MacDonald, Ross. The Blue Hammer. Alfred A. Knopf, 1976.
Reason read: Arizona became a state in the month of February.
Blue Hammer is part of the Lew Archer series. Like any good character series, the reader gets to know Lew in increments. We know he is a loner and was previously married. In The Blue Hammer is era is also another character. The 1970s were a time when strangers could enter apartment buildings and ride the elevator freely; hotel keys were returned to the front desk every time guests left their rooms; librarians had no qualms about giving out personal information like where someone lived or their phone number. Lew Archer has been hired to retrieve a stolen painting by Richard Chantry, a man who has been missing for twenty-five years. Doris Biemeyer seems to be at the center of the mystery of the missing painting. She readily admits she let her boyfriend Fred steal it from her parents. The same painting was later stolen from Fred’s bedroom (He lives with his patents.). But, the painting is only the beginning of the mystery. When the bodies start piling up Lew knows this case is bigger than just art theft. Paul Grimes is beaten to death, but before his murder he mistakes Lew Archer for Richard Chantry. Why? Then Jacob Whitmore is drowned seemingly in a bathtub before thrown into the ocean. Are these murders connected? What about missing man Richard Chantry? Is he dead, too? Then Lew’s love interest, a nosy reporter, goes missing.
Blue Hammer is the kind of mystery that prompted me to keep notes on every character and event. The twists and turns come at you fast and furious. I sensed the connection between people and their actions were too important to be overlooked. Everyone has a story to tell and everyone seems to be connected one way or another…
Confessional: Colonel Aspinwall, Dr. and Mrs. Ian Innes, Jeremy and Molly Rader, Jackie Pratt Mackendrick, Betty Jo Siddon, These are people at the party. Will they be important later on?
Lew Archer goes to a party where he is introduced to Arthur Planter,…Will these people be important later in the story or are they decoys with the only purpose of confusing me?
Line I liked, “She can go to hell and copulate with spiders” (p 25). Interesting. Is this a insult specific to the 1970s? Here’s another line, “We walked slowly around the block, as if we had inherited the morning and were looking for a place to spend it” (p 241).
Author fact: Ross MacDonald was an educator.
Book trivia: the title of Blue Hammer comes from a very small detail at the end of the book. Lew Archer is watching his reporter girlfriend sleep. the blue vein at her temple pulses with a steady beat…just like a blue hammer. You’re welcome.
Music: “Someone to Watch Over Me.”
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “AZ You Like It” (p 30), a chapter about Arizona which is annoying because not much of Blue Hammer takes place in Arizona.
~*LunaSea*~ 