This is a favorite of the author, Mr. John D., published in 1960. It is a good story, the ending is not what you'd expect from one of his crime novels. What you think might happen doesn't. The ending itself is unexpected. I enjoyed seeing his mind at work on this one, and the familiar intellectual introspection. MacDonald's hero is imperfect, and makes mistakes, and butts into other people's lives, and gives good advice some of the time. MacDonald's writing style is familiar, and his dissection of his characters, but this story goes to some very interesting places.