The Recurring Cast
Character guide · 18 books · 1949 to 1976 · Set in Los Angeles

Ross Macdonald

Crime and mysteryPrivate eyeNoir and hardboiled

Lew Archer, a Southern California private investigator, keeps finding that today’s crimes grow out of family secrets buried a generation earlier. Archer is the one constant; the families change in every book.

Best estimate, compiled from series guides, publisher descriptions and reviews where available, and from memory otherwise. Book level only, not chapter level. Minor includes cameos and brief references. Each book carries a confidence rating in its tooltip.

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Who appears in which book

Click a name to follow that character from book to book, or a book title to see its cast.

LLeadMMajor·MinorHas a note
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Ross Macdonald books in order

Each series in publication order, with its lead characters. Where the story runs in a different order, switch to Story order. Crossover books are marked and listed under their main series. Use My books to track what you have read.

Lew Archer

18 books · Set in Los AngelesPrivate eyeNoir and hardboiled
  1. 1The Moving Target1949With Lew ArcherBuy on Amazon
  2. 2The Drowning Pool1950With Lew ArcherBuy on Amazon
  3. 3The Way Some People Die1951With Lew ArcherBuy on Amazon
  4. 4The Ivory Grin1952With Lew ArcherBuy on Amazon
  5. 5Find a Victim1954With Lew ArcherBuy on Amazon
  6. 6The Barbarous Coast1956With Lew ArcherBuy on Amazon
  7. 7The Doomsters1958With Lew ArcherBuy on Amazon
  8. 8The Galton Case1959With Lew ArcherBuy on Amazon
  9. 9The Wycherly Woman1961With Lew ArcherBuy on Amazon
  10. 10The Zebra-Striped Hearse1962With Lew ArcherBuy on Amazon
  11. 11The Chill1964With Lew ArcherBuy on Amazon
  12. 12The Far Side of the Dollar1965With Lew ArcherBuy on Amazon
  13. 13Black Money1966With Lew ArcherBuy on Amazon
  14. 14The Instant Enemy1968With Lew ArcherBuy on Amazon
  15. 15The Goodbye Look1969With Lew ArcherBuy on Amazon
  16. 16The Underground Man1971With Lew ArcherBuy on Amazon
  17. 17Sleeping Beauty1973With Lew ArcherBuy on Amazon
  18. 18The Blue Hammer1976With Lew ArcherBuy on Amazon

Characters

2 recurring and key characters, with the book each one first appears in.

Lew Archer