Lew Archer knows he's in for the ride of his life when he stops to assist a dying hitchhiker, the blood from his gunshot wound seeping into the dirt. A hijacked load of hooch and a band of sinners are on the loose in the hills and desert. So is this L.A. private eye, who keeps getting blood on his hands. Fifth in the series. "[The] American private eye, immortalized by Hammett, refined by Chandler, brought to its zenith by Macdonald."—The New York Times Book Review