Ross Macdonald: The Moving Target (USA 1998)

From the Publisher:
"Ross Macdonald remains the grandmaster, taking the crime novel to new heights by imbuing it with psychological resonance, complexity of story, and richness of style that remain awe-inspiring. Those of us in his wake owe a debt that can never be paid." -- Jonathan Kellerman

Like many Southern California millionaires, Ralph Sampson keeps odd company. There's the sun-worshiping holy man whom Sampson once gave his very own mountain; the fading actress with sidelines in astrology and S&M. Now one of Sampson's friends may have arranged his kidnapping. And as Lew Archer follows the clues from the canyon sanctuaries of the megarich to jazz joints where you can get beaten up between sets, The Moving Target blends sex, greed, and family hatred into an explosively readable crime novel.

"Macdonald is one of a handful of writers in the [mystery! genre whose worth and quality surpass the limitations of the form." -- Los Angeles Times

If any writer can be said to have inherited the mantle of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, it was Ross Macdonald. Between the late 1940s and his death in 1983, he gave the American crime novel a psychological depth and moral complexity that his pre- decessors had only hinted at. And in the character of Lew Archer, Macdonald redefined the private eye as a roving conscience who walks the treacherous frontier between criminal guilt and human sin.

Ross Macdonald: The Moving Target. Vintage Crime / Black Lizard, ISBN: 037570146X (March, 1998), 256 S., $11.00.

Ross Macdonald: The Moving Target (UK 1986)

From the Publisher:
Winner of the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award
A lot of people would go to a lot of trouble to get their hands on $100,000 in small notes. Kidnapping for instance. And that's how it looks to Lew Archer when he's hired to trace a missing billionaire. But five murders later and with a tightening circle of suspects, $100,000 no longer seems an adequate reason for all that trouble.

"Without in the least abating my admiration for Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler, I should like to venture the heretical suggestion that Ross Macdonald is a better novelist than either of them" - Anthony Boucher, New York Times Book Review
"Ross Macdonald must be ranked high amongst American thriller-writers" - The Times Literary Supplement
"The finest detective novels ever written by an American" - William Goldman, New York Times Book Review

Ross Macdonald was born near San Francisco in 1915. He grew up in Canada, travelled widely in Europe, but lived for most of his writing life in Santa Barbara, California, with his wife, the Canadian novelist Margaret Millar. Published simultaneously with Black Money and The Blue Hammer, The Moving Target was made into the highly successful film, Harper (1966) starring Paul Newman. Ross Macdonald died in 1983.

Ross Macdonald: The Moving Target. Allison & Busby American Crime, ISBN: 085031688X (August, 1986), 186 S., £2.95.

Ross Macdonald: The Moving Target (USA 1970)

From the Publisher:
THE DISAPPEARANGE OFA BIG-MONEY MAN
with Hollywood connections touched off a series of violent crimes. Oil millionaire Ralph Sampson was off again on another binge. The last time he was on one of those blinders he gave away an entire mountain, hunting lodge and all. Now he was at it again, and his wife -- twenty years his junior -- wanted him brought back before he could give away any more of the fortune she planned to inherit. For $65 a day, plus expenses, it was Lew Archer's job to find him.

THE MOVING TARGET
The explosive novel of drama and suspense by Ross Macdonald, author of
THE GOODBYE LOOK.

Ross Macdonald: The Moving Target. A Lew Archer Novel. Bantam Books #S5473 (December, 1970), 184 p., ¢75.

Ross Macdonald: The Moving Target (UK 1966)

From the Publisher:
ROSS MACDONALD
"He is head and shoulders above his contemporaries" NEW YORK TIMES

"A funny exciting offbeat love story in the form of a suspense mystery. The spectator is swept along with the people and the story, continually fed juicy morsels until he gets increasingly greedy for more rich and lurid detail... not for the kids" -- Hollywood Reporter

Warner Bros. Pictures presents PAUL NEWMAN in THE MOVING TARGET. A Gershwin-Kastner Production co-starring Lauren Bacall, Julie Harris, Arthur Hill, Janet Leigh, Pamela Tiffin, Robert Wagner and Shelley Winters.

THE MOVING TARGET
A HUNDRED GRAND IN SMALL NOTES... A lot of people would go to a lot of trouble to get money like that. People like -
ELAINE SAMPSON, the not-so-loving wife of a millionaire, who swore she would outlive her husband.
ALBERT GRAVES, an ex-D.A. who had a piggy bank where his heart should have been.
DWIGHT TROY, a one-time chorus boy with a yen for gunplay.
BETTY FRALEY, a red-hot pianist who didn't know when to cool off.

With a list of suspects like that, detective Lew Archer knew there would be trouble. Five brutal murders later Archer knew something else even a hundred grand isn't worth that kind of trouble.

Ross Macdonald: The Moving Target. A Lew Archer Novel. London: Fontana Books, 1966, 190 p., 3/6.

John Macdonald: The Moving Target (USA 1959)

From the Publisher:
"TALK FAST!" the gunman said.
"You kidnaped Ralph Sampson," Archer challenged him. "Your man picked up the ransom money last night."
"I never got any dough," he sneered.
"Maybe one of your boys pulled a double cross," the detective snapped. "A hundred grand is a lot, of money to small-timers like you."

A hundred grand is a lot of money. But Lew Archer knew kidnapers. And he knew that even a hundred grand wouldn't buy Ralph Sampson back alive. That price would have to be paid in blood. Archer only hoped it wouldn't be his own.

"Macdonald is head and shoulders above his contemporaries." -- THE NEW YORK TIMES

John Macdonald: The Moving Target. Private Eye Lew Archer tracks down a murderous gang of kidnapers... New York: Pocket Books, 1950 (3rd printing, August 1959), Pocket Book #2680, 243 p., ¢25.

John Ross Macdonald: The Moving Target (UK 1954)

From the Publisher:
THE MOVING TARGET is the first of a series of thrillers by an American author who is considered by many a strong rival for Raymond Chandler. He has created a detective, Lew Archer, whose exploits are at once exciting and who is a thoroughly sympathetic character. The Sampson family in The Moving Target made their money in the Texas oil fields and spent it on the Californian coast. There was no peace left to be left when Ralph Sampson disappeared. That is why Archer was called in by Mrs. Sampson, a paralysed blonde who had bad dreams, and by Albert Graves, who held Sampson's power of attorney. The trail that Archer followed, after discovering an old photograph that gave a vital clue, took him down through the seven circles of Californian society. For Sampson had mixed with thugs and murderers, a cult of "cow-whisperers", a silentmovie star in the last stages of degradation, and a boogie pianist who had served her time. In company like that, kidnapping could be the least of anyone's troubles, and so Archer believed until he actually found Sampson and realised who was guilty. But this was not before he had seen some plain and fancy evil, solved a series of violent crimes, and handed out some rough poetic justice.

It has only recently been revealed that 'John Ross Macdonald' is a pseudonym adopted by Kenneth Millar, who has written several successful thrillers and many stories and book reviews under his own name (his wife also writes thrillers). Of Scots and Pennsylvania-Dutch stock, he spent his early life in Canada, travelled in Europe, studied at two Canadian universities and received his Ph.D. from the American University of Michigan. He lives in California.

John Ross Macdonald: The Moving Target. A Lew Arless (sic!) Thriller. London: Pan-Books, 1954, 189 p., 2/-.

John Macdonald: The Moving Target (USA 1950)

From the Publisher:
The knife in my hand didn't stop him. He came at me like a bull!

"TALK FAST!"
The gunman said to detective Lew Archer.
"You kidnapped Ralph Sampson," Archer challenged him. "Your man, Eddie, picked up the ransom money."
"I never got any dough," the hoodlum sneered.
"Maybe Eddie pulled a double cross," the detective snapped. "A hundred grand is a lot of money to small-timers like you guys!"

A hundred grand was a lot of money... to other- people too... people like Ralph Sampson's luxury loving wife; some phony sun-worshippers; and a boogie pianist, who had served her time. With a list of suspects like that you expect a certain amount of trouble! But what detective Lew Archer got was four violent cases of murder!

Front cover illustration by Harvey Kidder
POCKET BOOK titles are chosen from the lists of all leading publishers. They bring you the world's best reading in editions of highest quality at the lowest possible price.

THIS IS A GENUINE POCKET BOOK

John Macdonald: The Moving Target. Complete and unabridged. Pocket Books #680 (April, 1950), 243 p., ¢25 (?).

John Macdonald: The Moving Target (USA 1949)

From the Publisher:
The Sampson family made their money in the Texas oil fields and spent it on the California coast. There was still plenty of it left when Ralph Sampson disap- peared. Sampson was a clever man with a dollar when he was sober, but an easy touch when he was off on a spree. Which is why Mrs. Sampson, a paralyzed blonde who had bad dreams, called Archer in to find him and his checkbook.

The trail that Archer followed took him down through the seven circles of California society. Sampson had mixed with thieves and murderers, a cult of phony cow-whisperers, a silent-movie star in the last stages of degradation, a boogie pianist who had served her time. In company like that you took for trouble. And Archer found plenty of trouble. He also found Sampson. But not before he had seen some plain and fancy evil, solved a series of violent crimes, and handed out some rough poetic justice.

Lew Archer is a new private eye, one that sees deeper than most. He travels faster than most, and with stranger people. His story is told in prose as fast and colorful as the events of his first case.

John Macdonald: The Moving Target. A Novel of Suspense. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1949, 189 p., $2.50.