In 1976, critic Paul Nelson spent several weeks interviewing legendary detective writer Ross Macdonald, who elevated the form to a new literary level. â?oWe talked about everything imaginable,â? Nelson wroteâ?"including Macdonaldâ??s often meager beginnings; his dual citizenship; writers, painters, music, and movies he admired; The Great Gatsby, his favorite book; how he used symbolism to change detective writing; and more. This book, published in a handsome, oversized format, collects these unpublished interviews and is a visual history of Macdonaldâ??s professional career. It is illustrated with rare and select items from one of the worldâ??s largest private archives of Macdonald ephemera; reproduces, in full color, the covers of the various editions of Macdonaldâ??s more than two dozen books; collects facsimile reproductions of select pages from his manuscripts, as well as magazine spreads; and presents rare photos, many never before seen.

This is a prose series of unpublished interviews with, and a visual retrospective of, the seminal mid- to late-20th century literary crime writer.