The Ferguson Affair

by Ross Macdonald

Book Overview

It was a long way from the million-dollar Foothill Club to Pelly Street, where grudges were settled in blood and Spanish and a stolen diamond ring landed a girl in jail. Defense lawyer Bill Gunnarson... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553134493
• ISBN13: 9780553134490
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Bantam Books
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Intricately plotted.

Lew Archer is nowhere to be found in this Ross Macdonald mystery from 1960. Instead, a very conscientious lawyer by the name of Bill Gunnarson serves the dual role of narrator and crime solver. What starts out as a rather mundane case involving serial burglaries becomes increasingly complex and engaging as murder and kidnapping are added into the mix. As in all Ross Macdonald novels, The Ferguson Affair is steeped in human tragedy stemming from the effects of ill-fated relationships and family dysfunction years in the making. Macdonald's grand theme seems to be that the past will dictate the future and that an individual's ability to alter his pre-determined destiny is extremely limited. The Ferguson Affair gets 5 stars from me because of its intricately constructed and engaging plot, its highly descriptive and imaginative prose and its very compelling and moving character sketches. Ross Macdonald took his craft quite seriously and the results of that are apparent in the pages of this remarkable book. Do yourself a favor and read it.

Non Lew Archer Mystery Still Entertains

Originally published in 1960, the Ferguson Affair was released more or less in the middle of the Lew Archer series. Lawyer Bill Gunnarson substitutes for Archer, the most pronounced difference being he is married. It's of little consequence, because MacDonald keeps her appearances to a minimum. If you did a word search and substituted Bill with Lew and Ginnarson with Archer, no one would notice this wasn't an Archer mystery.All of the Ross MacDonald trade marks are here; double identities, crokked cops, etc. The Ferguson Affair is thoroughly enjoyable, and hopefully Black Lizard will release it soon!