Ross Macdonald: The Way Some People Die (USA 2007)

From the Publisher:
In a rundown house in Santa Monica, Mrs. Samuel Lawrence presses fifty crumpled bills into Lew Archer's hand and asks him to find her wandering daughter, Galatea. Described as 'crazy for men' and without discrimination, she was last seen driving off with small-time gangster Joe Tarantine, a hophead hood with a rep for violence. Archer traces the hidden trail from San Francisco slum alleys to the luxury of Palm Springs, traveling through an urban wilderness of drugs and viciousness. As the bodies begin to pile up, he finds that even angel faces can mask the blackest of hearts.Filled with dope, delinquents and murder, this is classic Macdonald and one of his very best in the Lew Archer series.

"The best novel in the tough tradition I've read since Farewell, My Lovely and possibly since The Maltese Falcon." -- Anthony Boucher, The New York Times Book Review
"The greatest American mystery novelist. Macdonald imbued the mystery with the qualities of a full-bodied novel: impeccable plotting, a sense of place, a careful delineation of human psychology, and a perfect fusion of story and character." -- Richard North Patterson
"Ross Macdonald gives to the detective story that accent of class that Raymond Chandler did." -- The Chicago Tribune

ROSS MACDONALD's real name was Kenneth Millar. Born near San Francisco in 1915 and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Millar returned to the U.S. as a young man and published his first novel in 1944. He served as the president of the Mystery Writers of America and was awarded their Grand Master Award as well as the Mystery Writers of Great Britain's Silver Dagger Award. He died in 1983.

Ross Macdonald: The Way Some People Die. A Lew Archer Novel. Vintage Crime / Black Lizard, ISBN: 0307278980 (July, 2007), 245 p., $12.95.

Ross Macdonald: The Way Some People Die (UK 1992)

From the Publisher:
'Who are you working for, Archer?' That is the trouble with this case: Archer has more clients than he knows what to do with. The first is a worried lady in Santa Monica who wants him to find her daughter. Then a very nasty mobster offers him more money to find the same girl. But the third client won't be needing Archer any longer -- he is lying in the hallway with a bullet in his neck...

'Worthy of the company of Hammett and Chandler, and that is tribute enough for any writer." GUARDIAN
'A master of the modern detective novel.' ROLLING STONE
'The finest detective novels ever written.' THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

Ross Macdonald: The Way Some People Die. A Lew Archer Novel. Allison & Busby, ISBN: 0749000341 (May, 1992), 195 p., £3.99.

Ross Macdonald: The Way Some People Die (USA 1990)

From the Publisher:
THE WAY SOME PEOPLE DIE
It was an hour by boat to Mexico. Walking through the sun- baked, run-down part of Pacific Point Lew Archer could guess why a two-bit hood had taken a sudden fishing trip south, and why he wasn't coming back. The one thing Archer couldn't explain was the woman who got left behind. She was major league, on no one's side but her own. While Archer tried to nail down an ugly scam of dope, mob money, and double crosses, he kept coming back to those flashing dark eyes- as all her friends kept finding ways to die...

ROSS MACDONALD
"[The American private eye, immortalized by Hammett, refined by Chandler, brought to its zenith by Macdonald." -- New York Times Book Review

A SELECTION OF THE MYSTERIOUS BOOK CLUB

Ross Macdonald: The Way Some People Die. A Lew Archer Novel. Warner Books, ISBN: 0446359025 (June, 1990), 208 p., $3.95.

Ross Macdonald: The Way Some People Die (UK 1977)

From the Publisher:
Back cover:
"Mosquito crouched with the knife advanced, its double-edged blade pointing at the ceiling. "I'll cut you if you lay a finger on me.
I swung the gun on him, cutting the wrist of his knife hand with the muzzle. The knife dropped to the floor. I stepped on it and moved in closer to Mosquito. He tried to scratch my face. Since it was necessary to hit him, T hit him. He slid down the wall like a rag doll."

At first it seemed an easy assignment. All Lew Archer had to do was track down Galley Lawrence, the beautiful daughter of an over-anxious mother. Galley wasn't that hard to find -- but she didn't want to go home. She'd gotten mixed up with a real bad lot and had even married one of the boys, Joe Tarantine.
Dowser, the local gang boss was out for Tarantine's blood. It wasn't long before he was after Archer's too.

"One of the best American novelists now operating" -- New York Times.
"By a long chalk, the best private eye in the business" -- Sunday Times

Front flap:
I entered the bedroom. The mattress and covered springs of the Hollywood bed lay in shreds, and even the skeleton of the bed had been taken apart. Men's jackets and women's dresses had been slashed and thrown in a heap on the closet floor. There was hardly a whole object left in the room, and nothing personal at all.
The bathroom was off a tiny hallway between the bedroom and the living room. I stood in the bathroom doorway for an instant, feeling the in- side wall for the light. I pressed the switch but no light went on. A man's voice spoke instead:
'I got you lined up and you can't see me. Drop the gun.'

Ross Macdonald: The Way Some People Die. London: Severn House, 1977, ISBN: 072780197X, 192 p., £3.25.

Ross Macdonald: The Way Some People Die (UK 1973)

From the Publisher:
Back side:
Lew Archer
"by a long chalk, the best private eye in the business" Sunday Times

Point Blank...
Mosquito crouched with the knife advanced, its double-edged blade pointing at the ceiling. "I'll cut you if you lay a finger on me."

I swung the gun on him, cutting the wrist of his knife hand with the muzzle. The knife dropped to the floor. I stepped on it and moved in closer to Mosquito. He tried to scratch my face. Since it was necessary to hit him, I hit him. He slid down the wall like a rag doll.

Inside:
THE WAY SOME PEOPLE DIE
I entered the bedroom. The mattress and covered springs of the Hollywood bed lay in shreds, and even the skeleton of the bed had been taken apart. Men's jackets and women's dresses had been slashed and thrown in a heap on the closet foor. There was hardly a whole object left in the room, and nothing personal at all.

The bathroom was off a tiny hallway between the bedroom and the living room. I stood in the bathroom doorway for an instant, feeling the in- side wall for the light. I pressed the switch but no light went on. A man's voice spoke instead: 'I got you lined up and you can't see me. Drop the gun.'

Ross Macdonald: The Way Some People Die. London: Fontana Books, 1973, 192 p., 30p.

Ross Macdonald: The Way Some People Die (USA 1971)

From the Publisher:
THE WAY SOME PEOPLE DIE
In a rundown house in Santa Monica, Mrs. Samuel Lawrence presses fifty crumpled bills into Lew Archer's hand and asks him to find her wandering daughter, Galatea. Following a trail that twists from Pacific Point to San Francisco and Palm Springs, Archer finds his Galatea and a number of other missing persons-living and dead.

Ross Macdonald: The Way Some People Die. New York: Bantam, 1971, Bantam Books #N6747, 185 p., ¢95.

Ross Macdonald: The Way Some People Die (USA 1967)

From the Publisher:
"The best hard-boiled novel of the year!"*
Featuring:
Lew Archer, the private detective with the quick tongue who starred in the motion picture Harper...
Galley Lawrence, a nurse, who didn't come home for Christmas...
Keith Dalling, a radio actor -- weak and much too handsome, with more than a neighborly interest in Galley...
Ronnie, a young motel clerk who supplements his income with a little discreet blackmail...
Ruth, a golden-haired teen-age delinquent whose dreams are made of stuff...
Herman Speed, former owner of the Point Arena. Galley's patient while recovering from a gang shooting...
Joe Tarantine, ex-member of the Dowser mob...
Dowser, boss of the Coast cities. Wants Joe Tarantine back-in any condition- and is willing to pay on delivery...

*The New York Times

Ross Macdonald: The Way Some People Die. Pocket Books #50544 (August, 1967), 213 p., ¢50.

Ross Macdonald: The Way Some People Die (USA 1961)

From the Publisher:
When John Ross Macdonald's first mystery, THE MOVING TARGET, was published, The New York Times said: "Macdonald... stands head and shoulders above most of his competitors."

About his second mystery, THE DROWNING POOL," the New York Herald Tribune stated: "Macdonald plunges the reader into a maze of mayhem, murder, drugs and perversion. A novel of the tough school which is better than the average..."

But about Mr. Macdonald's third mystery, THE WAY SOME PEOPLE DIE, the reviewers really went wild. The New York Times, for instance, cheered: "The best hard-boiled novel of the year!"

Here it is -- THE WAY SOME PEOPLE DIE -- the best hard-boiled novel of the year, a chilling story of the twisted ways of murder.

Ross Macdonald: The Way Some People Die. Dope, delinquents and MURDER! Pocket Books #6021 (January, 1961), 213 p., ¢35.

John Ross Macdonald: The Way Some People Die (USA 1952)

From the Publisher:
The Case of the Pretty Nurse
WHO LIKED TOO MANY MEN TOO MUCH

Lew Archer was hired to find Galley Lawrence. Her roommate described Galley as "crazy for men" and with- out discrimination. When last seen she was driving off with petty gangster Joe Tarantine.

That fact led lew to a mob boss who offered him 10 G's for Tarantine -- dead or alive. And Archer had uses for ten grand so he took the job.

Through slum alleys to the luxury of Palm Springs, Lew Archer traced the hidden trail. Some of the people were dead when he reached them. Some were broken, and some, like Ruth, the blonde delinquent, were babes lost in an urban wilderness of drugs and viciousness. Their lives-and their murders-made a nightmare pattern, but the pattern finally made sense to a hard-boiled detective whose job was unravelling the bitter and deadly ways of twisted human emotions.

John Ross Macdonald: The Way Some People Die. Dope, delinquents, and MURDER. A Genuine Pocket Book Mystery. The Complete Book - Not A Word Missing. New York: Pocket Books, 1952, Pocket Books #907, 213 p., ¢.25.

John Ross Macdonald: The Way Some People Die (USA 1951)

From the Publisher:
Front flap:
THE WAY SOME PEOPLE DIE
When Galley Lawrence disappeared, nobody but her mother seemed to care. But when Joe Tarantine dropped out of sight too, a lot of people became restless.

A delinquent girl named Ruth couldn't live without him. His brother Mario was nursing a brain concussion and a murderous grudge. Dowser, who ran the coast eities, offered first five G's and then ten for Joe dead or alive. And Archer could have used the money.

The trail was hot, and as twisted as the characters who laid it. It took Archer through slum alleys to the luxury of a Palm Springs resort, to a San Francisco drug-peddler's shabby room. Some of the people were dead when he reached them. Some were broken. Some, like Ruth and Ronnie, were vicious babes lost in an urban wilderness.

Driven by anger, and finally by compassion, Archer traced out the pattern in their deaths and in their lives. It was a nightmare pattern, but it made sense to a man who knew the twisted ways of human desire.

This is a driving new Lew Archer mystery by the author of The Drowning Pool and The Moving Target, John Ross Macdonald, writer of hard-boiled prose with a difference.

Back cover
THE WAY MACDONALD WRITES
We drove down Sanedres Street on the way to Mario's house. From a distance I could see a small crowd gathering in front of the arena, clotting in groups of two and four and six. A string of naked bulbs above the entrance threw a one-sided light on their faces. There were many kinds of faces: the fat rubber faces of old sports wearing cigar butts in their lower middle, boys' Indian faces under ducktail haircuts, experienced and hopeful faces of old tarts, the faces of girls, bright-eyed and heavy-mouthed, gleaming with youth and interest in the kill. And the black slant face of Simmie, who was taking tickets at the door.

Mario clutched my right forearm with both hands and cried out: "Stop!"
Iswerved and almost crashed into a parked car, then braked to a stop. "That wasn't very smart."
He was halfway out of the car, and didn't hear me. He crossed the road in a loose-kneed run. The faces turned toward him as he floundered into the crowd. He moved among them violently, like a killer dog in a flock of sheep. His hand came out of his pocket wearing metal...

I could have driven away: he wasn't my baby. But a light jab to the head might easily kill him.... I started to get out of my car. The exit door in the wall in front of my headlights burst open with sudden force.... Simmie, in a yellow shirt, came out of the door head down and crossed the alley in three strides. Mario came after him, running clumsily with his strik- ing arm upraised... The metal fist came down.... The black boy fell in slow motion to the gravel.

John Ross Macdonald: The Way Some People Die. A Murder Mystery. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1951, 245 p., $2.50.