24. The Goodbye Look by Ross Macdonald

I was a bit wary about reading this one, as I understand there is a peak period with the Lew Archer novels. The Goodbye Look was published in 1969, on the later side and I suspected that this one might not be so great.  When an author works a certain specific style and themes their entire career, it can grow old and repetitive at the end of their work.  I didn’t want to expose myself to a lesser Lew Archer and then find that influencing my perception of his great books.  Nevertheless, it was thin and has a cool cover.  I was on a work trip and knew i could only read in snatches and thought a detective book would be an easily digestible follow.  I was correct on my first worry and incorrect on the second prediction.  The Goodbye Look is a decent read, but it does feel tired, dwelling overly and too heavily on the sins of the past and the lies of couples and parents.  It also had a complex mystery with too many characters so that I got quite confused at times.  This book should be read in one sitting or at least several chunks.  The plot is actually really well-constructed and clever (and messed up) but it takes some focus to keep it all together.

Archer gets hired by a lawyer, Trutwell to help his wealthy clients, the Chalmers, to recover a jewelry box filled with letters that was stolen from them.  The lawyer lives next door to the Chalmers and they have a long history together.  However, the Chalmers don’t seem keen on Archer’s involvement.  Right away, you can tell that there are secrets everywhere and everyone involved doesn’t want to say anything.  Archer, of course, plods along, continuing to probe until he finds out quite quickly that their son Nick is quite likely the culprit.   He has a history of psychological instability and there is a risk of suicide.  He has been hanging out with an older woman and a rougher young man, despite supposedly in love with Trutwell’s nice daughter.  Tracking them down, Archer finds the rougher young man shot to death in his car.  This is where things get complex and we get a bunch of storylines from the past including an embezzled bank (and the disappearance of the money), affairs while boyfriends are away at the war and just a whole lot of lying.

Now that we all know the sad history of the Millar’s, it is hard to extricate their personal struggles from the books.  The themes in The Goodbye Look seem to hit particularly hard in this area and it is troubling to think of the two writers working on this book together which discusses the crimes of wayward children and how their parents dealt with them.  I think part of what makes this book lacking is that there is so much focus on the family and very little on the time and place.  There is also more explicit pscyhological talk, both in the dialogue and Archer’s thoughts.  His metaphors as well were getting a bit forced at this point.

I know I’m sounding really critical.  On its own, it’s an impressively intricate mystery with a pretty good portrayal of the morally bankrupt bourgeoisie.  It just can’t compare to his earlier works and one risks perhaps enjoying them less if you read them after this one.  So I recommend it for Archer completists only.