This is an omnibus of three mysteries: The Doomsters, published in 1958, Zebra-Striped Hearse, published in 1962 and The Instant Enemy, published in 1968.
Macdonald is big on psychology and all the conditions of mental illness. I enjoyed reading the stories, but not enough to read them again. The characters are pretty well drawn, but the dialog can seem stilted or forced at times; as if he was pushing too hard to write a noir novel. I enjoyed the settings, being a California girl myself, and the atmosphere was very authentic to the times the stories were written in. Archer comes across a lot of people of different races and religions and functions as an observer who reserves judgement, but you get the idea he is not fond of racists, abusers or cruelty to animals or people. ( )