| Lew Archer | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | The Moving Target |
| Last appearance | The Blue Hammer |
| Created by | Ross Macdonald |
| Portrayed by | Paul Newman Peter Graves Brian Keith Harris Yulin James Faulkner |
| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Private detective |
| Spouse | Sue Archer (divorced) |
| Nationality | American |
Lew Archer is a fictional character created by American-Canadian writer Ross Macdonald. Archer is a private detective working in Southern California.[1] Between the late 1940s and the early '70s, the character appeared in 18 novels and a handful of shorter works as well as several film and television adaptations. Macdonald's Archer novels have been praised for building on the foundations of hardboiled fiction by introducing more literary themes and psychological depth to the genre. Critic John Leonard declared that Macdonald had surpassed the limits of crime fiction to become "a major American novelist"[2] while author Eudora Welty was a fan of the series and carried on a lengthy correspondence with Macdonald.[3] The editors of Thrilling Detective wrote: "The greatest P.I. series ever written? Probably."[4]