Ross Macdonald was the pen name of American-Canadian author Kenneth Millar (1915-1983). During his career, Macdonald wrote crime fiction/mystery novels, largely featuring P.I. Lew Archer that were set in Southern California. Along with Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, he is considered to be one of the masters of hardboiled mysteries. His plots were complex, usually involving Archer digging up family secrets. His first two Lew Archer novels were adapted into films starring Paul Newman as “Lew Harper.”

Ross Macdonald made his debut as a fiction author in 1944 with The Dark Tunnel (aka I Die Slowly). His final novel was The Blue Hammer, published in 1976. Below is a list of Ross Macdonald’s books in order of when they were originally published (and in chronological order):

Publication Order of Lew Archer Books

The Moving Target / Harper (1949)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Drowning Pool (1950)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Way Some People Die (1951)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Ivory Grin / Marked for Murder (1952)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Find a Victim (1954)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Barbarous Coast (1956)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Doomsters (1958)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Galton Case (1959)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Wycherly Woman (1961)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Zebra-Striped Hearse (1962)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Chill (1963)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Far Side of the Dollar (1965)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Black Money (1966)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Instant Enemy (1968)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Goodbye Look (1969)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Underground Man (1971)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Sleeping Beauty (1973)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Blue Hammer (1976)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Publication Order of Lew Archer Collections

The Name is Archer (1955)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Lew Archer, Private Investigator (1977)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Archer Files (2007)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Publication Order of Chet Gordon Books

(as Kenneth Millar)

The Dark Tunnel / I Die Slowly (1944)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Trouble Follows Me (1946)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Blue City (As: Kenneth Millar) (1947)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Three Roads (As: Kenneth Millar) (1948)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Meet Me at the Morgue / Experience with Evil (1954)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Ferguson Affair (1967)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

The Guilty Ones (1952)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Imaginary Blonde (1953)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Midnight Blue (2010)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Strangers in Town (With: Tom Nolan) (2001)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Publication Order of Anthologies

Dear Dead Days: 1972 Mystery Writers of America Anthology(1972)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Mammoth Book of Short Crime Novels(1986)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Mammoth Book of Private Eye Stories(1988)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
City Sleuths and Tough Guys(1989)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Pulp Frictions: Hardboiled Stories(1996)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Oxford Book of American Detective Stories(1996)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Writing Los Angeles(2002)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Los Angeles Noir 2(2010)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Books to Die For(2012)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Notes: The Chet Gordon series, Blue City and The Three Roads were originally published under his real name of Kenneth Millar. The Dark Tunnel was also published as I Die Slowly. Trouble Follows Me was also published as Night Train. The Moving Target was also published as Harper. The Ivory Grin was also published as Marked for Murder. Meet Me at the Morgue was also titled Experience With Evil.

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