Black Money (novel)

[1] The plot is typically intricate: Peter Jamiesen, the jilted boyfriend of the formerly wealthy Virginia Fablon, hires sleuth Lew Archer to investigate the background of Francis Martel, a man of mysterious wealth, grandiose claims, and violent threats.

Except for brief forays into Las Vegas (the title refers to cash skimmed by casino operators to avoid taxes) and the environs of Los Angeles, the action takes place around Montevista.

The plot's implications, however, reach beyond California, as the edges of the story extend to Central America and Europe, whose cultures and economies the book sees as inextricably tied to American life.

That's the converse of the golden rule"), Black Money maintains the speed of a thriller at the same time as it manipulates the reader's understanding of its characters so as to render them icons of their classes and to lay bare their psychological tropes and moral dimensions.

[citation needed] Tom Nolan, "Gatsby as noir: The genesis of Ross Macdonald’s Black Money", Library of America, 14 July 2017 This article about a crime novel of the 1960s is a stub.