American · 1915–1983
Ross Macdonald was the pen name of Kenneth Millar, an American-Canadian crime fiction writer best known for his series of novels featuring private detective Lew Archer. Influenced by Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, Macdonald elevated the hardboiled detective novel into a vehicle for psychological and social exploration, earning comparisons to serious literary fiction. His work has been praised by writers including Eudora Welty and Thomas Pynchon.