The Galton Case by Ross Macdonald
"The Galton Case" by Ross Macdonald is a detective novel that delves into themes of identity, family secrets, and the impact of the past on the present. The story is set against the backdrop of California and follows private investigator Lew Archer, who is hired to solve the mystery of Anthony Galton, a man who vanished twenty years earlier with his pregnant wife. As Archer navigates through the complexities of the Galton family, he discovers not only the fate of Anthony but also encounters a young man, John Brown, Jr., who may be the missing heir.
The narrative unfolds layers of deception and conspiracy, involving gangsters and a corrupt attorney, as Archer grapples with his own physical challenges and the emotional scars of the characters he encounters. Macdonald's writing emphasizes the contrast between wealth and poverty, while also exploring deeper themes of belonging and the search for identity. The evolving relationships, particularly a tender romance that echoes the past, enrich the story and reveal the characters' struggles with their histories. Ultimately, "The Galton Case" serves as both a compelling mystery and a commentary on the enduring effects of familial legacies and personal choices.
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The Galton Case by Ross Macdonald
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1959
Type of work: Novel
The Work
According to Macdonald, he and young John Galton in The Galton Case have much in common, including “a sense of displacement, a feeling that, no matter where we were, we were on the alien side of some border. . . . like dubious claimants to a lost inheritance.” Among Macdonald’s notebook jottings about the novel is the statement, “Oedipus angry vs. parents for sending him away into a foreign country,” and he has written that the book “was shaped not in imitation exactly, but in awareness of . . . early Greek models.”
The action begins twenty years after Anthony Galton has dropped out of sight with his pregnant wife, a woman of dubious background whom his wealthy parents rejected. His elderly mother’s attorney hires Lew Archer to solve the mystery, which the detective does easily, largely because of an extraordinary streak of good luck. Having ascertained that Galton became a poet with the pen name “John Brown,” Archer locates the missing man’s remains. This is only the beginning of the story, however, for Archer also happens upon a young man who may be Galton’s son, a twenty-two-year-old calling himself John Brown, Jr., and bearing an uncanny resemblance to his supposed father. Archer suspects that he is an imposter, however, so with one case done, the private eye embarks on another—to establish the identity of John Brown, Jr.
Thus begins an odyssey taking Archer throughout California as well as to Nevada, Michigan, and Canada. Along the way he uncovers a conspiracy to dupe old Mrs. Galton and gain control of her wealth, a plan involving not only assorted gangsters and former convicts but also her trusted attorney. In typical Macdonald fashion, its origins go back decades, so Archer must delve through a tangled morass of tormented lives, along the way suffering a broken jaw and other physical traumas. Peeling away layers of the past, he ascertains that though John Brown, Jr., was part of the original plot, having been hired to play his role because he resembled Anthony Galton, he was not, after all, Theodore Fredericks of Pitt, Ontario: He really was John Galton.
Despite their many unusual twists and unexpected turns, the multiple plots are clearly linked, and they progress logically to their common conclusion. So much of Archer’s success depends upon coincidence and sheer luck, however, that credibility sometimes is strained. This problem notwithstanding, The Galton Case is a compelling novel, for Macdonald maintains suspense throughout and paints memorable domestic scenes, not only in the Galton household but also between Gordon Sable (Mrs. Galton’s attorney) and his alcoholic wife, and Mrs. Fredericks (John Galton’s mother) and her alcoholic husband. The pair of tense meetings that Archer has with Marian Matheson (erstwhile maid of the fugitive young Galtons and their baby) advances his case and adds emotional power to the novel.
Macdonald is at his best, however, in scenes with Sheila Howell (daughter of Mrs. Galton’s physician) and John Galton, who have fallen in love. The girl has an epic confrontation with her father, who doubts Galton’s veracity; later, Archer locates the pair after they have fled together. This latter scene is an unaffectedly tender portrayal of young love, and the incident recalls the flight of John’s parents years earlier. Further, on this occasion Archer sees old scars of childhood abuse on John’s back, which remind him of marks reportedly seen on his mother’s body decades ago.
Many of the characters are familiar Macdonald types, but standing apart from others is the boy who turns out to be the Galton heir after all. Handsome and personable, he seems from the start to be too good to be true, and indeed, at the beginning he is an excellent deceiver. His acting ability and careful preparation notwithstanding, the real reason that he is so convincing is that, unknown even to himself, he actually is the person he pretends to be. The man he knew as his father had actually murdered his real father, and his mother, who witnessed the crime, had married her husband’s killer and remained silent for sixteen years lest Nelson Fredericks kill her son. Pretender though he is at the start, the boy is motivated by a desire to escape from a stifling environment, and despite his talent to deceive, he is honest with wealthy Ada Reichler, whom he meets while he is a student at the University of Michigan (where he is known as John Lindsay), taking her to Pitt so that she can see the kind of background from which he comes. At the end, he even is able to say to Mrs. Fredericks, “I don’t hate you. . . . I’m sorry for you, Mother. And I’m sorry for what I’ve said.” Having completed his search, he is at peace with himself and everyone else.
While writing the book, Macdonald wrote to his publisher that he wanted it to be a transition work for him “out of the ’hard-boiled’ realm. . . . [M]y ambition . . . is to write on serious themes.” Despite the intent, much violence remains, but the thematic content is more fully developed than in earlier novels. One theme, already a standard in Macdonald’s work, is the contrast between the haves and the have-nots, with Archer’s disdain for the wealthy and greedy again in focus. This is subordinated to the identity theme, however, not only the son’s search for his father (which would be Macdonald’s concern in The Underground Man) but also the boy’s quest to establish precisely who he is, which leads into still another common Macdonald theme, the intertwining of past and present. Near the close of The Galton Case, Marian Matheson asks Archer, “Is this trouble going to go on forever?” Finally, after twenty-three years, he can say, “We’re coming to the end of it.”
Bibliography
Bruccoli, Matthew J. Ross Macdonald. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1984.
Gale, Robert. A Ross Macdonald Companion. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002.
Mahan, Jeffrey H. A Long Way from Solving That One: Psycho/Social and Ethical Implications of Ross Macdonald’s Lew Archer Tales. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1990.
Nolan, Tom. Ross Macdonald: A Biography. New York: Scribner, 1999.
Schopen, Bernard A. Ross Macdonald. Boston: Twayne, 1990.
Sipper, Ralph B., ed. Ross Macdonald: Inward Journey. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Cordelia Editions, 1984.
Skinner, Robert E. The Hard-Boiled Explicator: A Guide to the Study of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross Macdonald. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1985.
South Dakota Review 24 (Spring, 1986).
Speir, Jerry. Ross Macdonald. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1978.
Wolfe, Peter. Dreamers Who Live Their Dreams: The World of Ross Macdonald’s Novels. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green University Press, 1976.