The Drowning Pool Audiobook By Ross Macdonald cover art

The Drowning Pool

A Lew Archer Novel

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The Drowning Pool

By: Ross Macdonald
Narrated by: Tom Parker
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About this listen

When a millionaire matriarch is found floating face down in the family pool, the prime suspects are her good-for-nothing son and his seductive teenage daughter.

Private investigator Lew Archer takes this case in the L.A. suburbs and encounters a moral wasteland of corporate greed and family hatred - and sufficient motive for a dozen murders.

More mayhem? Try our other Lew Archer mysteries.

©1978 John Ross Macdonald (P)2001 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Detective Fiction Hard-Boiled Mystery Private Investigators Suspense Thriller & Suspense

What listeners say about The Drowning Pool

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Lew Archer is an amazing character

Tom Parker is one of the best hard boiled narrators ever. He does this action filled novel more than justice.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

the reader captures the feel of the noir detective

the story was ok, but to be honest, I listened to it in parts with days in between, so I was more enjoying it as if I was watching an old Humphrey Bogart movie and didn't always follow the plot. Tom Parker does a good job capturing Lew Archer's somewhat sarcastic sense of humor and dry self-awareness.

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4 people found this helpful

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Interesting plot

A bit verbose in describing a few scenes. Fortunately not so many times to make it difficult. Twists in story kept me quite interested

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Classic private dick stuff

Imagine private eye novels as bottles of whiskey (Irish spelling, I know). There, on the top shelf, that's where you find the good stuff. Up there is Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade, Mike Hammer. And Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer is most definitely up there, too. He's as classic as it gets. He's seen it all, he's weary, he's weathered, he's tough, he's seen it all and, buried deep, he's a righteous man with a big heart.

The Drowning Pool was the second of many Lew Archer tales and it follows the winding and twisting paths of a classic private dick story. There are dead people and dead ends, there are guns and dames and twisted minds and villains lurking in the darkness far behind the obvious suspects. Like I said, good stuff.

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1 person found this helpful

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Souther California Noir

A good story, well read, plus a good period piece that captures post WW Ii Southern California…..

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Great story

Maybe a bit contrived here and there but overall engrossing and always entertaining. Definitely recommended.


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4 people found this helpful

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No headline

Enjoyable. Trying too hard to be Raymond Chandler. Looking forward to working through the series though.

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The Letter

Archer is hired to find the writer of a degrading letter. What he gets - three murders and one suicide. Archer at his best.

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1 person found this helpful

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Disney for lovers of language.

The descriptions, metaphors, and similes would stop me in my tracks. Excellent story with twists and turns. I have to admit, I was in it for the author's use of figurative language.

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Ross Macdonald is a great suthor

My daughter and I love the way Ross McDonald describes what's going on. His descriptions are outstanding. he keeps you pulled into the story all the time.

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