The Chill

By: Ross MacDonald

Narrated by: Tom Parker

Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

Lew Archer knew he shouldn't have taken the case, but Alex Kincaid seemed so desperate. Kincaid's loving new bride, Dolly, had just inexplicably walked out on him, leaving Kincaid more than a little fearful for her sanity and her safety. So Archer reluctantly agreed to help Kincaid find his wife. But what he found instead was enough to send a chill down anyone's spine: a new, fresh corpse and evidence linking Dolly not only to this murder, but to a series of others dating back to before she was born.

Winner of the Mystery Writer of America Grand Master Award, Ross Macdonald is acknowledged around the world as one of the greatest mystery writers of our time.

More mayhem? Try our other Lew Archer mysteries.

©1963 Ross Macdonald (P)1996 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"The plot is one of Macdonald's most masterfully constructed....The Chill stands out among his books." (Amazon.com)
"An entertainment of almost Byzantine complexity in which practically nothing is as the facts would seem....Highly satisfactory." (The New Yorker)

Maybe his best

Good plot line with a nice twist at the end. Numerous, marvelous, toss-off one liners that had me laughing, charmed by MacDonald’s skills with word-smithery. Excellent vocal performance, too.

Depth and Artistic Mastery

these stories of RM are incredibly excellent.
The intelligence, craft and deep wisdom is exhibited in each one over decades. In my view, he surpasses the masters of the 30’s and 40’s.

A Classic! Like Raymond Chandler at his finest!!

A winding mystery with unexpected twists and turns that will have you spellbound to the very end. Masterfully performed, you'll feel like you've immersed yourself in the best of film noir as the words jump to life in your imagination!

An Epigrammatic Private Eye

Of all the classic sleuths I’ve run across, not even erudite, bibliophilic Lord Peter Wimsey is as quotable as Lew Archer. From insights on clients and suspects to word-paintings of scenery and atmospheres, I wish I’d written down some of his best stuff,. But perhaps it’s better this way. Now you’ll be able to enjoy his acute perceptions spontaneously, as I did.

Of course, an epigrammatic, semi-poetic sleuth should require some willing suspension of disbelief – it certainly does with other, less well-conceived crime writing. But not here. Perhaps because the story is so good. And Tom Parker (aka Grover Gardner) is the pitch-perfect vehicle for MacDonald’s stories.

The Chill--Ross MacDonald is Very Cool!

Ross McDonald's Lew Archer is without an equal in today's private detective. These stories hold very well. Clean with tight dialog and sharp character development. A Great Story made even better by Voice Star Tom Parker.

Brilliant plot

One of McDonald's best among so many good ones. Always a great twist at the end.

Complicated

A complex whodunit but it all comes together beautifully in the end. Slight spoiler alert, perhaps only Freud or the Greek gods could have seen this one coming. Loved it!

Ross is very erudite!

His place descriptions truly evoke SoCal "back in the day" and his prose is smart and sophisticated. what more could you want from a detective novel?

good entree to the Hard Boiled

THE CHILL, or the author Ross Macdonald was recommended to me as a good entree to the "hard boiled" detective novel. The book was written I think a good fifty years ago, so there is a moment of adjusting to that stylistic time. Well worth it though since a tight, yet complex story emerges in the gritty underbelly of a time when California was a blossom. If this isn't doesn't catch your interest, pass--but if you've wanted to know the origins of our favorite detectives you will be entertained.

Easily my favorite of the Lew Archer books

While this is a very complicated story, I really loved how it played out. It had a puzzle-like nature about it. Archer’s relentless pursuit and stone-cold logic sells it and keeps it compelling.

And of course, as anyone who knows who has heard this narrator, another sterling performance.

I am so grateful that all of these Ross MacDonald books are available as part of my Audible membership.