The Wycherly woman

by Ross Macdonald

Phoebe Wycherly -- twenty-one, rich, and beautiful -- has been missing for two months when her father, Homer, hires private investigator Lew Archer to locate her. The girl was last seen leaving the San Francisco docks after seeing her father off on a cruise. When she disappeared, she left college and a lovesick boyfriend behind her. Archer's investigation leads him to Phoebe's mother, Catherine, who is divorced from Homer and acting very strangely. Then the bodies start piling up: a real estate agent in Catherine's Atherton home, a sound expert in San Mateo, and a naked woman in a Volkswagen at the bottom of San Francisco Bay. Archer eventually solves this case of missing persons, family secrets, blackmail, and murder.

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Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?