Editing Lew Archer (section)

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox character
| name = Lew Archer
| image = 
| caption = 
| first = ''[[The Moving Target]]''
| last = ''The Blue Hammer''
| creator = [[Ross Macdonald]]
| portrayer = [[Paul Newman]]<br>[[Peter Graves]]<br>[[Brian Keith]]<br>[[Harris Yulin]]<br>[[James Faulkner (actor)|James Faulkner]]
| gender = Male
| occupation = Private detective
| nationality = American
| spouse = Sue Archer (divorced)
}}

'''Lew Archer''' is a fictional character created by American-Canadian writer [[Ross Macdonald]], a private detective working in Southern [[California]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Whodunit? : a who's who in crime & mystery writing|first=Rosemary|last=Herbert|date=1 January 2003|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0195157613|pages=[https://archive.org/details/whodunitwhoswhoi0000unse/page/10 10]|oclc=252700230|url=https://archive.org/details/whodunitwhoswhoi0000unse/page/10}}</ref> Between the late 1940s and the early '70s, the character appeared in 18 novels and a handful of shorter works as well as several film and television adaptations. Macdonald's Archer novels have been praised for introducing more literary themes and psychological depth to the [[hardboiled fiction]] genre. Critic [[John Leonard (critic)|John Leonard]] declared that Macdonald had surpassed the limits of crime fiction to become "a major American novelist",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.januarymagazine.com/crfiction/rossintro.html|title=Feature - Ross Macdonald Tribute|website=januarymagazine.com}}</ref> while author [[Eudora Welty]] was a fan of the series and carried on a lengthy correspondence with Macdonald.<ref>[[Louis Bayard]] (2015) [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/14/books/review-eudora-welty-and-ross-macdonald-conjoined-by-a-torrent-of-words.html?_r=0 Review: Eudora Welty and Ross Macdonald, Conjoined by a Torrent of Words], The New York Times 13 July 2015. Retrieved 14 April 2016</ref> The editors of ''Thrilling Detective'' wrote: "The greatest [[private investigator#Fiction|P.I.]] series ever written? Probably."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thrillingdetective.com/2018/10/02/lew-archer/|title=Lew Archer|website=thrillingdetective.com|date=2 October 2018 }}</ref>