Ross Macdonald a.k.a. Kenneth Millar: The Dark Tunnel (USA 2013)

From the Publisher:
ON THE HOME FRONT, TWO WARTIME LOVERS REUNITE UNDER A CLOUD OF PARANOIA
In 1937 Munich, an American must be careful when he smokes his pipe. Robert Branch, a careless academic, makes the mistake of lighting up when the Führer is about to begin a procession, and nearly gets pummeled for his mistake. Only the timely intervention of Ruth Esch, a flame-haired actress, saves him. So begins a month-long romance between East and West -- a torrid affair that ends when the lovers make the mistake of defending a Jew, earning Branch a beating and Esch a trip to a concentration camp. Six years later, Esch escapes to Vichy and makes her way to Detroit. To her surprise, Branch is waiting for her. He is a professor, working for the war effort, and his paranoia about a spy inside the Motor City war board sours their reunion. Once again, a dangerous net is encircling these lovers -- a reminder that, in this war, love always comes second to death.

PRAISE FOR ROSS MACDONALD
"A story told with consummate skill." -- The New York Times
"No once since Macdonald has written with such poetic inevitability about people, their secret cares, their emotional scars, their sadness, cowardice, and courage. He reminded the rest of us of what was possible in our genre." -- John Lutz, author of Single White Female
"The greatest mystery novelist of his age, I would argue, even greater than Chandler." -- John Connolly, author of Every Dead Thing

ROSS MACDONALD was a pseudonym for Kenneth Millar, an author of detective fiction best known for creating the character of Lew Archer, a California PI. The Moving Target (1949) was the first of more than a dozen Lew Archer novels, which established Millar as one of the finest crime novelists of his day. He is often included in the "holy trinity of detective fiction," along with Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.

Ross Macdonald a.k.a. Kenneth Millar: The Dark Tunnel. MysteriousPress.com / Open Road Integrated Media, ISBN: 9781453295564 (February, 2013), 243 p., $14.99.

Ross Macdonald: The Dark Tunnel (USA 1983)

From the Publisher:
A DATE WITH THE HANGMAN
My right arm felt numb and my head began to go around in stately circles, humming like a distant motor.
"Relax, Dr. Branch," The voice came from the other end of a dark tunnel. "You'll go to sleep very shortly. Then I shall have the pleasure of hanging you."

The rope was looser now and I tried for the last time to get my knees under me. I couldn't raise my head. The black cloud had come back and rested on my head and it was as heavy as tons of coal. The idiot speck of consciousness I had left flickered and went out, and I turned on great black wheels in an infinity of humming wheels...

THE DARK TUNNEL
The man screamed, his arms stretched wide as he tumbled down from the fifth floor window. University Professor Robert Branch saw his best friend make the fall, heard his skull hit the pavement. The cops called it suicide. Branch insisted it was murder. He knew the killer was part of a spy ring operating on campus. He knew what hidden secrets they wanted. Too bad nobody believed his story. Because now Branch was marked for death, and he knew that his executioner would be one of three people: a bisexual psychopath, a respected educator...or the woman he loved.

ROSS MACDONALD
Winner of the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award, Ross Macdonald is acknowledged around the world as one of the greatest mystery writers of our time. The New York Times has called his books featuring private investigator Lew Archer "the finest series of detective novels ever written by an American."

Ross Macdonald: The Dark Tunnel. Originally published under the name Kenneth Millar. Bantam Books, ISBN: 0553235141 (July, 1983), 247 p., $2.95.

Ross Macdonald: The Dark Tunnel (USA 1972)

From the Publisher:
DEAD MAN'S CHOICE
Doctor Robert Branch was a university professor, not a secret agent. But his best friend was dead and Branch knew that it couldn't have been suicide. He was also certain that the murder had been arranged by a Nazi espionage group operating on campus. The only trouble was, no one would believe him. Branch knew that the Nazis would have him eliminated as soon as it was convenient. He'd even narrowed his choice of executioner down to three: a psychotic homosexual; a respected educator-and the woman he loved.

THE DARK TUNNEL
by Ross Macdonald Top-selling author of the Lew Archer novels

"The finest series of detective novels ever written by an American." -- The New. York Times

Ross Macdonald: The Dark Tunnel. He was being hunted by nazi assassins -- and nobody would believe him... Originally published under the name of Kenneth Millar. New York: Bantam, 1972, Bantam Books #N7367, 247 p., ¢95.

Kenneth Millar: I Die Slowly (USA 1955)

From the Publisher:
Backside:
The fine, ripe mouth was the same, and her body was as he'd remembered it. Slim and firm, with the sensuous grace of a panther, and the long-legged beauty of a dancer... As he'd remembered it! But there was a shocking difference -- this woman he had loved was now hard and arrogant, possessed of unnatural yearnings, and cruelly savage in her evil trade of bargaining in corruption.

Inside
I watched them.
The woman stepped back, lowering her sabre. Peter laid his weapon on the floor and stepped towards her. She came into his arms and I saw his face go down to hers. She dropped the sabre and her hand came around to the nape of his neck. They stood there, alive with passion.

This was the woman I loved, the woman I had waited for -- hungrily, fiercely. But now-even this thing that was happening before my eyes was only child's play to the hell that was to break loose a few shattering hours later --

A LION LIBRARY EDITION

Kenneth Millar: I Die Slowly. A novel of outrage and fear. New York: Lion Books, 1955, Lion Library #LL52, 222 p., ¢35.

Kenneth Millar: The Dark Tunnel (USA 1950)

From the Publisher:
The strong and delicate shape of her head was the same and her body was as I remembered it. Slim and straight as a boy's, with small, high breasts and narrow hips and firm legs like a dancer's...

As he remembered it! The only difference was - this was not a woman but a man! A man who loved other men. A man who was a spy.

Kenneth Millar: The Dark Tunnel. The story of a homosexual spy. New York: Lion Books, 1950, Lion Books #48, 224 p., ¢25.