually it's my favorite so far. Archer displays more of a sense of humour and at the same time is more cynical and hardboiled than usual which really ups the pulpy noir quotient in this one. For someone who lives in a small town in Southern Ontario, it's always a surprise when a nearby location pops up in one of these books. In this one, Archers investigations lead him to Kingsville Ontario,which is the boyhood home of one of the characters in the story. Ross MacDonald spent some time in Canada and this isn't the first time that Canadian characters have turned up in his books...well, at least not in the order that I've read them, but Kingsville is only a couple of hours drive from my hometown of Brantford. In fact, I've had family that lived there.

There is also a brief beatnik coffee house scene as Archer traces a character to The Listening Ear and sees him reading some poetry to the latest crowd of appreciative listeners. Archers description of the modern jazz and poetry scene is typically cynical.

The listening ear was full of dark blue light and pale blue music. A combo made up of piano, bass fiddle, trumpet, and drums was playing something advanced. I didn't have my slide rule with me, but the four musicians seemed to understand each other. From time to time they smiled and nodded like space jockeys passing in the night.

Hopefully the new movie in the works will do it justice. It could be really good in the way that the latest version of "The Killer Inside Me" was. But I'm always wary of these projects as the stories often get updated to current times, likely to appeal to a larger audience, I'm sure, but I find that they always lose a little something in the translation. I guess we'll have to wait and see how this one turns out. In the meantime, check out the book. Definitely one of MacDonalds best.