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Seeking Ross Macdonald

All things Ross Macdonald, Lew Archer and Ken Millar

Trouble Follows Me

November 29, 2015 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Trouble Follows Me, by Ken Millar, 1946. This is Millar’s second novel, written while he was serving in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific Theater at the close of World War II.

Trouble-Follows-Me-200W

Author Kenneth Millar
Publisher Dodd, Mead and Company
Publication Date (initial) August 20, 1946

Overview

Trouble Follows Me opens in Honolulu in 1945, towards the end of the war in the Pacific theater. Ensign Sam Drake is in Honolulu, preparing for leave to visit his home of Detroit, Michigan. He and his buddy Eric go out on the town with Eric’s girlfriend Sue and her friend Mary. Before the night has ended, Sue is dead, seemingly a suicide, though Sam is not so sure. Eric suspects the African-American steward, Hector Land. Sam investigates as much as he can before his trip home to Detroit, also the hometown of Land. The more Sam looks into this crime, the more trouble he finds, trouble that follows him everywhere he goes.

Observations

In the opening chapter of Millar’s first book, The Dark Tunnel, the reader learns that Dr. Robert Branch, the hero of the book, wants very much to join the U.S. Navy, but had been turned down. Kenneth Millar, studying at the University of Michigan at the time, had also been initially turned down when he tried to enlist in the U.S. Navy. However, as the war progressed, he did enlist and was trained as a communications officer. Lt. Kenneth Millar served in the Pacific fleet at the end of the war. In his spare time, Lt. Millar wrote his second book, Trouble Follows Me, featuring a version of himself, Ensign Sam Drake.

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
1950 Lion Books 2nd edition; paperback
1955 Lion Books 3rd edition as Night Train; paperback
1972 Bantam 4th edition; paperback
1973 Bantam/Corgi Books (UK) 4th edition, 3rd printing; paperback
2013 Mysterious Press/Open Road 2013 edition, trade paperback

Book Covers

Trouble Follows Me cover 1946 Original 1st edition, hardcopy
Trouble Follows Me book cover 1950 Lion Books, 1950; 2nd edition, paper
Trouble Follows Me book cover 1955 Lion Books, 1950, as Night Train;
3rd edition, paper
Trouble Follows Me bantam 1972 cover Bantam, 1972; paper
Trouble Follows Me book cover Mysterious Press/Open Road, 2013;
trade paperback

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Filed Under: Novels Tagged With: Bantam, Corgi Books, Dodd Mead, Kenneth Millar, Lion Books, Mysterious Press, Open Road, Ross Macdonald

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Throughout its history, from Poe to Chandler and beyond, the detective hero has represented his creator and carried his values into action in society.~Ken MillarSource: The Writer As Detective Hero

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