Lew Archer’s Back on the Case

As many of you undoubtedly know, I also write a second blog, called The Rap Sheet, devoted to crime fiction. And today I present there a never-before-published, 2,500-word fragment of a story written by renowned 20th-century American detective novelist Ross Macdonald (1915-1983). Titled “Heyday in the Blood,” this tale is included in The Archer Files: The Complete Short Stories of Lew Archer, Private Investigator, edited by Tom Nolan and newly published by Crippen & Landru. It’s one of 11 such fragmentary “case notes” featured in the collection, together with a dozen short stories that previously appeared in a trio of books, including 2001’s Strangers in Town, which was also edited by Nolan. On top of all that, Nolan presents in The Archer Files his 11,000-word biographical sketch of Macdonald’s famed Los Angeles private eye, Lew Archer.

To read the start of what might have become Macdonald’s 19th Archer novel, click here.