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Travis McGee #21
The Lonely Silver Rain
"Travis McGee is back in action and he is in fine, fine form....What a treat. It is John D. MacDonald's 21st Travies McGee book and, without reservaton, his best."
THE SAN DIEGO TRIBUNE
Searching for a wealthy friend's yacht, Travis McGee puts himself square in the center of the international cocaine trade, and finds himself the target of some of the most ruthless villains he's ever met. Contemplating his own mortality for the first time, Travis McGee discovers amid all the danger the astonishing surprise behind the cat-shaped pipe cleaners someone is leaving at his door. This is vintage McGee in a novel that confirms John D. MacDonald's reputation as one of the greatest storytellers of all time.
THE SAN DIEGO TRIBUNE
Searching for a wealthy friend's yacht, Travis McGee puts himself square in the center of the international cocaine trade, and finds himself the target of some of the most ruthless villains he's ever met. Contemplating his own mortality for the first time, Travis McGee discovers amid all the danger the astonishing surprise behind the cat-shaped pipe cleaners someone is leaving at his door. This is vintage McGee in a novel that confirms John D. MacDonald's reputation as one of the greatest storytellers of all time.
273 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1984
420 people are currently reading
1723 people want to read
About the author
John D. MacDonald
564 books1,369 followersJohn D. MacDonald was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, and educated at the Universities of Pennsylvania, Syracuse and Harvard, where he took an MBA in 1939. During WW2, he rose to the rank of Colonel, and while serving in the Army and in the Far East, sent a short story to his wife for sale, successfully. He served in the Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.) in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations. After the war, he decided to try writing for a year, to see if he could make a living. Over 500 short stories and 70 novels resulted, including 21 Travis McGee novels.
Following complications of an earlier heart bypass operation, MacDonald slipped into a coma on December 10 and died at age 70, on December 28, 1986, in St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was survived by his wife Dorothy (1911-1989) and a son, Maynard.
In the years since his death MacDonald has been praised by authors as diverse as Stephen King, Spider Robinson, Jimmy Buffett, Kingsley Amis and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.. Thirty-three years after his passing the Travis McGee novels are still in print.
Following complications of an earlier heart bypass operation, MacDonald slipped into a coma on December 10 and died at age 70, on December 28, 1986, in St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was survived by his wife Dorothy (1911-1989) and a son, Maynard.
In the years since his death MacDonald has been praised by authors as diverse as Stephen King, Spider Robinson, Jimmy Buffett, Kingsley Amis and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.. Thirty-three years after his passing the Travis McGee novels are still in print.
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April 23, 2025
When I was in my early fifties, I DEVOURED the Travis McGee series!
You know the routine - making the rounds of ALL the downtown and local used bookshops in your mid-life urge for a Great Escape - in search of ONE jewel of a book you haven’t yet read by your lately-discovered New Favourite Writer.
Or maybe you’ve always have had a NUMBER of names up there on your mental back-burner.
Whatever...
But picture this.
Suddenly, There - never mind how dilapidated and ragged its condition might be - There in a dusty bin is ONE of ‘em, a book you’d always heard people rave about, and Have Never Read.
You grab it in the blink of an eye!
So it always was for me back then, for One of MacDonald’s Travis McGee books - This One.
It was in a Book Bargains store in the downtown Market area that I found it.
Yes, Travis KcGee always had just exactly the right combination of world-weary existential angst and unabashed romanticism for the middle-aged and benumbed guy I was then - and this one was one of the Very Best.
I was slowly easing myself away from the rabid dog-eat-dog workplace, and chomping at the bit as I hurried down the rocky road to retirement!
And you know, Travis had near-psychic abilities.
He knew what was really hidden where the lump showed in that expensively ornate Persian rug...
He knew every possible angle a sharp-eyed Florida confidence man could use to sell you an exotic pig in a poke...
And he knew the telltale Rorschach smear of the most devilishly cunning and prevaricating snow job.
He could smell danger before it arrived.
His sidekick Meyer was no slouch either!
I think I really started to get into Travis’ headspace when I made my last career move.
Back then I could allow or deny a moderate increase out of divisional funding - with appropriate discretion - for projects I managed, which varied month-by-month.
Well, it took me a mighty steep learning curve to finally clearly discern a lie from the truth.
And even then I was no Travis McGee, much less a brainy Meyer (though in hindsight I wish I had been)!
And now, many years later, the baroquely complex, macabre extent of the con games that were all around me in the office is all too readily apparent to me.
I feel like, now that all the Fun of the Fair Is finally done, I’m wearily walking on an endless palm-strewn white Florida beach with my old beach bum buddy Travis...
He’s old like me now, of course, and our pace and breath are a little laboured, with the passing of time.
‘Travis, old bud,’ I say, as we trudge on, ‘can you tell me one good thing that came from all that shamed-face dog and pony show of dirty tricks, in the end?’
He gives me a still-boyish grin and says, ‘Yeah...
‘We have the peace of mind that comes with knowing we always tried to do the Right Thing, ole’ buddy!
‘And you know what else?
‘We came out of it all ALIVE in the end... And very happy for the little acts of goodness we could accomplish in this totally confused little old world!’
You know the routine - making the rounds of ALL the downtown and local used bookshops in your mid-life urge for a Great Escape - in search of ONE jewel of a book you haven’t yet read by your lately-discovered New Favourite Writer.
Or maybe you’ve always have had a NUMBER of names up there on your mental back-burner.
Whatever...
But picture this.
Suddenly, There - never mind how dilapidated and ragged its condition might be - There in a dusty bin is ONE of ‘em, a book you’d always heard people rave about, and Have Never Read.
You grab it in the blink of an eye!
So it always was for me back then, for One of MacDonald’s Travis McGee books - This One.
It was in a Book Bargains store in the downtown Market area that I found it.
Yes, Travis KcGee always had just exactly the right combination of world-weary existential angst and unabashed romanticism for the middle-aged and benumbed guy I was then - and this one was one of the Very Best.
I was slowly easing myself away from the rabid dog-eat-dog workplace, and chomping at the bit as I hurried down the rocky road to retirement!
And you know, Travis had near-psychic abilities.
He knew what was really hidden where the lump showed in that expensively ornate Persian rug...
He knew every possible angle a sharp-eyed Florida confidence man could use to sell you an exotic pig in a poke...
And he knew the telltale Rorschach smear of the most devilishly cunning and prevaricating snow job.
He could smell danger before it arrived.
His sidekick Meyer was no slouch either!
I think I really started to get into Travis’ headspace when I made my last career move.
Back then I could allow or deny a moderate increase out of divisional funding - with appropriate discretion - for projects I managed, which varied month-by-month.
Well, it took me a mighty steep learning curve to finally clearly discern a lie from the truth.
And even then I was no Travis McGee, much less a brainy Meyer (though in hindsight I wish I had been)!
And now, many years later, the baroquely complex, macabre extent of the con games that were all around me in the office is all too readily apparent to me.
I feel like, now that all the Fun of the Fair Is finally done, I’m wearily walking on an endless palm-strewn white Florida beach with my old beach bum buddy Travis...
He’s old like me now, of course, and our pace and breath are a little laboured, with the passing of time.
‘Travis, old bud,’ I say, as we trudge on, ‘can you tell me one good thing that came from all that shamed-face dog and pony show of dirty tricks, in the end?’
He gives me a still-boyish grin and says, ‘Yeah...
‘We have the peace of mind that comes with knowing we always tried to do the Right Thing, ole’ buddy!
‘And you know what else?
‘We came out of it all ALIVE in the end... And very happy for the little acts of goodness we could accomplish in this totally confused little old world!’
April 24, 2019
A Black Border for McGee. That’s the title of the famed, lost, almost mythical final Travis McGee novel in which John D. MacDonald kills his hero. I understand the avid interest. For one thing, we don’t want the ride to be over. If we like something, we want more--even if it’s just one more. And then there’s the color. Black, the color most associated with death; it would be easiest of colors to work into a series needing a different color for each title. There must be some reason MacDonald hadn’t used it. Maybe he was saving it for last. And then there’s the time factor. Three years passed between the penultimate novel and McGee’s final appearance. Maybe MacDonald had produced another manuscript. Well, he did; and it was called One More Sunday. But there was certainly time in there to produce another.
A Black Border for McGee is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It is also a unicorn. And Santa Claus. In other words, it doesn’t exist.
There are nuggets of truth in the above fantasy. MacDonald did plan a 22nd McGee novel, had intended it to end the series, had even, according to some, started on it. Those four chapters have never been recovered. My personal contention? Scheduled for a heart operation in which survival was in no way guaranteed (and which ultimately claimed his life), MacDonald destroyed those pages himself. My first and only piece of evidence: The Lonely Silver Rain.
The story is about mortality. Not the plot. The story. The plot is almost irrelevant. It’s an excuse to force McGee at every turn to look at his own extinction, now close enough to feel and still slowly, steadily getting closer. He had just brought back to Ft. Lauderdale a sailboat from a Caribbean island and he’s in the best shape he’s seen in years. In the past when “the human machinery” was humming, McGee’s attitude toward life was at its highest. Here he is apathetic. It permeates his existence. Apparently only work can temporarily abate his lethargy. Asked by a friend to recover his stolen cruiser, in the small cluster of islands where he finds it hidden McGee also discovers three brutally murdered young people--a male and two girls. When one of the girls is identified as the daughter of a high-ranking member of a Peruvian drug cartel, McGee and everyone associated with the affair are ordered to be killed.
When he fighting for his life or is in the process of searching for a way of extricating himself from this predicament, McGee is alive and aware. When forced to await answers or a course of action, when forced to settle back into his life, the apathy returns. Surliness surfaces or he brings it out in others. He feels appropriately grubby after sleeping with the widow of the recently-murdered friend whose favor had instigated the current problem, but he also actively avoids sleeping with a different friend who wants to celebrate the good turn her life had suddenly taken. This is the “genuine affection but with no strings attached” kind of encounter McGee has partaken of his whole life. Now it’s as if he feared even touching the lady would infect her with his malaise.
And there is Willy Nucci, his old underworld contact, newly retired only to discover he has cancer. By the time McGee gets around to seeing him, he is a shrunken figure barely able to move. And he is having the time of his life, buoyed by the presence of a buxom California-blonde nurse sent to him by some old associates. Willy only learned to live once he knew he was dying. It’s a lesson McGee acknowledges but doesn’t learn.
But there is hope for Travis McGee. In the form of what starts as a minor subplot, the actual point of the novel can be found. In the dead of night, without pattern or warning, someone is conspicuously leaving about his houseboat pipe cleaners bent into the shape of a cat. In finally deciding to put a stop to the annoyance, McGee is forced to relive a heartbreak from the past, but in doing so is awaken to the possibility that the end might not be the end. It is simultaneously gut-wrenching and uplifting.
Mortality is no longer a weight to be carried. For the hero. For a fictional character. But for the author? Can John D. MacDonald dig this deep, come face-to-face with this abyss, and not see the traces of his own mortality? Each time I reread The Lonely Silver Rain I have no doubt that, whether MacDonald consciously knew it or not, this was meant to be the final Travis McGee novel--if he was rendered unable to write the final Travis McGee novel. And that’s what came to pass.
A Black Border for McGee is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It is also a unicorn. And Santa Claus. In other words, it doesn’t exist.
There are nuggets of truth in the above fantasy. MacDonald did plan a 22nd McGee novel, had intended it to end the series, had even, according to some, started on it. Those four chapters have never been recovered. My personal contention? Scheduled for a heart operation in which survival was in no way guaranteed (and which ultimately claimed his life), MacDonald destroyed those pages himself. My first and only piece of evidence: The Lonely Silver Rain.
The story is about mortality. Not the plot. The story. The plot is almost irrelevant. It’s an excuse to force McGee at every turn to look at his own extinction, now close enough to feel and still slowly, steadily getting closer. He had just brought back to Ft. Lauderdale a sailboat from a Caribbean island and he’s in the best shape he’s seen in years. In the past when “the human machinery” was humming, McGee’s attitude toward life was at its highest. Here he is apathetic. It permeates his existence. Apparently only work can temporarily abate his lethargy. Asked by a friend to recover his stolen cruiser, in the small cluster of islands where he finds it hidden McGee also discovers three brutally murdered young people--a male and two girls. When one of the girls is identified as the daughter of a high-ranking member of a Peruvian drug cartel, McGee and everyone associated with the affair are ordered to be killed.
When he fighting for his life or is in the process of searching for a way of extricating himself from this predicament, McGee is alive and aware. When forced to await answers or a course of action, when forced to settle back into his life, the apathy returns. Surliness surfaces or he brings it out in others. He feels appropriately grubby after sleeping with the widow of the recently-murdered friend whose favor had instigated the current problem, but he also actively avoids sleeping with a different friend who wants to celebrate the good turn her life had suddenly taken. This is the “genuine affection but with no strings attached” kind of encounter McGee has partaken of his whole life. Now it’s as if he feared even touching the lady would infect her with his malaise.
And there is Willy Nucci, his old underworld contact, newly retired only to discover he has cancer. By the time McGee gets around to seeing him, he is a shrunken figure barely able to move. And he is having the time of his life, buoyed by the presence of a buxom California-blonde nurse sent to him by some old associates. Willy only learned to live once he knew he was dying. It’s a lesson McGee acknowledges but doesn’t learn.
But there is hope for Travis McGee. In the form of what starts as a minor subplot, the actual point of the novel can be found. In the dead of night, without pattern or warning, someone is conspicuously leaving about his houseboat pipe cleaners bent into the shape of a cat. In finally deciding to put a stop to the annoyance, McGee is forced to relive a heartbreak from the past, but in doing so is awaken to the possibility that the end might not be the end. It is simultaneously gut-wrenching and uplifting.
Mortality is no longer a weight to be carried. For the hero. For a fictional character. But for the author? Can John D. MacDonald dig this deep, come face-to-face with this abyss, and not see the traces of his own mortality? Each time I reread The Lonely Silver Rain I have no doubt that, whether MacDonald consciously knew it or not, this was meant to be the final Travis McGee novel--if he was rendered unable to write the final Travis McGee novel. And that’s what came to pass.
February 23, 2018
They say you can’t take it with you, but when author John D. MacDonald died in 1986 it seems like he took Travis McGee to the grave with him despite rumors of a final novel stashed away somewhere.
McGee’s final gig involves him trying to find a very expensive yacht that was stolen from a rich buddy of his, but what seems like a straight forward job of tracking down some small time boat thieves ends up with Travis getting on the wrong side of a bunch of angry South American drug dealers. The attempts on his life start as McGee is in a particularly bad funk as he struggles to deal with the realization that he may have aged out of his boat bum persona, and that a life spent evading responsibility eventually leaves you with little to actually live for.
I’ve written reviews for most of the McGee novels since I started this reread several years ago, and what I’ve said before is what I’ll say again here – MacDonald was a talented crime writer who came up with an intriguing creation in McGee who functions as a hybrid detective/con man as he tries to outwit some very bad people in search of profit or revenge while also making a lot of sharp observations about the era he lived in. While MacDonald was frequently ahead of the curve in a lot of subjects like environmentalism and personal privacy the way he wrote about women can only be described as incredibly sexist at times. Since so many of the stories revolve around McGee’s relationship with women the very structure of most of the books make it hard to look past as just a minor dated element like you sometimes have to when reading older authors. As good as these books are, and they are frequently very good crime novels, there’s just too many cringe worthy moments to entirely ignore.
This one does better than average on that front, and the story itself is worthy of being McGee’s swan song. It helps that a lot of it is about Travis trying to come to terms with the idea that the world has moved on, and that the book ends on probably the most moving and emotional moments of the entire series.
I’ve also got fond memories of this as one of the best on-location reads I ever did. I’d read and reread the series in my teens in the ‘80s, and it was some of the first serious crime fiction I’d ever taken on so I’ve always had a soft spot for Travis McGee. However, by the time I’d hit my thirties I hadn’t picked one up in years so the series was little more than a fading memory at that point.
Then in late 2001 I flew into Fort Lauderdale for work and was driving up A1A along the beach to get to my hotel when I passed the Bahia Mar marina. Suddenly I remembered that was where Travis McGee docked his houseboat The Busted Flush and the memories of a 21 books came flooding back. I didn’t even know it was a real place until that moment, and I was shocked to be staying just up the road from it.
So the next day after I had finished up business for the day I found a used book store and bought a copy of this one. I took it back to my hotel where I then spent the next several evenings sitting at the poolside bar reading while drinking gin. (And I don’t even like gin, but that’s McGee drank so I did it for authenticity.) I’d read countless scenes of Travis describing the area and the weather so to sit there looking out at the ocean with that book in hand was one of my better experiences as a reader.
That’s worth an extra star to me.
McGee’s final gig involves him trying to find a very expensive yacht that was stolen from a rich buddy of his, but what seems like a straight forward job of tracking down some small time boat thieves ends up with Travis getting on the wrong side of a bunch of angry South American drug dealers. The attempts on his life start as McGee is in a particularly bad funk as he struggles to deal with the realization that he may have aged out of his boat bum persona, and that a life spent evading responsibility eventually leaves you with little to actually live for.
I’ve written reviews for most of the McGee novels since I started this reread several years ago, and what I’ve said before is what I’ll say again here – MacDonald was a talented crime writer who came up with an intriguing creation in McGee who functions as a hybrid detective/con man as he tries to outwit some very bad people in search of profit or revenge while also making a lot of sharp observations about the era he lived in. While MacDonald was frequently ahead of the curve in a lot of subjects like environmentalism and personal privacy the way he wrote about women can only be described as incredibly sexist at times. Since so many of the stories revolve around McGee’s relationship with women the very structure of most of the books make it hard to look past as just a minor dated element like you sometimes have to when reading older authors. As good as these books are, and they are frequently very good crime novels, there’s just too many cringe worthy moments to entirely ignore.
This one does better than average on that front, and the story itself is worthy of being McGee’s swan song. It helps that a lot of it is about Travis trying to come to terms with the idea that the world has moved on, and that the book ends on probably the most moving and emotional moments of the entire series.
I’ve also got fond memories of this as one of the best on-location reads I ever did. I’d read and reread the series in my teens in the ‘80s, and it was some of the first serious crime fiction I’d ever taken on so I’ve always had a soft spot for Travis McGee. However, by the time I’d hit my thirties I hadn’t picked one up in years so the series was little more than a fading memory at that point.
Then in late 2001 I flew into Fort Lauderdale for work and was driving up A1A along the beach to get to my hotel when I passed the Bahia Mar marina. Suddenly I remembered that was where Travis McGee docked his houseboat The Busted Flush and the memories of a 21 books came flooding back. I didn’t even know it was a real place until that moment, and I was shocked to be staying just up the road from it.
So the next day after I had finished up business for the day I found a used book store and bought a copy of this one. I took it back to my hotel where I then spent the next several evenings sitting at the poolside bar reading while drinking gin. (And I don’t even like gin, but that’s McGee drank so I did it for authenticity.) I’d read countless scenes of Travis describing the area and the weather so to sit there looking out at the ocean with that book in hand was one of my better experiences as a reader.
That’s worth an extra star to me.
June 13, 2018
"If innocenec could keep us alive, my friend, we'd all be saints."
- John D. MacDonald, The Lonely Silver Rain
"The small things are lasting things."
- John D. MacDonald, The Lonely Silver Rain
This might not be my favorite, but it is the last and I enjoyed it. It made me cry. That isn't a small thing, but perhaps it isn't a big thing either. I typically cry at the end of every one of Charles Dickens' novels. I cry at commercials. I cry at a good story that isn't too sentimental, but that creates tension and unites a narrative release with a novelist's take on our shared humanity. This novel did that. It was a classic McGee novel and was also almost better than most. The sexual healer hero was downplayed.
I'm sad that I'm done. I still have a bunch more John D. MacDonald to read, but will probably only read Condominium this year. I've read a lot of McGee and while not sick of him. I could probably do with a Johhn D MacDonald break.
- John D. MacDonald, The Lonely Silver Rain
"The small things are lasting things."
- John D. MacDonald, The Lonely Silver Rain
This might not be my favorite, but it is the last and I enjoyed it. It made me cry. That isn't a small thing, but perhaps it isn't a big thing either. I typically cry at the end of every one of Charles Dickens' novels. I cry at commercials. I cry at a good story that isn't too sentimental, but that creates tension and unites a narrative release with a novelist's take on our shared humanity. This novel did that. It was a classic McGee novel and was also almost better than most. The sexual healer hero was downplayed.
I'm sad that I'm done. I still have a bunch more John D. MacDonald to read, but will probably only read Condominium this year. I've read a lot of McGee and while not sick of him. I could probably do with a Johhn D MacDonald break.
March 21, 2019
The Lonely Silver Rain is the final volume in the 21-book Travis McGee series and it matches the extremely high quality level of the rest of the series. Absolutely terrific read.
This volume is not all about McGee riding off into the sunset. It, however, has a slightly different flavor than other McGee books. Here, McGee is not the hunter so much as the hunted and he doesn't exactly find it to be the most comfortable feeling. Someone wants him dead for slightly off kilter reasons having to do with misplaced dreams of vengeance. And it's going to take all his resources to fend off South American narco hit squads.
MacDonald packed a lot into this book including a stolen yacht, a gold digging blonde, a drug war, an eyepatch, a trip to the Yucatan, comforting a widow, angry family members, mysterious gifts, explosions, stabbings, bodies strewn about, a nurse being traded like a baseball card, and all sorts of random violence and suspicions.
This is one of the quickest reads of the whole series and this tale has a furious and relentless pace.
If you've never had the good fortune to read about Travis McGee, you are in for quite a treat. If you've read this series before, you kind of know what to expect.
This volume is not all about McGee riding off into the sunset. It, however, has a slightly different flavor than other McGee books. Here, McGee is not the hunter so much as the hunted and he doesn't exactly find it to be the most comfortable feeling. Someone wants him dead for slightly off kilter reasons having to do with misplaced dreams of vengeance. And it's going to take all his resources to fend off South American narco hit squads.
MacDonald packed a lot into this book including a stolen yacht, a gold digging blonde, a drug war, an eyepatch, a trip to the Yucatan, comforting a widow, angry family members, mysterious gifts, explosions, stabbings, bodies strewn about, a nurse being traded like a baseball card, and all sorts of random violence and suspicions.
This is one of the quickest reads of the whole series and this tale has a furious and relentless pace.
If you've never had the good fortune to read about Travis McGee, you are in for quite a treat. If you've read this series before, you kind of know what to expect.
July 5, 2010
Fittingly, last Travis McGee: entertaining, moving story...
We only recently "discovered" John D MacDonald, one of the most prolific authors of the 20th century, via his last non-series novel "Barrier Island". Having enjoyed it immensely, we wanted to try one of his famous Travis McGee stories, and just happened to stumble upon "Silver Rain", the very last in that series before the author's death. By now, McGee is late middle-aged, but still a macho bachelor able to fend for himself. He promptly solves the disappearance of a near million-dollar yacht for one of his friends, but the yacht came complete with three dead bodies on it. One was the daughter of a "connected" Peruvian diplomat, and revenge was a necessary matter of honor. Directing attacks against the boat's owner and then Travis was for show, despite the mob-type villains who were the real culprits. To save his own life, McGee goes on to expose the killer and see to it that "justice" (of sorts) was carried out.
This interesting yarn held our attention nicely, but a sub-plot that only blossomed and matured near the book's end rather stole the show. Someone, seemingly as a prank, was leaving pipe-cleaner kitty-cats on McGee's houseboat. Finally he stays up late one night and catches the perp, who turns out to be a lovely young woman who claims she is his daughter! She goes on to berate Travis for using her mother as a sex toy, then throwing her away when he was done with her. McGee gets the girl to join him at his bank the next day, and retrieves a poignant letter from his safety deposit box which explained the whole thing. The mother was actually a dying woman who singled out Travis to father her daughter, then returned to die with her own family. Her own moving account of the whole story had tears streaming down our cheeks. At book's end, Travis puts his life savings into trust for his college-bound offspring.
While we have heard that MacD planned one more final McGee novel, we can't help but wonder if he knew the end was near as he penned "Rain". The emotional conclusion had an air of finality about it that left us feeling like we had known a great man. Perhaps the author's best skill was a knack for philosophical discussion of the human condition with his reader while seeming to carry on little more than a fireside chat. We commend this wise and gifted author to your attention.
We only recently "discovered" John D MacDonald, one of the most prolific authors of the 20th century, via his last non-series novel "Barrier Island". Having enjoyed it immensely, we wanted to try one of his famous Travis McGee stories, and just happened to stumble upon "Silver Rain", the very last in that series before the author's death. By now, McGee is late middle-aged, but still a macho bachelor able to fend for himself. He promptly solves the disappearance of a near million-dollar yacht for one of his friends, but the yacht came complete with three dead bodies on it. One was the daughter of a "connected" Peruvian diplomat, and revenge was a necessary matter of honor. Directing attacks against the boat's owner and then Travis was for show, despite the mob-type villains who were the real culprits. To save his own life, McGee goes on to expose the killer and see to it that "justice" (of sorts) was carried out.
This interesting yarn held our attention nicely, but a sub-plot that only blossomed and matured near the book's end rather stole the show. Someone, seemingly as a prank, was leaving pipe-cleaner kitty-cats on McGee's houseboat. Finally he stays up late one night and catches the perp, who turns out to be a lovely young woman who claims she is his daughter! She goes on to berate Travis for using her mother as a sex toy, then throwing her away when he was done with her. McGee gets the girl to join him at his bank the next day, and retrieves a poignant letter from his safety deposit box which explained the whole thing. The mother was actually a dying woman who singled out Travis to father her daughter, then returned to die with her own family. Her own moving account of the whole story had tears streaming down our cheeks. At book's end, Travis puts his life savings into trust for his college-bound offspring.
While we have heard that MacD planned one more final McGee novel, we can't help but wonder if he knew the end was near as he penned "Rain". The emotional conclusion had an air of finality about it that left us feeling like we had known a great man. Perhaps the author's best skill was a knack for philosophical discussion of the human condition with his reader while seeming to carry on little more than a fireside chat. We commend this wise and gifted author to your attention.
May 30, 2016
The story has an autumnal quality. McGee fiddles with little projects, ends a little romance of convenience, tinkers with his boats, and thinks idly of earning more money, not that he needs it. The crop of beach bums du jour--a generation younger than he--are garish and repellent, and his social circle attrites from the natural process of aging. In particular, friends and associates have started dying off. He is tired and worn out or nearly so, and all he has to look forward to is more of the same.
It's astonishing how much of this is in McGee's narration, a jaded, seasoned feeling that has gone beyond snark and into real wisdom. At one point he calls out a travel associate for poor driving, using specifics and articulations that one cannot imagine out of a younger man. Is this the parallel of some incident in a much earlier book where he was likewise berated, now turned full circle?
The final revelation of the book is transformative, and he finds renewal. It leaves me wondering if MacDonald intended this to be McGee's swan song.
I need to read more of this series, though the pattern in both of the books I have read--involvement, confusion, discovery, and then an implacable beartrap deliciously served to his opponents--may limit intake depending on how much it is used.
It's astonishing how much of this is in McGee's narration, a jaded, seasoned feeling that has gone beyond snark and into real wisdom. At one point he calls out a travel associate for poor driving, using specifics and articulations that one cannot imagine out of a younger man. Is this the parallel of some incident in a much earlier book where he was likewise berated, now turned full circle?
The final revelation of the book is transformative, and he finds renewal. It leaves me wondering if MacDonald intended this to be McGee's swan song.
I need to read more of this series, though the pattern in both of the books I have read--involvement, confusion, discovery, and then an implacable beartrap deliciously served to his opponents--may limit intake depending on how much it is used.
June 20, 2023
The Lonely Silver Rain (Travis McGee #21) by John D. MacDonald.
This was MacDonald 21st Travis McGee book and his last. I found it to be his best. I couldn't stop once I started. It was that good and the ending was out of the blue, totally unexpected.
This is the author and the series that I can always return to when other authors disappoint.
This was MacDonald 21st Travis McGee book and his last. I found it to be his best. I couldn't stop once I started. It was that good and the ending was out of the blue, totally unexpected.
This is the author and the series that I can always return to when other authors disappoint.
October 5, 2018
I've officially read all 21 McGee novels. I cannot wait till I read them all again for the second first time.
This was another fine one penned by the great John D.
The thought of this being the last McGee was pulsating in my mind the entirety of the book but I still managed to enjoy it , as always it was a captivating mystery with good ole McGee and the brilliant Meyer (one of my favorite fictional characters in the history of world) running the show..
Sadly , we will never know what the intended conclusion of the this series was , seeing as this was not the intended final McGee.
Regardless , it satisfyingly concludes this magnificently unique , iconic , brilliantly written , heavily influential series. One of the best all time in my little insignificant opinion as a reader.
This was another fine one penned by the great John D.
The thought of this being the last McGee was pulsating in my mind the entirety of the book but I still managed to enjoy it , as always it was a captivating mystery with good ole McGee and the brilliant Meyer (one of my favorite fictional characters in the history of world) running the show..
Sadly , we will never know what the intended conclusion of the this series was , seeing as this was not the intended final McGee.
Regardless , it satisfyingly concludes this magnificently unique , iconic , brilliantly written , heavily influential series. One of the best all time in my little insignificant opinion as a reader.
April 22, 2019
The final episode of McGee is 5 Stars. MacDonald pulled out the stops here. He almost certainly knew this would be the last McGee, and it shows. The ending is poignant and hopeful.
We will surely miss him.
-
Even only 20% in, and you feel MacDonald rallying all of his gifts and attention to providing a (possible) last McGee. Extraordinary.
The care and prose of this final outing for MacDonald and his McGee is clear. Every word is in perfect order and meaning. The spectre comes closer with each page, and even then, McGee cannot help but move deeper into the mystery, compelled to a solution. A few other philosopher-detectives in noir share this trait. This book is just as thrilling to me as his best McGee, his first McGee, The Deep Blue Good-By
As I read, I get flashes of sadness "this is the last McGee, and flashes of joy "what a great trip it's been"...
This final book starts with a stolen boat, a large one. The results of this theft are terrible and take McGee around Florida, and back to some familiar areas of the Yucatan Peninsula (as in the previous book, "Cinnamon Skin"). I had hoped we would meet Barbara again, but alas.
Nevertheless, the pacing is terrific and fascinating as McGee and his clever friends track down one boat out of millions in Florida. And the scene on that boat makes McGee wish he had never found it.
Again, the pacing and prose are terrific as McGee and his friends become the targets of powerful enemies.
Notes and Quotes:
Then I let myself think about being young and dying. One of the basic ingredients of good and bad poetry, good and bad drama the world over. The end of all as life is ere begun. A waste of the firm, springy, young flesh, of all the spices and juices. Tens of thousands of the young kill themselves every year. A pity. I wondered if it could be some kind of Darwinian design, getting rid of the ones unsuited for the rest of the ride. But that would leave out the earthquakes, the floods, the little and big wars, the famines and the deadly diseases that knock off the millions without regard to age or merit: No matter how many dead ones you see, indifference is never achieved except by the butchers. ... And some people somewhere would have a wrenching, stinging, insatiable sense of loss.
-
Meyer looked grim, aimed a finger at me and said, "Bang, you're dead."
"That's very funny! That's truly hilarious. Maybe you'd write it down so I won't ever forget it."
-
I knew I would not seek Meyer's judgment on the whole scene, and I realized that I want him to have a better opinion of McGee than I seem to have lately. The world was a bewilderment and I was having image problems.
-
Meyer's romances:
According to Meyer, whenever he takes her over to the islands, they sit around and discuss economic trends and international trade. And drink wine. Whatever happens, I do know that each one of his lady executive friends believes in her heart that she is the great love of Meyer's whole life. It shows when they say good-by. And in Meyer's special way, perhaps it is true. They all are. Not that there have ever been that many of them. Six perhaps. Or seven.
-
He was a tall sallow Mexican lad who had dyed his hair yellow a couple of months back. It was half grown out, a startling sight indeed. He wore a gold snake bracelet around his wrist and a bangle in his ear.
-
People were standing around in wonder looking at the frost on the bushes, and huffmg so they could see their breath before the wind whipped it away. And the wind had also whipped all the urban smutch out to sea, all the stink of diesel, gasoline, chemicals and garbage fires, leaving a sky so blue it was like the sky of childhood.
-
At times it seems as if arranging to have no commitment of any kind to anyone would be a special freedom. But in fact the whole idea works in reverse. The most deadly commitment of all is to be committed only to one‘s self.
-
Memory of the rumbling voice of the grandpa long ago: 'Anything you can't take care of, kid, you don't deserve to own. A dog, a gun, a reel, a bike or a woman. You learn how to do it and you do it, because if you don't you hate yourself.'
-
"Innocent people and guilty people are killed every day Stray bullets in small wars. Fog on the Interstates. If innocence could keep us alive, my friend, we'd all be saints."
Bonus. From the 1970 "Darker Than Amber" movie starring Rod Taylor, pictures of the producers' ideas of McGee's "The Busted Flush":
Full size image here
Full size image here
Full size image here
And finally, two great blogs about John D. MacDonald, McGee and the rumoured-never-written novel where McGee dies...
The Birth of Travis McGee (fascinating)
http://thetrapofsolidgold.blogspot.co...
"Black Border for McGee" (rumours surrounding a final book, never published)
http://thetrapofsolidgold.blogspot.co...
We will surely miss him.
-
Even only 20% in, and you feel MacDonald rallying all of his gifts and attention to providing a (possible) last McGee. Extraordinary.
The care and prose of this final outing for MacDonald and his McGee is clear. Every word is in perfect order and meaning. The spectre comes closer with each page, and even then, McGee cannot help but move deeper into the mystery, compelled to a solution. A few other philosopher-detectives in noir share this trait. This book is just as thrilling to me as his best McGee, his first McGee, The Deep Blue Good-By
As I read, I get flashes of sadness "this is the last McGee, and flashes of joy "what a great trip it's been"...
This final book starts with a stolen boat, a large one. The results of this theft are terrible and take McGee around Florida, and back to some familiar areas of the Yucatan Peninsula (as in the previous book, "Cinnamon Skin"). I had hoped we would meet Barbara again, but alas.
Nevertheless, the pacing is terrific and fascinating as McGee and his clever friends track down one boat out of millions in Florida. And the scene on that boat makes McGee wish he had never found it.
Again, the pacing and prose are terrific as McGee and his friends become the targets of powerful enemies.
Notes and Quotes:
Then I let myself think about being young and dying. One of the basic ingredients of good and bad poetry, good and bad drama the world over. The end of all as life is ere begun. A waste of the firm, springy, young flesh, of all the spices and juices. Tens of thousands of the young kill themselves every year. A pity. I wondered if it could be some kind of Darwinian design, getting rid of the ones unsuited for the rest of the ride. But that would leave out the earthquakes, the floods, the little and big wars, the famines and the deadly diseases that knock off the millions without regard to age or merit: No matter how many dead ones you see, indifference is never achieved except by the butchers. ... And some people somewhere would have a wrenching, stinging, insatiable sense of loss.
-
Meyer looked grim, aimed a finger at me and said, "Bang, you're dead."
"That's very funny! That's truly hilarious. Maybe you'd write it down so I won't ever forget it."
-
I knew I would not seek Meyer's judgment on the whole scene, and I realized that I want him to have a better opinion of McGee than I seem to have lately. The world was a bewilderment and I was having image problems.
-
Meyer's romances:
According to Meyer, whenever he takes her over to the islands, they sit around and discuss economic trends and international trade. And drink wine. Whatever happens, I do know that each one of his lady executive friends believes in her heart that she is the great love of Meyer's whole life. It shows when they say good-by. And in Meyer's special way, perhaps it is true. They all are. Not that there have ever been that many of them. Six perhaps. Or seven.
-
He was a tall sallow Mexican lad who had dyed his hair yellow a couple of months back. It was half grown out, a startling sight indeed. He wore a gold snake bracelet around his wrist and a bangle in his ear.
-
People were standing around in wonder looking at the frost on the bushes, and huffmg so they could see their breath before the wind whipped it away. And the wind had also whipped all the urban smutch out to sea, all the stink of diesel, gasoline, chemicals and garbage fires, leaving a sky so blue it was like the sky of childhood.
-
At times it seems as if arranging to have no commitment of any kind to anyone would be a special freedom. But in fact the whole idea works in reverse. The most deadly commitment of all is to be committed only to one‘s self.
-
Memory of the rumbling voice of the grandpa long ago: 'Anything you can't take care of, kid, you don't deserve to own. A dog, a gun, a reel, a bike or a woman. You learn how to do it and you do it, because if you don't you hate yourself.'
-
"Innocent people and guilty people are killed every day Stray bullets in small wars. Fog on the Interstates. If innocence could keep us alive, my friend, we'd all be saints."
Bonus. From the 1970 "Darker Than Amber" movie starring Rod Taylor, pictures of the producers' ideas of McGee's "The Busted Flush":
Full size image here
Full size image here
Full size image here
And finally, two great blogs about John D. MacDonald, McGee and the rumoured-never-written novel where McGee dies...
The Birth of Travis McGee (fascinating)
http://thetrapofsolidgold.blogspot.co...
"Black Border for McGee" (rumours surrounding a final book, never published)
http://thetrapofsolidgold.blogspot.co...
April 18, 2013
The final Travis McGee novel. All things must come to an end and that it true for fictional characters as well (unless you're a comicbook superhero/villain).
In this final chapter of the McGee story there is a sense of McGee growing older and the realization that time moves on no matter how hard we try to hold it back. There is a touch of melancholy, but it is alleviated with the revelation that awaits at the end.
There is some debate whether MacDonald intended this to be the final McGee novel.MacDonald passed away approximately a year after the novel's publication. It does have that feeling of things ending and new chapters opening, but chapters involving a more quiet phase of McGee's life. However the final sentences leave an opening. So who can say? As it stands The Lonely Silver Rain has enough finality to serve as a satisfying conclusion to the Travis McGee saga.
The plot itself is the usual competent work that I have come to expect from Mr. MacDonald. Gone is that weird sexism that pervaded the novels in the late sixties and early seventies (A Tan and Sandy Silence). In this book we have the classic McGee with a well written crime/mystery plotline, vivid descriptions, strong sense of place and the always acidic observations about modern life thrown in for good measure.In addition there is a nod to the mid-1980's and an aknowledgement that the Drug trade had become big business and very serious.Perhaps just a whiff of Miami Vice, but that might be my imagination.
Like all long-running series some installments are going to be better than others. In my opinion this is one of the better ones. This installment reminded me of my favorite McGee novel The Dreadful Lemon Sky of which I am certain (though unable to prove) played a major part in the development of Thomas Magnum (P.I.). For while the Parker novels played a part in the development of the tough, taciturn, anti-hero loner I believe John D. MacDonald's creation served as the inspiration for the more approachable and even likable loner who will help a friend in need and occasionaly needs help from a friend. In other words a bit more Human. Characters like Stark you go to when you have absolutely not other options and even a bad solution is better than what is waiting. McGee you go to when things are bad, but not beyond recovery.
So to wrap things up I liked this installment. I'm sorry it's over, but I still have several McGee novels that I have not yet read and I can always re-read my favorites. This is a good one. Mr. MacDonald didn't slack off at the end.
In this final chapter of the McGee story there is a sense of McGee growing older and the realization that time moves on no matter how hard we try to hold it back. There is a touch of melancholy, but it is alleviated with the revelation that awaits at the end.
There is some debate whether MacDonald intended this to be the final McGee novel.MacDonald passed away approximately a year after the novel's publication. It does have that feeling of things ending and new chapters opening, but chapters involving a more quiet phase of McGee's life. However the final sentences leave an opening. So who can say? As it stands The Lonely Silver Rain has enough finality to serve as a satisfying conclusion to the Travis McGee saga.
The plot itself is the usual competent work that I have come to expect from Mr. MacDonald. Gone is that weird sexism that pervaded the novels in the late sixties and early seventies (A Tan and Sandy Silence). In this book we have the classic McGee with a well written crime/mystery plotline, vivid descriptions, strong sense of place and the always acidic observations about modern life thrown in for good measure.In addition there is a nod to the mid-1980's and an aknowledgement that the Drug trade had become big business and very serious.Perhaps just a whiff of Miami Vice, but that might be my imagination.
Like all long-running series some installments are going to be better than others. In my opinion this is one of the better ones. This installment reminded me of my favorite McGee novel The Dreadful Lemon Sky of which I am certain (though unable to prove) played a major part in the development of Thomas Magnum (P.I.). For while the Parker novels played a part in the development of the tough, taciturn, anti-hero loner I believe John D. MacDonald's creation served as the inspiration for the more approachable and even likable loner who will help a friend in need and occasionaly needs help from a friend. In other words a bit more Human. Characters like Stark you go to when you have absolutely not other options and even a bad solution is better than what is waiting. McGee you go to when things are bad, but not beyond recovery.
So to wrap things up I liked this installment. I'm sorry it's over, but I still have several McGee novels that I have not yet read and I can always re-read my favorites. This is a good one. Mr. MacDonald didn't slack off at the end.
Read
January 30, 2019A ruminative novel in which the suspense element takes a backstage to character. Of course, there is action, quite well done, but it is the hero’s sense of aging that provides the backbone, The ending is surprisingly poignant, too,
January 29, 2013
What I like about John D. is that the writing in the Travis McGee series is consistently excellent from first to last. Donald Hamilton’s Matt Helm Series became disappointingly bloated mid-way through the series. Robert B. Parker’s Spenser and Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall novels became abbreviated toward the end: Robert B. would write a few words, and expect his readers to know him well enough to fill in the blanks.
Travis McGee novels are not the best or easiest “first read forget me” books but in my opinion they hold up better over time, and have a high re-readable factor.
In SILVER, the last one, Trav goes hunting for a boat stolen from a rich friend. Trav finds the 54-foot cruiser, but there are three murdered bodies on board. Trav doesn’t know whether it’s drugs or counterfeiting or something else, but he suddenly doesn’t want any part of any recovery; he doesn’t want anyone to know that he was even looking for the boat. Too late, Trav.
And then someone mails Trav a bomb as a gift to kill him.
And then things get really interesting, with Trav caught between two fighting syndicate families, who maybe both want him dead.
Oh. Should I mention that Travis has a kid?
“Stop calling me kid!”
@hg47
November 18, 2021
The Lonely Silver Rain was John D. MacDonald's 21st installment in his Travis McGee series. I see that there's a color in the title of all the books. This is the first of his that I've read. Of course from the outset I knew I'd be measuring MacDonald's writing against my favorite contemporary of his, Elmore Leonard.
In this novel, Travis McGee, who lives on a boat in a Ft. Lauderdale marina, and is referred to on the jacket or in a review as a "beach bum savant", is asked to find the stolen yacht of an acquaintance of his. For a handsome fee if he is successful. He accepts the challenge, and is able to find the missing boat. But days later he realizes that his actions have opened up a whole can of worms - in the form of enraged people affiliated with powerful drug lords. McGee narrowly escapes death when a package intended for him explodes. As the stakes are raised, he decides to morph from passive pursued into active pursuer.
I can understand the success of MacDonald's work, and the passion of his fans, but in my book he is a cut below Elmore Leonard. Leonard's humor is more to my taste, and his characters are edgier and more memorable.
In this novel, Travis McGee, who lives on a boat in a Ft. Lauderdale marina, and is referred to on the jacket or in a review as a "beach bum savant", is asked to find the stolen yacht of an acquaintance of his. For a handsome fee if he is successful. He accepts the challenge, and is able to find the missing boat. But days later he realizes that his actions have opened up a whole can of worms - in the form of enraged people affiliated with powerful drug lords. McGee narrowly escapes death when a package intended for him explodes. As the stakes are raised, he decides to morph from passive pursued into active pursuer.
I can understand the success of MacDonald's work, and the passion of his fans, but in my book he is a cut below Elmore Leonard. Leonard's humor is more to my taste, and his characters are edgier and more memorable.
December 30, 2019
Words fail. I'll make a review of the whole series later. Suffice it to say you need to read them in order and there's a big payoff in the evolution of the characters over time.
May 4, 2018
Travis McGee is an aging Florida beach bum. He makes a living by recovering lost or stolen items for clients who either do not want or cannot have police involvement. A businessman has his custom, expensive cruiser stolen. Travis finds it with 3 dead bodies on board. Travis wants nothing to do with it, but finds himself blamed for the deaths by violent and ruthless drug criminals who were using the stolen boat for drug running. He must get involved to save himself. He ends up precipitating a drug war with deadly consequences. He also must solve a less dangerous mystery of who is leaving little cat figures made of pipe cleaners on his boat. That mystery proves to have a profound effect on Travis.
March 23, 2019
This is a solidly entertaining detective story. I liked it a lot better than the one other McGee novel I’ve read (the first in the series).
December 24, 2022
Read my first Travis McGee novel in 1978. Since then I collected the complete series and just finished the last book. What a good ride.
February 15, 2025
What a wonderful ending for a wonderful series.
October 9, 2017
3.5 *
A fitting way to end the series.
A fitting way to end the series.
July 9, 2012
I will admit that I would not have heard of Travis McGee were it not for Jimmy Buffett. I haven't been much of a mystery reader since I was in junior high, when I would consume Agatha Christie books, especially the Poirot ones. But I figured if Buffett was such a big fan of this character--and his author--I should at least check it out.
The Lonely Silver Rain is the 21st and, as it turns out, the last in the McGee series (MacDonald died shortly after this one was published). I have read several of the books now, although not in sequence, as they are increasingly hard to find on library bookshelves. McGee is an interesting character--he is thoughtful, contemplative, self-deprecating, intelligent without being overly intellectual, and philosophical without being pedantic.
Most of the McGee stories I have read are somewhat insular in that the plot revolves around McGee and the narrow group of people involved in his quest to recover whatever he has been hired to find. This final chapter of his saga, however, goes beyond his limited scope and into the hemispherical world of international drug dealing. In fact, the actual recovery takes place early in the book--the aftermath of that recovery comprises the bulk of the story.
This volume finds McGee quite a bit older and perhaps a little wiser--make that more world-weary. He sees his beloved Florida changing, and, while all of the books have remarked on these changes, this one offers much more pointed commentary, very little of it positive. I have no idea if MacDonald knew this would be the last McGee book, but he does use it to shed a little more light on the mysterious life of his hero and offer a brief glimpse into his future. I am thankful MacDonald did not kill off McGee here--perhaps he had planned more adventures to come--but The Lonely Silver Rain provides a satisfying coda to the life and times of Travis McGee. Let's hope, as Buffett wrote in "Incommunicado," "Travis McGee's still in Cedar Key..."
The Lonely Silver Rain is the 21st and, as it turns out, the last in the McGee series (MacDonald died shortly after this one was published). I have read several of the books now, although not in sequence, as they are increasingly hard to find on library bookshelves. McGee is an interesting character--he is thoughtful, contemplative, self-deprecating, intelligent without being overly intellectual, and philosophical without being pedantic.
Most of the McGee stories I have read are somewhat insular in that the plot revolves around McGee and the narrow group of people involved in his quest to recover whatever he has been hired to find. This final chapter of his saga, however, goes beyond his limited scope and into the hemispherical world of international drug dealing. In fact, the actual recovery takes place early in the book--the aftermath of that recovery comprises the bulk of the story.
This volume finds McGee quite a bit older and perhaps a little wiser--make that more world-weary. He sees his beloved Florida changing, and, while all of the books have remarked on these changes, this one offers much more pointed commentary, very little of it positive. I have no idea if MacDonald knew this would be the last McGee book, but he does use it to shed a little more light on the mysterious life of his hero and offer a brief glimpse into his future. I am thankful MacDonald did not kill off McGee here--perhaps he had planned more adventures to come--but The Lonely Silver Rain provides a satisfying coda to the life and times of Travis McGee. Let's hope, as Buffett wrote in "Incommunicado," "Travis McGee's still in Cedar Key..."
June 14, 2012
Travis McGee, quests was to hunt for his friend Billy Ingram's yacht "Sundowner" was stolen and missing for three months. While searching "Sundowner" owned by his multi-million friend he thrust himself into an International drug trade in Miami, Florida, and he become their target. Found three dead body on board in "Sundowner" yacht who happened to hijacked it, and was using the yacht as a carrier conveying drugs from Cancun, Mexico to Miami.
Seemingly, one of the body found in the yacht was Gigliermina Reyes y Fonsica a niece of a powerful Peruvian druglord, and a diplomat in Lima Peru who wanted revenge upon the death of his niece being brutally raped and murdered. This is how the conflict starts, and the war between the old druglord versus the new ones. McGee, in between the war has to find Ruffi who execute the murder, and give him to the authority, so that the villain who's igniting the hostilities will get off McGee's back.
While, McGee contemplating his life, and "wondered" who's leaving a cat-shaped pipe cleaner outside his "Flush" (yacht)door.
Seemingly, one of the body found in the yacht was Gigliermina Reyes y Fonsica a niece of a powerful Peruvian druglord, and a diplomat in Lima Peru who wanted revenge upon the death of his niece being brutally raped and murdered. This is how the conflict starts, and the war between the old druglord versus the new ones. McGee, in between the war has to find Ruffi who execute the murder, and give him to the authority, so that the villain who's igniting the hostilities will get off McGee's back.
While, McGee contemplating his life, and "wondered" who's leaving a cat-shaped pipe cleaner outside his "Flush" (yacht)door.
October 20, 2007
This is the last of the Travis McGee series and the only one I'll include here--though I've read and enjoyed them all. All the books have a color in title, "A Purple Place For Dying" and so on. These books are unlike most other detective type series books and McGee is unlike most other heroes. If they suffer a flaw it is that MacDonald liked to preach about ills of modern society, some times these digressions seem prescient, other times quaint or foolish, other times just plain annoying. They date the books somewhat, but they are still worth reading. MacDonald was (He's dead now) just a flat out good writer and he had a knack for creating very believable, sleazy, scary villains and his female characters are generally more fully realized and interesting than what you find in the typical genre detective book.
February 18, 2020
When I was in the Peace Corps in the late 1970 I read all the published Travis McGee Novels up to about 19 or so. This is the 21st and last and I think I picked it up at one of those little free wooden libraries that people put in their yards. I had not read it before and it was just like going out for a beer with an old college friend. Also a pretty good story and the usual good characters. The rumor was that McDonald was writing a final novel "The black something or other" where Travis was gonna die. Except for the fact that Travis discovered something wonderful in this book that one might think would cause him to want to survive, the book did have a tone that seemed to be leading to a conclusion like that. Who knows what McDonald had in mind? I recommend reading the first book, and if you like it continue. If you don't, don't.
January 17, 2015
I call this one - "Travis McGee grows up." This aging beach bum character has slowly grown up in the the series. Nothing so pathetic as someone in the latter years who has not developed deep roots in relationship and jumps from women-to-women without long term commitment. In this final book in the series, McGee sort of comes to some level of maturity. Slowly over the series, MacDonald has dropped the 'McGee as sex therapist' theme and some of the other antiquated, sexist/racist elements. Some of the plots are a bit weak, but the MacDonald's writing is a definite cut above most recent series mystery writers. MacDonald clearly has been an influence on a number of mystery writers.
Farewell McGee....
Farewell McGee....
December 19, 2010
Seemingly this was the last of the Travis McGee books, not that I knew it when reading the novel which was effortless enjoyment (apart from an odd coda at the end of the book when up turns a long lost relative.) I sped past the first hundred pages in one sitting, and the plot unrolled in a way that made you doubt it could have been written any better in a thousand attempts. Not that I like Travis McGee much, perhaps because the mental image I have of him resembles Dave Lee Travis, but MacDonald gives him enough good lines and thoughts to keep him just this side of likeable. I'd like a few more books like this in my collection as they're the reliable Heinz Baked Beans of the bookshelf.
July 6, 2015
3 jul 15
#54 from macdonald for me and the last travis mcgee story, #21
if you have only read macdonald's travis mcgee stories you have missed out on some great stories, a pile of them, they all rock & roll, they are as real as it gets and they are a joy to read. only the last 3-4 mcgee stories have anything in the way of "spoilers" in them, and that is the so-called liberal definition of spoiler (billy had a cow. it was purple)...for what it is worth...so i imagine it'd be best to read the last 3-4 in order, but other than that, not so much.
onward, ever onward.
i'd just finished Cinnamon Skin before starting this one.
5 jul 15
finished. good story. i really liked it. last one but travis indicates to uncle meyer there in the broad bay north of fort laurderdale that with the trust he set up, he put everything into it, so he'll need to scramble, to find some salvage work. and so it goes. an enjoyable series. i've honestly no clue what a few reviewers mean when they indicate mcgee was misogynist or sexist and he is no longer. would be nice if the reviewer were subject to the same rule, show us, don't tell us. meh. mcgee has his flaws but he is trying and that is more than we can ever expect from too many. alas and high-karrrrrooomba.
mcgee revists a few characters from the past herein...willy, owner of the hotel, on his last legs. puss killian, in the form of a daughter. the alabama tiger is gone...i don't think we ever got more than a glimpse of the actual tiger in the series, he of the perpetual houseboat party...that has now ended. macdonald recorded a changing florida, too, in this series. i think that change is as pertinent or more so than any change in mcgee. anyway, good read, good series. the last four or five should be read as they were written, not so much the earlier ones. mcgee tells, often, about previous events, and rarely do those past events bear any similarity to any story...he helped someone out, that person referred another. so...
this story begins
once upon a time i was very lucky and located a sixty-five-foot hijacked motor sailer in a matter of days, after the authorities had been looking for months. when i heard through the grapevine that billy ingraham wanted to see me, it was easy to guess he hoped i could work the same miracle with his stolen sundowner, a custom cruiser he'd had built in a jacksonville yard. it had been missing for three months.
and the above has what i've seen often in mcgee stories, reference to what could possibly be another mcgee story, "once upon a time..." but that line doesn't ring any bells for me...and...there are many instances like that. nothing wrong with it, it is simply a fact of the mcgee stories.
time place scene setting
* the busted flush, mcgee's 52' barge-like houseboat, slip f-18, bahia mar marina, fort lauderdale, florida
* time is recorded in lineal fashion...the last couple stories have been like this..."on wednesday afternoon"..."tuesday, october 9th"...."one week later on the 22nd"..."three days before christmas"...to the end of the story..."early may"
* faulkner's fish camp on ramrod key
* airport at southdale, where mick flies out of
* tower alpha at dias del sol, billy's place, 20-story towers, alpha one of them, 8 miles north of fort lauderdale
* cancun, mexico...chetumal, capital city of quintana roo...tulum
* citrina, name of town near where billy's boat was stolen
* benjamin's, a restaurant, where travis and meyer dine, near bahia mar
* miss agnes, travis's 30s model rolls royce, converted to a pickup truck during the depression by another, painted blue
* a battered old white chevy pickup that travis borrows, miss agnes too conspicuous
* 10 miles north northwest of big pine key, where the sundowner was found, three bodies aboard, flies
* a shopping mall...a marine supply & hardware store...and the bomb wrapped as a package is stolen from miss agnes
* annabelle everett's run-down 6th floor...of ten, condo apartment, the plaza del rio
* frank payne's offices
* miami international airport, aeromexico counter, january 7th
* sheraton, mexico...cancun, where travis, browder stay
* seat 31-c, an aisle seat, travis's place on the return flight from mexico
* #4 at 33 northeast 7th street miami, willy nucci's place
* a house on a canal off the beaten track, where ruffino holes up
* shopping plaza, kmart
characters major
* travis mcgee, our hero, 1st-person eye-narrator, beach bum, salvage consultant, bachelor, aging super-hero. he is no longer drinking plymouth gin, as he was in the early stories, having stock-piled some as it was disappearing, now gone, as he drinks boodles gin. hi karooombaH!
* meyer, travis economist friend...plays a part not as much as in some of the mcgee stories
* billy ingraham, developer, speculator, married twenty-eight years to
* sadie ingraham...who really is more of a minor character as she dies before story opener and it is
* millis hoover, who is with billy now
* howard cannon & karen mcbride...play the part of dead bodies, boat-snatchers, drug-runners. howard cannon became "john rogers"
* mr scott ellis browder, dea agent, has his own agenda, does help mcgee try to get the fleas off his back
* rufino marino, jr. or possibly the third...there is one line in the story that suggests the father of rufino senior was also a rufino, and he is but one of the 'bad' in this story.
* mick...man who owns, runs several planes/pilots, known by travis, is instrumental in recovering the sundowner...renamed the lazidays, biloxi homeport
* gigliermina reyes y fonseca of lima, peru, 3rd victim on the boat, connected, and her death and manner of death is reason why travis has attempts on his life. daughter of a peruvian diplomat, she'd been traveling w/a companion in mexico, connected with howard & karen
* arturo jornalero, mob guy, believes he is distanced from them, cleans their money, acts as a kind of go-between travis/mob guys
* jean killian, 17, puss's daughter, travis's daughter
minor characters, with names, without, scene-setting characters
* insurance son-of-a-bitch
* security staff, concierge
* hubie harris...who has a sloop and travis brought it back from marigot bay at st lucia
* two kids of hubue, 12 & 13, wanted to bring the sloop back after hubie broke his knee
* authorities
* people were picnicking...near where billy & millis swam ashore after their boat was stolen
* resident manager at the dias del sol condo
* some young punk...who is revealed to be howard cannnon
* one of the cuban buddies of batista...for whom travis recovered the boat, the aliciente renamed the temptation, and the man's name was calderon
* police chief, citrina
* karen mcbride is a dentist's daughter, aunt in wisconsin, howard cannon is trash but the politically correct have not as yet recognized that word as one to be banned from proper and righteous usage
* denise and frieda, meyer's friends visiting from england
* lois...a lonely woman travis knows...and probably a reference to another story
* carleen hooper, a thin woman in a red & white jogging suit, pilot for mick, his best pilot
* a little old gal (computer, show how...to mick i think it was)
* two different sets of people
* carleen has three kids, husband passed, plane accident
* sam dandie, from whom travis borrows the pickup, also bahia mar resident, the merla s w/1 or 2 nieces, invented the dandie flotation guage at 38 and hasn't worked since
* a heavy man in a stained canvas apron
* "al"...one of mcgee's fictions, a friend in a boat..."adam smith" calling from "delancy's grill in homestead" more fiction from mcgee
* idiot in ultralight as 12,000 feet
* petersens aboard the rubiyacht where meyer delivers some dolphin
* the yard (billy's boat repair or not) sent a couple men
* three dapper little guys in 3-piece suits
* a friend of millis has paintings in new york
* emiliano lopez, 14 and horatio sanchez, 13, killed presumably by the package bomb intended for travis
* john tinker meadows, see link below
* annabelle everett, was annabelle harris, married stu everett, tv weatherman and he started bebopping with the girl who does the 11 o'clock report and so it goes. she and travis get it on
* men stopped in the office to see her, millis...info relayed to travis from annabelle
* annabelle's old granddad called these types city slickers
* frank payne, billy's and travis's lawyer, in new firm, marhead, carp, payne & guyler
* a receptionist at frank's offices, then frank's secretary
* deckers & sons...funeral home, to do with billy's body
* roger carp, associate of frank payne, does the courtroom scene, frank does not
* the man driving the continental...seemed to be wearing the uniform of the security troops at dias del sol
* one of deck's pale young men
* reverend dr barnell innerlake...billy's funeral
* enelio fortez, killed years ago miami, pieces of him left all over
* arturo jornalero has a wife and kids
* gigi, the 3rd victim, was engaged to a lawyer...but there is also this bit about her family sending her away from home to get her away from a boy...the two facts don't make sense.
* a receptionist at jornalero's business
* a lady who owns vineyards in california...meyer...since meyer is not a central role in this story, others are introduced to give meyer an out-ting
* the people where annabelle now works, travel agency, one of the girls is mentioned
* three guys in a parking lot...who make an attempt on travis...sully, one of them, rick sullivan (knees)...louis lalieu (dental)...and dean matan
* the cappy, the capataz: the foreman, mob guy
* the man in marseilles...who did billy
* old-timers, new guys...mob conflict...and new guys are a variety of people including red necks and a pile of others but not italians, all getting in on the action...too, there is the canadian mob, who stands back and watches
* "bucky"...a half-true fictional name for travis, via browder, real person, dead, was called estanciero, "the rancher"...drugs
* over-worked flight attendants...and here is one change of note...they are no longer referred to as "stewardesses" that awful hateful word the righteous do not use in their daily shenanigans
* several attentive men (mexico airport)
* a whole pack of chubby people
* the drivers sat high behind the wheel (buses/mexico)
* pool attendant & towel boy, ricky, at the sheraton, cancun
* a woman on a sun cot, nancy sheppard, writes copy for pub house new york, vacation in mexico, makes light of travis's eye-patch disguise approved by browder
* a heavy woman behind the counter, restaurante tia juanita
* two mexican kids drinking coco-cola out of oversized bottles
* a man, an aging hippy, martin...plays a key role in mexico, delivers browder & travis to:
* the brujo (wizard/magician)...where drugs were bought...where howard aka john rogers bought drugs with bad money...and this is a flaw in the story as the origin of the bad money is never really explained. even macdonald can make mistakes, but we go with it, sing hallelujah
* a man appeared in a doorway...a hut in tulm
* a young man in black shorts & a white shirt (holding an automatic weapon on browder & travis) as they met with the brujo
* browder has a wife, 15-year-old daughter now a vegetable because of drugs...ex-wife now, not wife
* a very happy 12-yr-old mexican who travis gave his ten-gallon hat to when they left mexico...part of the rancher disguise
* beyond him were a man & woman, short & smiling
* security guards came on the run
* two official-looking men/mexican airport, return trip
* rufino is the eldest of two sons and two daughters of rufino senior
* bald priest and a fat brassy blonde, seat-mates of mcgee on the flight back from mexico
* two men in their 30s, wisner & torbell, dea, visit mcgee for the scoop on mexico, browder's fate
* the alabama tiger meets the green ripper, no more perpetual houseboat party
* irv deibert, bahia mar regular, also departed
* story about mcgee's grandpa, past, about 'care'
* wendy sold her part in a marina, not owned by sea & marine ventures
* walter hanrahan, developer, land speculator in boca raton blown up with son in golf cart...first listed casualty of the drug gang wars
* francisco puchero, 2nd, grenade
* firemen put out a lincoln fire...inside, victims 3-4, manuel samuro and guillero "pappy" labrador in the trunk
* two masked gunmen killed 5 of 6 players, poker; collins, silvestre, zabala, shorter and cawley
* survivor, brett slusarski, but he dies later, too
* 3 cubans broke down the gate, killed 3 men working
* the owner of a fleet of shrimp boats was killed
* a man came screaming...a commodities broker was found hanging, his daughter found him, she is five years old
* ruffino marino, senior, killed...somebody broke into the condo apartment above him, gagged the occupants, went down a rope to his place, sliced his throat while the mrs slept, rose ellen marino
* fellows operating all that great equipment
* 17 violent deaths, 18 when slusarki died
* actual count up to 24, a federal employee, two street urchins, two boat thieves, a peruvian debutante, and an old man in cannes
* guest column in new york times by a ex-employee of the dea
* willy nucci...in previous story(ies) too, now at #4 at 33 northeast 7th street miami...previously, he owned a hotel he sold, he is dying
* mark hardin...the screen name of ruffino marino junior...star of fate'sholiday
* a friend of a friend of an independent motion picture distributor in miami...gets mcgee a glossy of marino as mark hardin
* a lot of cops, a lot of burly men in civilian clothes, a lot of women in veils, a lot of important-looking couples
* a young woman with a limited power of attorny
* briney...brenda...brenny, briney cause she likes to surf, willy nucci's nurse, help-mate, so forth so on
* stuff greenberg sent briney to nucci as a free gift, though she tells travis she's been paid ten grand
* bobby dermon, ruffino marino junior's pal...and ruffi junior blamed the 3 deaths on him
* gretel howard/ puss killian, previous mcgee woman characters from other stories, gretel about 3-4 stores back, puss, see link below
* jornalero has 2 girls who do nothing but sort money, count it, band it
* tom beccali...another casualty of the drug war
* a haitian drowned his crippled sister in a bathtub...ordinary murders now
* a drunk passed out in his driveway and hiw wife ran over him with the ford wagon 7 or 8 times
* a naked secretarial trainee shoved an icepick into her supervisor...ordinary murders, back to normal now, drug wars over
* a crazy burst into a bus terminal at full gallop, firing at random blacks...killed one, slightly wounded four
* a 13-year-old girl shot a 14-year-old boy, dispute over a bicycle
* the foreman, the capataz on mcgee's sun deck
* the bone guy...setting the broke legs of one of the three jumped mcgee
* cappy uses the name "ben smith" and mcgee uses it, too
* the girl (branch bank) helped mcgee unlock the little door
* a contact on route 19 little north of clearwater
* irma casak, wife of the deceased hugo casak...who got out of raiford and was put down by the cappy...and their daughter, angie, now 11
* captain wesley davenport, sheriff's office, has twins, 11
* motorcycle queens down from houston...in lockup
* ass't state attorney
* a new customer who'd come in
* alice...the name and person cappy gave mcgee to contact to pass the word on ruffino junior
* lopez...who he was to ask alice for
* the pool people were warm and happy, thepool cubans...executive types
* hillary muldoon of muldoon and grimes, specialits in labor law...third party in mcgee's and mob's deal, 57 grand, net
* tipsy boatmen, marie....charlie, somebody using a bullhorn
* aunt velma, puss's sister, with whom jean killian was raised
* tush bannon, janine bannon, see link below
* tall black attendant
* travis shows jeans photos of her paternal grandfather, paternal grandmother, and an uncle who died...suicide, according to a previous story
* paul...in puss's letter
* kids were out there...g-string joggers
* girlfriend in santa barbara, where jean told aunt velma she'd be
* frank...payne...for the trust
* list of names at the party in the broad bay north of fort lauderdale...20? 30? jim ames and betsy. the thorners, teneros, arthur and chook wilkinson(previous story, too), the mick and carlie hooper, junebug, lew, roxy, sue sampson, sandy, johnny dow, briney, frank and gretch payne, miguel, the marchmans, marilee, sam dandie with two nieces, a levening of beach folks, two dogs and a cat
real people, famous, wealthy, fictionally famous
* eric hoffer...a quote before story begins
* andre maurois...a 2nd quote before story
* castro
* batista
* syd solomon (painting)
* adam smith
* jesus christ
* good god
* darwin/darwinian
* phyllis schlafly
* carter...who had all those pills
* countess moralogo tie
* lewis thomas...mcgee is reading him
* john wayne
* kafka, the trial, the prisoner
* shah of iran
* edye, tres panchos...music
* moritmer snerd
* jesus h christ
* rocky
* stallone
* old abe (lincoln)
* archimedes
* buddha
* jack benny...your money or your life...long pause
* cbs release, suite for flute and jazz piano: jean-pierre rampal on flute, claude bolling on piano, marcel sabiani on drums, max hediguer on string bass
* thorstein veblen, economist, and the name of meyer's recently acquired boat that replaced the john meynard keynes
* sherlock holmes
a quote or two
the most deadly commitment of all is to be committed only to one's self.
self delusion is one of the essentials of life.
a word or two
pundonor: point of honor
some folklore included herein
a cramp began to knot my right calf and so with thumb and forefinger i pinched my nose shut with considerable force and held the pressure until the cramp faded away. a chinese solution. acupressure, just as steady pressure at the right point on the inside of the wrist, three finger widths from the heel of the hand, will inhibit nausea.
stories this one recalls
Pale Gray for Guilt, tush bannon & puss killian
One More Sunday, john tinker meadows, not so much of a recall as a minor reference to the man/preacher
#54 from macdonald for me and the last travis mcgee story, #21
if you have only read macdonald's travis mcgee stories you have missed out on some great stories, a pile of them, they all rock & roll, they are as real as it gets and they are a joy to read. only the last 3-4 mcgee stories have anything in the way of "spoilers" in them, and that is the so-called liberal definition of spoiler (billy had a cow. it was purple)...for what it is worth...so i imagine it'd be best to read the last 3-4 in order, but other than that, not so much.
onward, ever onward.
i'd just finished Cinnamon Skin before starting this one.
5 jul 15
finished. good story. i really liked it. last one but travis indicates to uncle meyer there in the broad bay north of fort laurderdale that with the trust he set up, he put everything into it, so he'll need to scramble, to find some salvage work. and so it goes. an enjoyable series. i've honestly no clue what a few reviewers mean when they indicate mcgee was misogynist or sexist and he is no longer. would be nice if the reviewer were subject to the same rule, show us, don't tell us. meh. mcgee has his flaws but he is trying and that is more than we can ever expect from too many. alas and high-karrrrrooomba.
mcgee revists a few characters from the past herein...willy, owner of the hotel, on his last legs. puss killian, in the form of a daughter. the alabama tiger is gone...i don't think we ever got more than a glimpse of the actual tiger in the series, he of the perpetual houseboat party...that has now ended. macdonald recorded a changing florida, too, in this series. i think that change is as pertinent or more so than any change in mcgee. anyway, good read, good series. the last four or five should be read as they were written, not so much the earlier ones. mcgee tells, often, about previous events, and rarely do those past events bear any similarity to any story...he helped someone out, that person referred another. so...
this story begins
once upon a time i was very lucky and located a sixty-five-foot hijacked motor sailer in a matter of days, after the authorities had been looking for months. when i heard through the grapevine that billy ingraham wanted to see me, it was easy to guess he hoped i could work the same miracle with his stolen sundowner, a custom cruiser he'd had built in a jacksonville yard. it had been missing for three months.
and the above has what i've seen often in mcgee stories, reference to what could possibly be another mcgee story, "once upon a time..." but that line doesn't ring any bells for me...and...there are many instances like that. nothing wrong with it, it is simply a fact of the mcgee stories.
time place scene setting
* the busted flush, mcgee's 52' barge-like houseboat, slip f-18, bahia mar marina, fort lauderdale, florida
* time is recorded in lineal fashion...the last couple stories have been like this..."on wednesday afternoon"..."tuesday, october 9th"...."one week later on the 22nd"..."three days before christmas"...to the end of the story..."early may"
* faulkner's fish camp on ramrod key
* airport at southdale, where mick flies out of
* tower alpha at dias del sol, billy's place, 20-story towers, alpha one of them, 8 miles north of fort lauderdale
* cancun, mexico...chetumal, capital city of quintana roo...tulum
* citrina, name of town near where billy's boat was stolen
* benjamin's, a restaurant, where travis and meyer dine, near bahia mar
* miss agnes, travis's 30s model rolls royce, converted to a pickup truck during the depression by another, painted blue
* a battered old white chevy pickup that travis borrows, miss agnes too conspicuous
* 10 miles north northwest of big pine key, where the sundowner was found, three bodies aboard, flies
* a shopping mall...a marine supply & hardware store...and the bomb wrapped as a package is stolen from miss agnes
* annabelle everett's run-down 6th floor...of ten, condo apartment, the plaza del rio
* frank payne's offices
* miami international airport, aeromexico counter, january 7th
* sheraton, mexico...cancun, where travis, browder stay
* seat 31-c, an aisle seat, travis's place on the return flight from mexico
* #4 at 33 northeast 7th street miami, willy nucci's place
* a house on a canal off the beaten track, where ruffino holes up
* shopping plaza, kmart
characters major
* travis mcgee, our hero, 1st-person eye-narrator, beach bum, salvage consultant, bachelor, aging super-hero. he is no longer drinking plymouth gin, as he was in the early stories, having stock-piled some as it was disappearing, now gone, as he drinks boodles gin. hi karooombaH!
* meyer, travis economist friend...plays a part not as much as in some of the mcgee stories
* billy ingraham, developer, speculator, married twenty-eight years to
* sadie ingraham...who really is more of a minor character as she dies before story opener and it is
* millis hoover, who is with billy now
* howard cannon & karen mcbride...play the part of dead bodies, boat-snatchers, drug-runners. howard cannon became "john rogers"
* mr scott ellis browder, dea agent, has his own agenda, does help mcgee try to get the fleas off his back
* rufino marino, jr. or possibly the third...there is one line in the story that suggests the father of rufino senior was also a rufino, and he is but one of the 'bad' in this story.
* mick...man who owns, runs several planes/pilots, known by travis, is instrumental in recovering the sundowner...renamed the lazidays, biloxi homeport
* gigliermina reyes y fonseca of lima, peru, 3rd victim on the boat, connected, and her death and manner of death is reason why travis has attempts on his life. daughter of a peruvian diplomat, she'd been traveling w/a companion in mexico, connected with howard & karen
* arturo jornalero, mob guy, believes he is distanced from them, cleans their money, acts as a kind of go-between travis/mob guys
* jean killian, 17, puss's daughter, travis's daughter
minor characters, with names, without, scene-setting characters
* insurance son-of-a-bitch
* security staff, concierge
* hubie harris...who has a sloop and travis brought it back from marigot bay at st lucia
* two kids of hubue, 12 & 13, wanted to bring the sloop back after hubie broke his knee
* authorities
* people were picnicking...near where billy & millis swam ashore after their boat was stolen
* resident manager at the dias del sol condo
* some young punk...who is revealed to be howard cannnon
* one of the cuban buddies of batista...for whom travis recovered the boat, the aliciente renamed the temptation, and the man's name was calderon
* police chief, citrina
* karen mcbride is a dentist's daughter, aunt in wisconsin, howard cannon is trash but the politically correct have not as yet recognized that word as one to be banned from proper and righteous usage
* denise and frieda, meyer's friends visiting from england
* lois...a lonely woman travis knows...and probably a reference to another story
* carleen hooper, a thin woman in a red & white jogging suit, pilot for mick, his best pilot
* a little old gal (computer, show how...to mick i think it was)
* two different sets of people
* carleen has three kids, husband passed, plane accident
* sam dandie, from whom travis borrows the pickup, also bahia mar resident, the merla s w/1 or 2 nieces, invented the dandie flotation guage at 38 and hasn't worked since
* a heavy man in a stained canvas apron
* "al"...one of mcgee's fictions, a friend in a boat..."adam smith" calling from "delancy's grill in homestead" more fiction from mcgee
* idiot in ultralight as 12,000 feet
* petersens aboard the rubiyacht where meyer delivers some dolphin
* the yard (billy's boat repair or not) sent a couple men
* three dapper little guys in 3-piece suits
* a friend of millis has paintings in new york
* emiliano lopez, 14 and horatio sanchez, 13, killed presumably by the package bomb intended for travis
* john tinker meadows, see link below
* annabelle everett, was annabelle harris, married stu everett, tv weatherman and he started bebopping with the girl who does the 11 o'clock report and so it goes. she and travis get it on
* men stopped in the office to see her, millis...info relayed to travis from annabelle
* annabelle's old granddad called these types city slickers
* frank payne, billy's and travis's lawyer, in new firm, marhead, carp, payne & guyler
* a receptionist at frank's offices, then frank's secretary
* deckers & sons...funeral home, to do with billy's body
* roger carp, associate of frank payne, does the courtroom scene, frank does not
* the man driving the continental...seemed to be wearing the uniform of the security troops at dias del sol
* one of deck's pale young men
* reverend dr barnell innerlake...billy's funeral
* enelio fortez, killed years ago miami, pieces of him left all over
* arturo jornalero has a wife and kids
* gigi, the 3rd victim, was engaged to a lawyer...but there is also this bit about her family sending her away from home to get her away from a boy...the two facts don't make sense.
* a receptionist at jornalero's business
* a lady who owns vineyards in california...meyer...since meyer is not a central role in this story, others are introduced to give meyer an out-ting
* the people where annabelle now works, travel agency, one of the girls is mentioned
* three guys in a parking lot...who make an attempt on travis...sully, one of them, rick sullivan (knees)...louis lalieu (dental)...and dean matan
* the cappy, the capataz: the foreman, mob guy
* the man in marseilles...who did billy
* old-timers, new guys...mob conflict...and new guys are a variety of people including red necks and a pile of others but not italians, all getting in on the action...too, there is the canadian mob, who stands back and watches
* "bucky"...a half-true fictional name for travis, via browder, real person, dead, was called estanciero, "the rancher"...drugs
* over-worked flight attendants...and here is one change of note...they are no longer referred to as "stewardesses" that awful hateful word the righteous do not use in their daily shenanigans
* several attentive men (mexico airport)
* a whole pack of chubby people
* the drivers sat high behind the wheel (buses/mexico)
* pool attendant & towel boy, ricky, at the sheraton, cancun
* a woman on a sun cot, nancy sheppard, writes copy for pub house new york, vacation in mexico, makes light of travis's eye-patch disguise approved by browder
* a heavy woman behind the counter, restaurante tia juanita
* two mexican kids drinking coco-cola out of oversized bottles
* a man, an aging hippy, martin...plays a key role in mexico, delivers browder & travis to:
* the brujo (wizard/magician)...where drugs were bought...where howard aka john rogers bought drugs with bad money...and this is a flaw in the story as the origin of the bad money is never really explained. even macdonald can make mistakes, but we go with it, sing hallelujah
* a man appeared in a doorway...a hut in tulm
* a young man in black shorts & a white shirt (holding an automatic weapon on browder & travis) as they met with the brujo
* browder has a wife, 15-year-old daughter now a vegetable because of drugs...ex-wife now, not wife
* a very happy 12-yr-old mexican who travis gave his ten-gallon hat to when they left mexico...part of the rancher disguise
* beyond him were a man & woman, short & smiling
* security guards came on the run
* two official-looking men/mexican airport, return trip
* rufino is the eldest of two sons and two daughters of rufino senior
* bald priest and a fat brassy blonde, seat-mates of mcgee on the flight back from mexico
* two men in their 30s, wisner & torbell, dea, visit mcgee for the scoop on mexico, browder's fate
* the alabama tiger meets the green ripper, no more perpetual houseboat party
* irv deibert, bahia mar regular, also departed
* story about mcgee's grandpa, past, about 'care'
* wendy sold her part in a marina, not owned by sea & marine ventures
* walter hanrahan, developer, land speculator in boca raton blown up with son in golf cart...first listed casualty of the drug gang wars
* francisco puchero, 2nd, grenade
* firemen put out a lincoln fire...inside, victims 3-4, manuel samuro and guillero "pappy" labrador in the trunk
* two masked gunmen killed 5 of 6 players, poker; collins, silvestre, zabala, shorter and cawley
* survivor, brett slusarski, but he dies later, too
* 3 cubans broke down the gate, killed 3 men working
* the owner of a fleet of shrimp boats was killed
* a man came screaming...a commodities broker was found hanging, his daughter found him, she is five years old
* ruffino marino, senior, killed...somebody broke into the condo apartment above him, gagged the occupants, went down a rope to his place, sliced his throat while the mrs slept, rose ellen marino
* fellows operating all that great equipment
* 17 violent deaths, 18 when slusarki died
* actual count up to 24, a federal employee, two street urchins, two boat thieves, a peruvian debutante, and an old man in cannes
* guest column in new york times by a ex-employee of the dea
* willy nucci...in previous story(ies) too, now at #4 at 33 northeast 7th street miami...previously, he owned a hotel he sold, he is dying
* mark hardin...the screen name of ruffino marino junior...star of fate'sholiday
* a friend of a friend of an independent motion picture distributor in miami...gets mcgee a glossy of marino as mark hardin
* a lot of cops, a lot of burly men in civilian clothes, a lot of women in veils, a lot of important-looking couples
* a young woman with a limited power of attorny
* briney...brenda...brenny, briney cause she likes to surf, willy nucci's nurse, help-mate, so forth so on
* stuff greenberg sent briney to nucci as a free gift, though she tells travis she's been paid ten grand
* bobby dermon, ruffino marino junior's pal...and ruffi junior blamed the 3 deaths on him
* gretel howard/ puss killian, previous mcgee woman characters from other stories, gretel about 3-4 stores back, puss, see link below
* jornalero has 2 girls who do nothing but sort money, count it, band it
* tom beccali...another casualty of the drug war
* a haitian drowned his crippled sister in a bathtub...ordinary murders now
* a drunk passed out in his driveway and hiw wife ran over him with the ford wagon 7 or 8 times
* a naked secretarial trainee shoved an icepick into her supervisor...ordinary murders, back to normal now, drug wars over
* a crazy burst into a bus terminal at full gallop, firing at random blacks...killed one, slightly wounded four
* a 13-year-old girl shot a 14-year-old boy, dispute over a bicycle
* the foreman, the capataz on mcgee's sun deck
* the bone guy...setting the broke legs of one of the three jumped mcgee
* cappy uses the name "ben smith" and mcgee uses it, too
* the girl (branch bank) helped mcgee unlock the little door
* a contact on route 19 little north of clearwater
* irma casak, wife of the deceased hugo casak...who got out of raiford and was put down by the cappy...and their daughter, angie, now 11
* captain wesley davenport, sheriff's office, has twins, 11
* motorcycle queens down from houston...in lockup
* ass't state attorney
* a new customer who'd come in
* alice...the name and person cappy gave mcgee to contact to pass the word on ruffino junior
* lopez...who he was to ask alice for
* the pool people were warm and happy, thepool cubans...executive types
* hillary muldoon of muldoon and grimes, specialits in labor law...third party in mcgee's and mob's deal, 57 grand, net
* tipsy boatmen, marie....charlie, somebody using a bullhorn
* aunt velma, puss's sister, with whom jean killian was raised
* tush bannon, janine bannon, see link below
* tall black attendant
* travis shows jeans photos of her paternal grandfather, paternal grandmother, and an uncle who died...suicide, according to a previous story
* paul...in puss's letter
* kids were out there...g-string joggers
* girlfriend in santa barbara, where jean told aunt velma she'd be
* frank...payne...for the trust
* list of names at the party in the broad bay north of fort lauderdale...20? 30? jim ames and betsy. the thorners, teneros, arthur and chook wilkinson(previous story, too), the mick and carlie hooper, junebug, lew, roxy, sue sampson, sandy, johnny dow, briney, frank and gretch payne, miguel, the marchmans, marilee, sam dandie with two nieces, a levening of beach folks, two dogs and a cat
real people, famous, wealthy, fictionally famous
* eric hoffer...a quote before story begins
* andre maurois...a 2nd quote before story
* castro
* batista
* syd solomon (painting)
* adam smith
* jesus christ
* good god
* darwin/darwinian
* phyllis schlafly
* carter...who had all those pills
* countess moralogo tie
* lewis thomas...mcgee is reading him
* john wayne
* kafka, the trial, the prisoner
* shah of iran
* edye, tres panchos...music
* moritmer snerd
* jesus h christ
* rocky
* stallone
* old abe (lincoln)
* archimedes
* buddha
* jack benny...your money or your life...long pause
* cbs release, suite for flute and jazz piano: jean-pierre rampal on flute, claude bolling on piano, marcel sabiani on drums, max hediguer on string bass
* thorstein veblen, economist, and the name of meyer's recently acquired boat that replaced the john meynard keynes
* sherlock holmes
a quote or two
the most deadly commitment of all is to be committed only to one's self.
self delusion is one of the essentials of life.
a word or two
pundonor: point of honor
some folklore included herein
a cramp began to knot my right calf and so with thumb and forefinger i pinched my nose shut with considerable force and held the pressure until the cramp faded away. a chinese solution. acupressure, just as steady pressure at the right point on the inside of the wrist, three finger widths from the heel of the hand, will inhibit nausea.
stories this one recalls
Pale Gray for Guilt, tush bannon & puss killian
One More Sunday, john tinker meadows, not so much of a recall as a minor reference to the man/preacher
January 11, 2021
Další z devadesátkových překladů. A na nakladatelství Gabi je tohle docela dobrá práce… čímž myslím to, že většina vět dává nějaký smysl. Netvrdím, že ty věty mají správný slovosled, že použitá slova jsou nejvhodnější, a dokonce si ani nejsem jistý, že je ten smysl vždycky správný (viz scéna, ve které si McGee stěžuje, že sebou trhne při každém nose za sebou – evidentně si překladatelka spletla nose s noise), ale dá se to číst.
(A když jsem u překladu, tak mě zaujala i upoutávka na zadní straně obálky: „John D. MacDonald, nejčtenější spisovatel na Floridě“. Mimo Floridu na něj evidentně všichni kašlou.)
Takže, číst se to dá, byť si myslím, že tohle je věc, která by si zasloužila nový a kvalitní překlad, protože pod tou překladatelskou hlušinou se skrývá solidní kriminálka. Nebo spíš thriller. Je to poslední román s Travisem McGeem, takže se tu hrdina vyrovnává se svým stářím, jak už ho věci nebaví, jak mu všichni mladší lidé přijdou jako stupidní idioti – a i jeho vztahy jsou pohlceny zatrpklostí. Do toho mu jde o život, protože se zaplete do drogového byznysu. Na rozdíl od Zeleného rozparovače, kde sám zničil teroristické hnízdo, je tohle dost civilní, takže se ani nesnaží rozbít obchod s drogami. Jde mu jen o přežití, o to, aby přesvědčil drogové bossy, že nemá s mrtvolami na nalezené jachtě (která to všechno rozpoutá) nic společného. Víc prostoru tu zabírá smlouvání než pátrání. A když dojde k nějakým masakrům, tak často to jde mimo hrdinu a on se o tom dozvídá jen díky zprávám v novinách. Je to dost civilní.
Je to fakt důstojné rozloučené se sérií a je škoda, že u nás nemělo důstojnější vydání.
(A když jsem u překladu, tak mě zaujala i upoutávka na zadní straně obálky: „John D. MacDonald, nejčtenější spisovatel na Floridě“. Mimo Floridu na něj evidentně všichni kašlou.)
Takže, číst se to dá, byť si myslím, že tohle je věc, která by si zasloužila nový a kvalitní překlad, protože pod tou překladatelskou hlušinou se skrývá solidní kriminálka. Nebo spíš thriller. Je to poslední román s Travisem McGeem, takže se tu hrdina vyrovnává se svým stářím, jak už ho věci nebaví, jak mu všichni mladší lidé přijdou jako stupidní idioti – a i jeho vztahy jsou pohlceny zatrpklostí. Do toho mu jde o život, protože se zaplete do drogového byznysu. Na rozdíl od Zeleného rozparovače, kde sám zničil teroristické hnízdo, je tohle dost civilní, takže se ani nesnaží rozbít obchod s drogami. Jde mu jen o přežití, o to, aby přesvědčil drogové bossy, že nemá s mrtvolami na nalezené jachtě (která to všechno rozpoutá) nic společného. Víc prostoru tu zabírá smlouvání než pátrání. A když dojde k nějakým masakrům, tak často to jde mimo hrdinu a on se o tom dozvídá jen díky zprávám v novinách. Je to dost civilní.
Je to fakt důstojné rozloučené se sérií a je škoda, že u nás nemělo důstojnější vydání.
February 15, 2024
I’ve bounced around in this series without remorse, and you can as well. Sure, it would have been better perhaps had I read the entire thing consecutively, but I’ve never had an experience where I felt lost or confused by dropping into the series at random.
This is full of MacDonald’s beautiful writing. Much of it is philosophical and thoughtful. An aging Travis McGee looks at his life and begins to ask the hard questions about his mortality and whether his legacy is as empty as he thinks it is. Those chapters are far from boring, and they’ll force you to think about your own status and ponder your contributions to life. I loved the philosophizing. It is vintage MacDonald, and you can’t go wrong with that.
An acquaintance of McGee’s contacts him for help. Seems someone has stolen his new 54-foot yacht, and no one seems eager to help him get it back. McGee finds the yacht not long after he agreed to look, and inside are the bodies of three young people, one of whom is the daughter of a Peruvian diplomat and drug lord. Because he found the yacht and alerted the wrong people as to the death of the occupants, he has become enemy number one to the cocaine industry. His actions ultimately start a drug war that rocks Florida and leaves McGee scrambling for safety.
So vivid are the characters in this book and series I can’t help but wish that somewhere in Florida, someone has constructed a boat called the Busted Flush as a tribute to McGee. He and his author/creator certainly deserve one.
I found the end of this magnificently satisfying. MacDonald couldn’t have found a better way to conclude the book.
This is full of MacDonald’s beautiful writing. Much of it is philosophical and thoughtful. An aging Travis McGee looks at his life and begins to ask the hard questions about his mortality and whether his legacy is as empty as he thinks it is. Those chapters are far from boring, and they’ll force you to think about your own status and ponder your contributions to life. I loved the philosophizing. It is vintage MacDonald, and you can’t go wrong with that.
An acquaintance of McGee’s contacts him for help. Seems someone has stolen his new 54-foot yacht, and no one seems eager to help him get it back. McGee finds the yacht not long after he agreed to look, and inside are the bodies of three young people, one of whom is the daughter of a Peruvian diplomat and drug lord. Because he found the yacht and alerted the wrong people as to the death of the occupants, he has become enemy number one to the cocaine industry. His actions ultimately start a drug war that rocks Florida and leaves McGee scrambling for safety.
So vivid are the characters in this book and series I can’t help but wish that somewhere in Florida, someone has constructed a boat called the Busted Flush as a tribute to McGee. He and his author/creator certainly deserve one.
I found the end of this magnificently satisfying. MacDonald couldn’t have found a better way to conclude the book.
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