Author Kenneth Millar was born in Los Gatos, California, on December 13, 1915. A difficult and peripatetic childhood, coupled with dual American and Canadian citizenship, caused Millar to feel for many years as if the world were an unstable place; certainly, he was unsure of his own place in it. A one-time high school English and history teacher, the successful writing career of his wife Margaret Millar allowed him to leave teaching and enter graduate school at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. There he wrote his first novel, "The Dark Tunnel" (1944). His own psychotherapy helped relieve him of his childhood neuroses, and what he called his "breakthrough novel," "The Galton Case" (1959), is written with a new, strong, and confident voice.
Along with Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, Millar is considered one of America's finest writers of detective fiction. His primary protagonist, Lew Archer, often becomes involved in the psychological dimensions of his cases. He wrote the Lew Archer books under the name Ross MacDonald. The plots of his novels are complex, and he focuses on southern California as a beautiful land where people's actions corrupt the naturally peaceful setting. Critic John Vermillion has noted that "Over a span of more than thirty years, Millar has created a large body of fiction informed by acute observation, significant ideas, integrity, wisdom, and craftsmanship. Within and above these qualities he has found the elusive tension, emotional and imaginative, which molds the novel into an active experience. But equally important is that he has written popular fiction which may be read by a cross section of the reading public." He died on July 11, 1983
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