L itibaren Devikapuram, Tamil Nadu 606902, Hindistan itibaren Devikapuram, Tamil Nadu 606902, Hindistan

The question that should have been added to that NYT piece about things to ask yourself before getting married: "Will he love me the way Calvin loved Alice?" And, moreover, will he write about me in such a moving, graceful, devoted way?

The Ferguson Affair is the last MacDonald novel that does not belong to the Archer series, and it is also the best. His hero Bill Gunnarson—a young lawyer appointed as public defender for a woman with a stolen ring—lacks Lew's world weary perspective, and his wholesome and very pregnant wife adds to his vulnerability but does not advance the action or contribute substantially to the theme or atmosphere. Still, the plot—as it progresses from possession of stolen goods to burglary, murder and kidnapping, and shifts location from country club to poor urban Mexican neighborhood to shabby small town home—is intricate and satisfying, and contains the usual Macdonald family mysteries and masquerades. This is well-crafted, but not essential Madonald.