The Guilty Ones is one of the short Lew Archer stories penned by the great Ross Macdonald. I didn’t find it quite as good as Midnight Blue, another short Lew Archer Kindle offering, but it's still a good genre read.

Archer is rougher at the beginning of this one, sort of mimicking the typical hardboiled style. Macdonald would gradually refine the Lew Archer stories into a more layered, deeper psychological examination of personal damage, most often familial or marital. This is still tremendously well-written, however — if not expertly proofed. An intended word like murmur, for instance, becomes rumor in the transfer to Kindle, which makes no sense within the context.

The story is involving, and it has good movement. Hired by a squirrelly guy who needs Archer's help to facilitate a face to face meeting with his sister, it sounds straightforward enough. The sister has apparently run off with a guy her brother claims is only using her. The case quickly spins out of control, however, when Archer views someone digging a grave, and then discovers why.

Who is the nude in the sack, and who killed her? Adding to Lew Archer's difficulties is a client he doesn’t like much, and who might be lying to him. Everyone seems to be confessing in this tale of infidelity spinning wildly out of control. A good, short read from a writer who, like cheese and wine, got better with with the passage of time. ( )

Have your Hammett, chew on your Chandler, but I'll take Ross MacDonald for literary "guilty" pleasures. Nice to have these short stories available on Kindle... ( )