Ross Macdonald

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Ross Macdonald

American author

Also known as: John Ross Macdonald, Kenneth Millar

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Dec 9, 2024 • Article History

Quick Facts

Pseudonym of:: Kenneth Millar

Also called:: John Macdonald or John Ross Macdonald

Born:: Dec. 13, 1915, Los Gatos, Calif., U.S.

Died:: July 11, 1983, Santa Barbara, Calif. (aged 67)

Notable Works:: “The Moving Target”

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Ross Macdonald (born Dec. 13, 1915, Los Gatos, Calif., U.S.—died July 11, 1983, Santa Barbara, Calif.) was an American mystery writer who is credited with elevating the detective novel to the level of literature with his compactly written tales of murder and despair. Though born in California, Millar spent almost all his youth in Canada. He studied at Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate Institute (near Toronto), the University of Western Ontario (B.A., 1938), and the University of Toronto and, after some teaching and service in the U.S. Naval Reserve (1944–46), received a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1951. Millar, who adopted ...(100 of 223 words)

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