The hitchhiker stumbles to his knees on the side of the road. When Archer stops the car and gets to him, he knows he is in for a ride-for the boy is dying of a gunshot wound. In a matter of hours, Archer is suspected by the law, hired by a target-shooting trucking magnate, and propositioned by an adulterer's wife. A hijacked load of hooch and a band of sinners are on the loose in the hills and desert around this nice Southern California town. So is this LA private eye, who keeps getting blood on his hands...

Ross Macdonald (1915-1983) was the pen name of Kenneth Millar. Born near San Francisco but raised in British Columbia, he returned to the United States as a young man and published his first novel in 1944. For over twenty years he lived in Santa Barbara and wrote mystery novels about the fascinating and changing society of his native state. His works have received awards from the Mystery Writers of America and of Great Britain, and his book The Moving Target was made into the movie Harper in 1966.