Friday 12 October 2012

Death by Water by Ross MacDonald


Originally written in 1945 this story did not see print until 2001 in the three-story anthology, edited by Tom Nolan, in the book Strangers in Town.

The story was about a nice old millionaire living in a hotel with his wheel chair bound wife.  He befriends many people in the bar and is thrown out of the pool when he and his newly met friends go for a midnight swim.  The next morning his is found, dead, at the bottom of the pool.

Lew Archer investigates, on behalf of the hotel, to confirm that it was an accident and not something more.  Since there is a sizable inheritance involved it's important to discover the truth.

I liked it, it was a straight-ahead whodunit. Lew Archer starts to show his character here.

Information on Ross MacDonald can be found HERE.

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