The Galton Case

A Lew Archer Mystery

By: Ross Macdonald

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

In the character of Lew Archer, Ross Macdonald redefined the private eye as a roving conscience who walks the treacherous frontier between criminal guilt and human sin—and in so doing, gave the American crime novel a psychological depth and moral complexity that his predecessors had only hinted at. Deliciously devious and tersely poetic, The Galton Case displays Ross Macdonald at the pinnacle of his form.

Almost 20 years have passed since Anthony Galton disappeared, along with a suspiciously streetwise bride and several thousand dollars of his family’s fortune. Now Anthony’s aging and very rich mother wants him back and has hired Lew Archer to find him. What turns up is a headless skeleton, a boy who claims to be Galton’s son, and a con game whose stakes are so high that someone is still willing to kill for them.

More mayhem? Try our other Lew Archer mysteries.©1959 Ross MacDonald, copyright renewed 1987 by Margaret Millar (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Exciting, beautifully plotted, and written with taste, perception and compassion.” ( New York Times Book Review)

“A model of intelligently engineered excitement." ( New Yorker)

“One of his best….The Macdonald depth of understanding and dispassionate charity come out well, and the story…is richly plotted.” ( San Francisco Chronicle)

The best Onion

Ross Macdonald at his best. Spinning a story with layer upon layer for Lew and the Reader to peel away. Along the way, the Reader is treated to Lew's insightful descriptions. The few dated aspects relating to mental health seismic do not spoil the story. Glad to have found this one.

Dances down the same streets as Hammett & Chandler

Ross Macdonald definitely dances down the same literary streets as Hammett and Chandler. This hardboiled detective novel, the 8th in the Lew Archer series, feels like it was written in one continuous sitting (that is a good thing).

'The Galton Case' has a naked narrative intensity that is well-supported by its witty dialogue and California Noir setting. Macdonald is one of those authors who is so spare and bare that it is hard NOT to be impressed by the clean, minimalist architecture of his writing. If Proust was edited by Hemingway, liked bad girls (well OK, sometimes Proust liked bad girls) and wrote hardboiled novels, he'd be Ross Macdonald.

Another good Lew Archer whodunnit

Okay, I admit I’m a Lew Archer and this is my fourth or fifth book. The mysteries are tightly crafted and the characters entertaining if somewhat overblown. The descriptions of scenes and people are very literate and clever. I consider Ross McDonald to be among the best of mid-century detective novelists. Some reviewers are put off by some obvious sexism and other outdated traits of the genre but I find them easy to ignore in favor of the entertaining stories.

A Hardboiled Gem

Grover Gardner’s gruff and gritty baritone made me believe I was listening to Lew Archer himself narrate the twists and turns that make The Galton Case an incredibly entertaining audio book venture. Ross Macdonald’s hardboiled prose creates an ideal fit with Gardner’s deadpan delivery, and while the “big reveal” was not as big as I’d hoped, the manner by which the details leading to the solution of The Galton Case unfold testify to Macdonald’s well-deserved reputation as one of Raymond Chandler’s most gifted disciples.

Ross Macdonald The Galton Case

A master of the thriller genre.
A bit wordy for today’s pace but the elements of setting, protagonist, unique supporting characters and hidden-in-plain-sight antagonist make for hours of listening enchantment.