There are certain families whose members should all live in different towns - different states, if possible - and write each other letters once a yea…

- Ross Macdonald

The surprise with which a detective novel concludes should set up tragic vibrations which run backward through the entire structure.

- Ross Macdonald

Nothing is wrong with California that a rise in the ocean level wouldn't cure.

- Ross Macdonald

I have a secret passion for mercy. . . but justice is what keeps happening to people.

- Ross Macdonald

An ugly woman with a gun is a terrible thing.

- Ross Macdonald

Hell lies at the bottom of the human heart.

- Ross Macdonald

When there's trouble in a family, it tends to show up in the weakest member. And all the other members of the family know that. They make allowances …

- Ross Macdonald

We writers, as we work our way deeper into our craft, learn to drop more and more personal clues. Like burglars who secretly wish to be caught, we le…

- Ross Macdonald

The delicate sensitivity of a frightened rattlesnake.

- Ross Macdonald