''The Zebra-Striped Hearse'' is a detective mystery written in

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

by American author

Ross Macdonald Ross Macdonald was the main pseudonym used by the American-Canadian writer of crime fiction Kenneth Millar (; December 13, 1915 – July 11, 1983). He is best known for his series of hardboiled novels set in Southern California and featur ...

, the tenth book featuring his private eye,

Lew Archer Lew Archer is a fictional character created by American-Canadian writer Ross Macdonald. Archer is a private detective working in Southern California. Between the late 1940s and the early '70s, the character appeared in 18 novels and a handful of ...

The Coen Brothers Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Jesse Coen (born September 21, 1957),State of Minnesota. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002''. Minnesota Department of Health. collectively known as the Coen brothers (), are American film ...

wrote an as-yet-unproduced screenplay based on the novel for

Joel Silver Joel Silver (born July 14, 1952) is an American film producer. Life and career Silver was born and raised in South Orange, New Jersey, the son of a writer and a public relations executive. His family is Jewish. He attended Columbia High School i ...

Plot

Colonel and Mrs. Blackwell hire Archer to investigate their prospective son-in-law, an artist named Burke Damis. Blackwell believes Damis is marrying their daughter Harriet only for her money. Archer takes the case, warning the Blackwells that they must be prepared to accept whatever information he uncovers, good or bad. Soon after beginning his investigation, he finds Blackwell threatening Damis with a gun. Damis and Harriet leave the house and vanish. From there, the search for the runaways takes Archer to San Francisco, Mexico, Nevada, and back to California, finding dead bodies linked to Damis along the way. Archer repeatedly encounters a group of surfers driving around in a zebra striped hearse, which gives the book its title.

Reception

''The Zebra-Striped Hearse'' was praised by some critics, stating, for example that it had a "fantastic plot" and that "Lew Archer fit into the PI mold while still being his own unique creation".

Terry Teachout Terrance Alan Teachout (February 6, 1956 – January 13, 2022) was an American author, critic, biographer, playwright, stage director, and librettist. He was the drama critic of ''The Wall Street Journal'', the critic-at-large of ''Commentary'' ...

's appraisal was more negative; he found the Archer books "repetitive and often dully written" and ''The Zebra-Striped Hearse'' in particular was "perfectly readable" but marred by "dime-store psychologizing".

Adaptation

KCRW KCRW (89.9 MHz FM) is a National Public Radio member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programm ...

adapted ''The Zebra-Striped Hearse'' for a radio play in 2000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zebra-Striped Hearse, The 1962 American novels Lew Archer (series) Novels by Ross Macdonald Alfred A. Knopf books Novels set in California