| Ross Macdonald is the pseudonym for Kenneth Millar. | | | | California. When Margaret came to visit him, she fell in |
| He was born on December 13, 1915 in Los Gatos | | | | love with the area and made the beautiful seaside |
| California. His father, John Macdonald Millar, was a | | | | town of Santa Barbara their home. |
| sometimes newspaper editor, poet and athlete, and | | | | Ross Macdonald places his protagonist, the philosophic |
| his mother, Anne (Moyer) Millar, was a nurse. | | | | rough edged private detective, Lew Archer, in Santa |
| Sometime after moving the family to Kitchener, | | | | Barbara, but changed the name to Santa Theresa. |
| Ontario, Canada, when Ross was about four years | | | | Many years later another mystery writer, Sue |
| old, his father abandoned the family. | | | | Grafton, did the same thing with her character, |
| While he was growing up, Ross and his mother lived | | | | female private detective Kinsey Millhone. Sue Grafton |
| off and on with various relatives. Ross, even though | | | | wrote an introduction for the book, "Ross Macdonald, |
| academically inclined, was a troubled youth. He drank | | | | a Biography," by Tom Nolan. |
| and smoked too much, fought with classmates, was | | | | Ross started his writing career under his given name. |
| a petty thief and enjoyed the pool hall and gambling. | | | | His wife was to become prominent as a suspense |
| Ross's father left an insurance policy that was | | | | writer under the name Margaret Millar, so he started |
| enough to see him through four years at the | | | | writing under the name John Ross Macdonald. Later |
| University of Western Ontario where he obtained a | | | | he shortened it to Ross Macdonald because of |
| teaching certificate. He also attended the University | | | | possible confusion with another author, John D. |
| of Toronto for a year. He received an assistant | | | | Macdonald. |
| teaching post at the University of Michigan where he | | | | Although Ross earned good reviews throughout his |
| also finished his schooling. He graduated Phi Beta | | | | writing career, it wasn't until the publishing of "The |
| Kappa with a PHD in Literature. | | | | Goodbye Look" in 1969 that he became a best selling |
| Ross Macdonald met Margaret Sturm, another | | | | author in the United States as well as in Europe. In |
| aspiring author, while in high school. They reconnected | | | | 1973 The Mystery Writers of America named him |
| and married in 1938. Their only daughter, Linda, died in | | | | Grand Master. |
| 1970. | | | | In 1981, Ross Macdonald was diagnosed with |
| Ross joined the U.S Navy during WWII and was | | | | Alzheimer's disease. He died in Santa Barbara on July |
| stationed in the Pacific off the coast of southern | | | | 11, 1983. |