The Chill (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Kenneth Millar
- First Published: 1964
- Type of Work: Novel
- Genres: Long fiction, Mystery and detective literature
- Subjects: United States or Americans, Murder or homicide, Twentieth century, Marriage, Guilt, California, West, U.S., Detectives, Greed, Missing persons, Private investigators
- Locales: California, Missouri, Nevada
The Chill, which won a British Crime Writers’ Association Silver Dagger Award, begins with young Dolly Kincaid abandoning her husband the day after they are married. Alex Kincaid hires Lew Archer to find her, which Archer does effortlessly, but this turns out to be only the beginning of the story, involving a triple murder case extending back over many years. Young Alex, early in the story, remarks with awe to Archer: “It's almost as though history is repeating itself.” Later, when someone says to him, “Anyway, it's all past history,” Archer replies, “History is...
[The entire page is 949 words long]

