The Drowning Pool by Ross Macdonald

(1950; second book in the Lew Archer series)

From the back cover

"When a millionaire matriarch is found floating face-down in the family pool, the prime suspects are her good-for-nothing son and his seductive teenage daughter. . . Lew Archer takes this case in the L.A. suburbs and encounters a moral wasteland of corporate greed and family hatred--and sufficient motive for a dozen murders."

Review

Drowning, like its predecessor (The Moving Target), is a tightly plotted and fast-moving P.I. novel. In this case, Archer finds himself in a tangled web of twisted family dynamics, greed and disturbing violence. As he separates and figures out the skeins of these elements of human darkness, his empathy, philosophical and sharply stated, provides a sense of justice in an otherwise tragic chain of events. It is excellent, worth owning.

Followed by The Way Some People Die.

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The resulting film was released stateside on July 18, 1975. It was directed by Stuart Rosenberg, from a screenplay by Tracy Keenan Wynn, Lorenzo Semple Jr., Walter Hill and an uncredited Eric Roth.(Rosenberg also directed Paul Newman in the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke.)

Paul Newman reprised his role of Lew Harper, the cinematic version of Lew Archer. Joanne Woodward, Newman's real life wife, played Iris Devereaux. Melanie Griffith played Schuyler Devereaux. Andrew Robinson, billed as Andy Robinson, played Paul Reavis. Coral Browne played Olivia Devereaux. 

Murray Hamilton played J.J. Kilbourne. Gail Strickland played Mavis Kilbourne. Anthony Franciosa, billed as Tony Franciosa, played Broussard. Richard Jaeckel played Franks. Paul Koslo played Candy. Helena Kallianiotes played Elaine Reavis.