In The Barbarous Coast , Lew Archer's pursuit of a girl who jackknifed too suddenly from high diving to high living leads him to an ex-fighter with an unexplained movie contract, a bigtime gambler who died by his own knife, and finally to an answer he would rather not have known.

"Lew Archer has evidenced his differences from the usual run of fictional private eyes. He is not obsessed with bed, bottle and boodle; he doesn't indulge in unnecessary violence, in action or in language; he is a sensitive and thoughtful man, tough enough to survive in a dangerous profession but moved rather to pity than cynicism by the way the world goes." - New York Herald Tribune