The Zebra-Striped Hearse by Ross Macdonald
published 1962
Tipping my Fedora – Ross Macdonald
(Visit it anyway - great back-catalogue!)
It’s said
that the Coen brothers have written a screenplay based on this book, ready to
make a film of it – and you can totally see that. The surprise is that it has
never been adapted yet. There has been a radio play, apparently, but then you
wouldn’t get the benefit of the hearse of the title, which surely would be a
fantastic visual effect.
It has a
great opening scene: Lew Archer PI has an appointment with a Colonel Mark Blackwell,
to discuss his wayward daughter Harriet. Half an hour before the time of the
appointment, the Colonel’s wife – the girl’s stepmother, Isobel – turns up to
try to get her word in first.
Harriet, who
is an heiress, wants to marry someone, and her father does not approve: he
wants Archer to dig up some dirt on the young man. Burke Damis is an aspiring
artist, with no money, and he is now living in a beach house owned by the
family.
Archer heads
off there.
A blonde girl wearing a white
bathing suit and dark harlequin glasses came in. She failed to see me
till she was in the room with me
She sounds like the original Barbie doll, introduced in 1959.
(and for harlequin glasses, see this post
The
Wife of Ronald Sheldon by Patrick Quentin)
She gets dressed in a plaid skirt and cashmere sweater, and
tries to persuade Archer to drop the case:
“I couldn’t do that, Miss Blackwell. Besides, it wouldn’t
do you any good. He'd go and hire himself another detective. And if you think
I’m trouble, you should take a look at some of my colleagues.”
He is ready to pass judgement on the young woman:
I
had serious doubts that Harriet and her fine big body and her
fine big wad of money were meant for Burke Damis.
Archer goes to a diner on the beach, and for the first time sees the hearse: ‘A zebra-striped hearse with a broken headlight came in off the highway’ and young men and girls, in sweatshirts and bathing suits get out – they are surfers.
The hearse is an interesting choice of title - it’s not a
major part of the story, but it weaves its way through the book, the young
people are briefly part of the investigation. The diner owner says ‘They got no
respect for the living or the dead’.
Archer goes off to Mexico: Harriet had been visiting her
mother there, and the bad-boy artist was there at the same time. In Guadalajara Archer
meets all kinds of lost souls – mostly US ex-pats – and there is a strange
dream-like atmosphere, very well done.
There was something cold and
lost about the room and the people in it. They had roosted
like migrant birds that had lost their homing instincts, caught in a
dream of perpetual static flight. Or so it seemed through the bottom of my
glass.
He interviews a drunken bar owner, who is suspicious: “I
read a great deal of mystery fiction in the long night watches, and I recognize
that look you have on your face. You have the look of a shamus who is
about to put the arm on a grifter.”
And to the next stop: a woman with a shop selling native
crafts.
Anne Castle was quite brilliant in her own way. She wore a multicolored Mexican skirt, an embroidered blouse, in her ears gold hoops that were big enough to swing on. Black hair cut short emphasized her petiteness and the individuality of her looks. Her eyes were brown and intelligent, and warmer than her voice had let me hope.
Even for an Archer/Macdonald book, this one has an
exceptionally complex plot. You couldn’t ‘solve’ it, you just accompany Archer
along the way as he talks to more people and uncovers extra details. It is not
a cheerful or cheering story. But it is a great read, has a memorable picture
of the beach-side California milieu, and also the small town in Mexico. I loved
the minor character about whom Archers says: ‘She looked ready to be
disappointed in me at any moment.’
There is a Harris tweed overcoat playing a big role in the
plot:
And this for Harriet
The screen door slammed, and Harriet appeared behind the
hanging red and purple fuchsias. She had changed to a
light sharkskin suit and a hat with a little grey veil fluttering
from it. The little veil bothered me, perhaps because it short-circuited the
distance between brides and widows. She was carrying a blue hatbox and a heavy
blue case.
Top pic shows the suit, and here's the veil....
The last view of the title vehicle is this:
The zebra-striped hearse was still parked by the roadside
at Zuma. The sight of it did nothing for me at all.
Plaid skirt from The
Vintage
I really must read this one, Moira. I really like Ross Macdonald and very much like Lew Archer as a detective. I've read some of Macdonald's work, but not this one (well, not yet). One thing that I always appreciate about his books is the sense of place. He does a good job of describing that part of Southern California. You've made me want to go back to his work!
ReplyDeleteThat's very encouraging that you think his California atmosphere is well done!
DeleteI do recommend this one.
This sounds like a must-read. I am rarely bothered about plot/clues etc I just enjoy the journey and a Coen film of this would be a delight. Jess Walters gives the Coen Brothers as one of his inspirations and Citizen Vince would be a great film by them, too.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you like the sound! When I was posting it I was trying to decide if it was similar to Citizen Vince or not, and I think you are right - that's a great line to draw...
Delete