BLACK MONEY

A wealthy young man hires private eye Lew Archer to uncover a mystery man's secrets and protect a friend from a bad marriage. Archer's investigation puts him on the trail of money acquired through tax evasion—"black money." Grover Gardner's voice is clear and tough, a natural for the hard-boiled first-person narrative. Macdonald’s story—involving gambling debts, murder, sex, and blackmail—is as satisfyingly gritty as one expects, including the twisted family histories of wealthy Californians in the ‘60s. Gardner's narration makes it all lively and fresh, rather than a nostalgic relic. J.A.S. 2010 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2009]