• About
  • Biography
  • Timelines
  • Writings By
    • Novels
      • Collections of Novels
    • Nonfiction
  • Writings About
  • Extras
    • News
    • Interviews and Articles
  • Resources
  • Contact Us

Seeking Ross Macdonald

All things Ross Macdonald, Lew Archer and Ken Millar

Blue City

December 1, 2015 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Blue City by Kenneth Millar is the story of a young man, just returned from service World War II to his hometown to find his estranged father murdered, with a new and very young widow and no suspects.

Blue-City-200

Author Kenneth Millar
Publisher Alfred A. Knopf
Publication Date (initial) August 18, 1947

Overview

Joe Weather returns to his corrupt home town after completing his service in the U.S. Army in the European theater. He has been estranged from his father for some time and in returning home, Joe hopes to reconnect with his father. Instead, he finds that his father has been murdered and left a very young and very attractive widow.  He also finds a town more corrupt than ever, and the police are no help. They have no suspects for the murder of Joe’s father and Joe soon learns they are not his friend. The more Joe investigates the murder, the more evil he uncovers and the more danger he finds himself in.

Observations

While this isn’t Millar’s finest novel, it is significant in that it fulfilled a long-held dream: Kenneth Millar’s book was published by the publisher he had held in esteem since he was a high-school student: Alfred A. Knopf. The relationship with the publisher, which also grew into a friendship, would last for the rest of Millar’s life.

Additional Publication Information

The information is here is accurate to the best knowledge of the site’s author, but should not be presumed to be definitive.

Date Publisher Notes
1949 Cassel and Company, Ltd. 1st English edition
1949 Dell 3rd edition
1950 Mondadori 1st Italian edition
1958 Bantam 4th edition, also Canada reprinting. Reprinted 1968
1962 Transworld Corgi (UK) 5th edition
1975 Mondadori 2nd Italian edition
1981 Collins (London) 6th edition for Crime Club Famous Firsts Collection: Ross Macdonald
1992 Warner Books unknown
2011 Vintage Crime/Black Lizard; Vintage Books 1st  Vintage Crime/Black Lizard edition

Book Covers

BlueCity-1st Alfred A. Knopf, 1st edition
Blue-City-UK Cassel and Company, Ltd.
1str English edition
Blue-City-Dell  Dell, 3rd edition
Blue-City-Bantam-2 Bantam, 4th edition
Blue-City-Bantam Bantam, ca. 1972
Blue-City-Bantam-3 Bantam, unknown
Blue-City-1992 Bantam, 1992
Trouble Follows Me 2013 Mysterious Press book cover Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, 2011
Blue-City-Italian Mondadori, 1950 (Italy)
BlueCitya-Italian-1975  Mondadori, 1975 (Italy)

Share this:

  • Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Filed Under: Novels Tagged With: Alfred A. Knopf, Bantam, Black Lizard, Cassel, Dell, Kenneth Millar, Mondadori, Vintage Crime

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You can't run away from the landscape of your dreams.~Ross MacdonaldSource: The Chill

Recent Posts

  • The Drowning Pool
  • The Moving Target
  • The Last Testament of Ross Macdonald

Subscribe to Seeking Ross Macdonald

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Seeking Ross Macdonald · Copyright © 2021 · Genesis Framework · WordPress

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.