It's All One Case: The Illustrated Ross Macdonald Archives Hardcover – Illustrated, 20 October 2017

Ross MacDonald was one of the great detective novelists. And like Elmore Leonard, he is worthy of being called a novelist, period, genre considerations aside. I ordered this book to gain some insight into the repetitive themes in his books. I wondered if they had any origin in his life and experience. And though MacDonald is withholding about some of the personalstruggles of his family, a bit of light gets through to reveal the man behind the books and what he saw as his own mission as a writer of fiction. Worth exploring, and a beautiful coffee table book at the same time.

This is an amazing book. Love the super long interview and details included in that but it also shines from the sheer quantity and quality of the book covers (as well as a whole lot more). Truly a work of love and I am so glad I bought this book. Totally recommended

For writers of mysteries or for fans of Ross Macdonald's many novels, this is a fascinating book based on some 47 hours of taped interviews in the 1970s by Rolling Stones writer Paul Nelson. The talks are wide-ranging, discussing Chandler and Hammett and the Romantic poets as well as Macdonald's early life and career. There are wonderful pieces of illustration: Macdonald manuscripts and handwritten pages from his notebooks, book jackets showing how crime novels were once promoted by publishers in multiple countries, and some of the Hollywood stars who appeared in films based on Macdonald's novels. Published in 2016, It's All One Case takes us back 40 years to the time when Ross Macdonald was beginning to wrap up a 30-year career.

I found this book to be a great resource to understand the influences on Macdonald as he wrote his novels. As a long-time reader of Ross Macdonald, I learned a lot about his life and his literary influences. You don't have to be a reader of detective fiction to learn something from this book (although knowing something about Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett would help).

-- but for whatever reason the blurbs and advertising materials aren't stating what this is: Namely, the transcripts of 39 hours worth of interviews that Kenneth Millar (aka Ross MacDonald) gave to a reporter for "Rolling Stone" magazine back in 1976. (And RS never did publish the interviews, by the way; nor have they appeared in print anywhere else -- until now).Don't misunderstand: The photos and illustrations that accompany the text are all beautiful. But they're just the garnish. The text is the main course. And it's fascinating.