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Travis McGee #17
The Empty Copper Sea
"The professional's professional of suspense writers."
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Van Harder, once a hard drinker, has found religion. But that doesn't keep folks from saying he murdered his employer, Hub Lawless, whose body hasn't been found. To clear his name, and cear up the mystery, Van asks friend-in-need Travis McGee to find out what really happened. What McGee finds is that Timber Bay is a toug h town to get a break in when you're a stranger asking questions. But what he also finds is that, dead or alive, Hub Lawless is worth a lot of money. Some are eager to get a piece of that action--and some are willing to take more than a piece out of anyone who gets in the way....
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Van Harder, once a hard drinker, has found religion. But that doesn't keep folks from saying he murdered his employer, Hub Lawless, whose body hasn't been found. To clear his name, and cear up the mystery, Van asks friend-in-need Travis McGee to find out what really happened. What McGee finds is that Timber Bay is a toug h town to get a break in when you're a stranger asking questions. But what he also finds is that, dead or alive, Hub Lawless is worth a lot of money. Some are eager to get a piece of that action--and some are willing to take more than a piece out of anyone who gets in the way....
290 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1978
446 people are currently reading
1189 people want to read
About the author
John D. MacDonald
566 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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July 6, 2022
“I turned my head and saw, beyond the shoulder of my beloved, the empty copper sea, hushed and waiting, as if the world had paused between breaths. Perhaps it was like this in the beginning, and will be like this again, after man has slain every living thing. Sand, heat, and water. And death.”
Reading The Empty Copper Sea on the heels of the two previous entries, The Turquoise Lament and The Dreadful Lemon Sky, it is easy to see how all three are tied together by the restless introspection of Travis McGee some might call a mid-life crisis. The New York Times was already calling Travis McGee a mythic figure, and The Boston Globe had called MacDonald one of the most entertaining and probing writers in America. This was no small praise considering MacDonald was writing in the mystery/male adventure genre. But as the Washington Post Book World noted all those years ago:
“MacDonald is not to be taken lightly…without any pretensions he has serious things to say, and he says them uncommonly well.”
Vonnegut wasn’t kidding when he referred to MacDonald’s writings as treasures on a par with Tutankhamen. He captured a time and place, but he also captured the human condition, the mingling between the sexes, and societal decay, with an honest and unpretentious eye. Yes, in many ways the Travis McGee series was true to its origins, and it was the male fantasy version. But there was also great insight which MacDonald brought to bear on both society and the human condition. McGee feels real because he is an amalgam of men like him, and the women and girls, who ran the spectrum from free-loving beach bunnies to strong and independent women, and everything in between, felt real because they were girls and women the reader had known. The Empty Copper Sea, as much as any book in the series, shows MacDonald to be a serious novelist, despite his pulp background.
On a May morning as McGee is doing some much needed maintenance on the Busted Flush, Van Harder comes aboard to ask for McGee’s help. A born-again Christian who has left the bottle behind, MacDonald doesn’t take a swipe at that, as many of today’s writers would. It is simply part of the story. It’s been almost a year since the incident where a man named Hub Lawless was lost at sea, supposedly because Van Harder got drunk helming the Julie. Harder has lost his license, and his dignity. Even the money he offers McGee will have to be paid out over time, as he tries to salvage his reputation:
“Everything he had was wrapped up in that request; his pride, his dignity, his seafaring career, his worth as a man. And I sensed that this was the very last thing he’d been able to think of. Travis McGee, the last chance he had.”
So McGee and Meyer head to Timber Bay posing as potential buyers of Hub Lawless’s holdings. They are of course trying to figure out just what happened that night Van Harder took out Hub Lawless and his right hand John Tuckerman, with two young women aboard. There is almost a sense of fun initially to this one, with McGee and Meyer arriving in Timber Bay to con people, and poke around. Empty Copper Sea has a much different atmosphere than Dreadful Lemon Sky, despite the con.
McGee is still at loose ends personally, however, without realizing what’s wrong with him. One of the great sidekicks in this genre, Meyer, does know, and isn’t reticent to tell his old friend that he’s almost become a bore with his melancholy:
“You have felt that horrid rotten exhalation, Travis, that breath from the grave, that terminal sigh. You’ve been singing laments for yourself. Laments, regrets, remorses.”
Meyer goes even further:
“And you are walled, in an emotional sense. There is no genuine give-and-take. There is no real involvement, lately. You are going through the motions. As with the piano player. As with Nick Noyes. You are vaguely predatory lately. And irritable. And listless. You are getting no emotional feedback.”
This is all a carryover from a larger story-line which began with The Turquoise Lament and continued to a lesser degree in The Dreadful Lemon Sky. It is much easier to see when reading this one after Lament and Lemon Sky, that McGee’s wallowing in missed opportunities and regrets is sort of a soft underscore to these three mystery/adventures.
Sheriff Hack Ames, who literally kicked Van Harder when he was down, has photographic evidence that Hub Lawless is actually alive, and somewhere in Mexico with a boatload of money — the amount keeps growing until it’s close to a million. McGee discovers that bad investments and the very sexy architect named Kristin Peterson may have led Lawless to set up Van Harder:
“He was the innocent bystander who’d been run down by somebody else’s fun machine, and all I had to do was repair his reputation somehow. And stop moaning about myself.”
As McGee and Meyer poke around while waiting for the Sheriff’s man and the insurance investigator who went with him to Mexico to return, McGee gets more entangled with cute lounge piano player Billy Jean Bailey than he’d intended. The brief coupling which came about by nature, and McGee’s desire not to damage her pride, will eventually bring about tragedy for someone, and a moment of violence which almost touches Meyer.
The two young women who were aboard the boat, Felicia Amber, and Michelle Burns, are wonderfully drawn by MacDonald, giving the reader a vivid picture of the girls; one Honduran girl who speaks with an accent but thinks she doesn’t, and another who has the looks and personality of Doris Day but is what is commonly known among men as a semi-pro.
There is more going on in Timber Bay, however, than trying to figure out whether Hub Lawless is alive or not. While McGee ingratiates himself into the fabric of Timber Bay, we get the sharp and insightful social commentary for which MacDonald is known. Some of it, as is so often the case, involves Florida:
“Florida can never really come to grips with saving the environment because a very large percentage of the population at any given time just got here. So why should they fight to turn the clock back? It looks great the way it is. Two years later, as they are beginning to feel uneasy, a few thousand more people are just discovering it for the first time and wouldn’t change a thing. And meanwhile the people who knew what it was like twenty years ago are an ever-dwindling minority, a voice too faint to be heard.”
MacDonald also expounds on the biker culture:
“They are fading into history, like Pancho Villa’s irregulars. All the macho whiskers and the leather clothes and the dead eyes and their feral, abused little women.”
When McGee goes out to speak with the man Hub Lawless left behind, John Tuckerman, this very good story turns into something more, as the emotional feedback Meyer spoke about to McGee stares him in the face. It turns out she’s the sister of John Tuckerman, caring for a brother who has drunk himself into mental simplicity. McGee’s reaction to Gretel is visceral, and any man who’s ever had that reaction to a woman will appreciate the eloquence of MacDonald’s description:
“When she looked away, I had a very strange feeling. I felt as if I had shucked some kind of drab outer skin. It was old and brittle, and as I stretched and moved, it shattered and fell off. I could breathe more deeply. The Gulf was a sharper blue. There was wine in the air. I saw every grain of sand, every fragment of seashell, every movement of the beach grasses in the May breeze. It was an awakening. I was full of juices and thirsts, energies and hungers, and I wanted to laugh for no reason at all.”
Gretel snaps McGee out of his crisis, and being, as Meyer notes, a child of his times, he’ll have none of this nonsense about demeaning the feminine sex by using the term girl, rather than woman:
“Meyer, would it offend your sense of fitness if I called Gretel a girl?” — McGee
“Instead of person or a woman or some such? You want to be patronizing and chauvinistic, eh? Look down upon her?” — Meyer (perhaps facetiously)
“Cut it out, Meyer. I can go with all that approach right up to a point. When it doesn’t mean much one way or another. You know. But here we have one of the truly great, all-time, record-breaking, incomparable girls. And I want to call her a girl.” — McGee
Though it takes some time to get there, there is a terrific ending to this one I suspect some readers won’t see coming. It’s violent and exciting, and unexpected. It begins with a pair of binoculars, and leads to a moment of terror for McGee, a moment in which he finally, after all these years, grows up.
It’s all tied up neatly, with only the relationship between Gretel and McGee left up in the air. McGee loves her, but is Gretel ready? It is hardly as simplistic as her not wanting to be McGee’s solution, because she is more than that and knows it. Perhaps it’s because I know about The Green Ripper that I don’t feel Gretel’s reaction rings quite as genuine as Cindy Birdsong’s did in The Dreadful Lemon Sky. Both relationships have a rich mature feel to the male/female dynamic but Cindy’s reasons in Lemon Sky feel more grounded, and resonated with me more than Gretel’s.
Overall, a truly stellar entry in this great series. It’s probably a 4.5 for me, as Lemon Sky was, so I’ll round up as I did there. MacDonald captured the mood and spirit of his times and his location better than anyone, while still giving readers a thrilling and involving tale. The Empty Copper Sea is funny, insightful, suspenseful and resonating. A great writer at his very peak.
Reading The Empty Copper Sea on the heels of the two previous entries, The Turquoise Lament and The Dreadful Lemon Sky, it is easy to see how all three are tied together by the restless introspection of Travis McGee some might call a mid-life crisis. The New York Times was already calling Travis McGee a mythic figure, and The Boston Globe had called MacDonald one of the most entertaining and probing writers in America. This was no small praise considering MacDonald was writing in the mystery/male adventure genre. But as the Washington Post Book World noted all those years ago:
“MacDonald is not to be taken lightly…without any pretensions he has serious things to say, and he says them uncommonly well.”
Vonnegut wasn’t kidding when he referred to MacDonald’s writings as treasures on a par with Tutankhamen. He captured a time and place, but he also captured the human condition, the mingling between the sexes, and societal decay, with an honest and unpretentious eye. Yes, in many ways the Travis McGee series was true to its origins, and it was the male fantasy version. But there was also great insight which MacDonald brought to bear on both society and the human condition. McGee feels real because he is an amalgam of men like him, and the women and girls, who ran the spectrum from free-loving beach bunnies to strong and independent women, and everything in between, felt real because they were girls and women the reader had known. The Empty Copper Sea, as much as any book in the series, shows MacDonald to be a serious novelist, despite his pulp background.
On a May morning as McGee is doing some much needed maintenance on the Busted Flush, Van Harder comes aboard to ask for McGee’s help. A born-again Christian who has left the bottle behind, MacDonald doesn’t take a swipe at that, as many of today’s writers would. It is simply part of the story. It’s been almost a year since the incident where a man named Hub Lawless was lost at sea, supposedly because Van Harder got drunk helming the Julie. Harder has lost his license, and his dignity. Even the money he offers McGee will have to be paid out over time, as he tries to salvage his reputation:
“Everything he had was wrapped up in that request; his pride, his dignity, his seafaring career, his worth as a man. And I sensed that this was the very last thing he’d been able to think of. Travis McGee, the last chance he had.”
So McGee and Meyer head to Timber Bay posing as potential buyers of Hub Lawless’s holdings. They are of course trying to figure out just what happened that night Van Harder took out Hub Lawless and his right hand John Tuckerman, with two young women aboard. There is almost a sense of fun initially to this one, with McGee and Meyer arriving in Timber Bay to con people, and poke around. Empty Copper Sea has a much different atmosphere than Dreadful Lemon Sky, despite the con.
McGee is still at loose ends personally, however, without realizing what’s wrong with him. One of the great sidekicks in this genre, Meyer, does know, and isn’t reticent to tell his old friend that he’s almost become a bore with his melancholy:
“You have felt that horrid rotten exhalation, Travis, that breath from the grave, that terminal sigh. You’ve been singing laments for yourself. Laments, regrets, remorses.”
Meyer goes even further:
“And you are walled, in an emotional sense. There is no genuine give-and-take. There is no real involvement, lately. You are going through the motions. As with the piano player. As with Nick Noyes. You are vaguely predatory lately. And irritable. And listless. You are getting no emotional feedback.”
This is all a carryover from a larger story-line which began with The Turquoise Lament and continued to a lesser degree in The Dreadful Lemon Sky. It is much easier to see when reading this one after Lament and Lemon Sky, that McGee’s wallowing in missed opportunities and regrets is sort of a soft underscore to these three mystery/adventures.
Sheriff Hack Ames, who literally kicked Van Harder when he was down, has photographic evidence that Hub Lawless is actually alive, and somewhere in Mexico with a boatload of money — the amount keeps growing until it’s close to a million. McGee discovers that bad investments and the very sexy architect named Kristin Peterson may have led Lawless to set up Van Harder:
“He was the innocent bystander who’d been run down by somebody else’s fun machine, and all I had to do was repair his reputation somehow. And stop moaning about myself.”
As McGee and Meyer poke around while waiting for the Sheriff’s man and the insurance investigator who went with him to Mexico to return, McGee gets more entangled with cute lounge piano player Billy Jean Bailey than he’d intended. The brief coupling which came about by nature, and McGee’s desire not to damage her pride, will eventually bring about tragedy for someone, and a moment of violence which almost touches Meyer.
The two young women who were aboard the boat, Felicia Amber, and Michelle Burns, are wonderfully drawn by MacDonald, giving the reader a vivid picture of the girls; one Honduran girl who speaks with an accent but thinks she doesn’t, and another who has the looks and personality of Doris Day but is what is commonly known among men as a semi-pro.
There is more going on in Timber Bay, however, than trying to figure out whether Hub Lawless is alive or not. While McGee ingratiates himself into the fabric of Timber Bay, we get the sharp and insightful social commentary for which MacDonald is known. Some of it, as is so often the case, involves Florida:
“Florida can never really come to grips with saving the environment because a very large percentage of the population at any given time just got here. So why should they fight to turn the clock back? It looks great the way it is. Two years later, as they are beginning to feel uneasy, a few thousand more people are just discovering it for the first time and wouldn’t change a thing. And meanwhile the people who knew what it was like twenty years ago are an ever-dwindling minority, a voice too faint to be heard.”
MacDonald also expounds on the biker culture:
“They are fading into history, like Pancho Villa’s irregulars. All the macho whiskers and the leather clothes and the dead eyes and their feral, abused little women.”
When McGee goes out to speak with the man Hub Lawless left behind, John Tuckerman, this very good story turns into something more, as the emotional feedback Meyer spoke about to McGee stares him in the face. It turns out she’s the sister of John Tuckerman, caring for a brother who has drunk himself into mental simplicity. McGee’s reaction to Gretel is visceral, and any man who’s ever had that reaction to a woman will appreciate the eloquence of MacDonald’s description:
“When she looked away, I had a very strange feeling. I felt as if I had shucked some kind of drab outer skin. It was old and brittle, and as I stretched and moved, it shattered and fell off. I could breathe more deeply. The Gulf was a sharper blue. There was wine in the air. I saw every grain of sand, every fragment of seashell, every movement of the beach grasses in the May breeze. It was an awakening. I was full of juices and thirsts, energies and hungers, and I wanted to laugh for no reason at all.”
Gretel snaps McGee out of his crisis, and being, as Meyer notes, a child of his times, he’ll have none of this nonsense about demeaning the feminine sex by using the term girl, rather than woman:
“Meyer, would it offend your sense of fitness if I called Gretel a girl?” — McGee
“Instead of person or a woman or some such? You want to be patronizing and chauvinistic, eh? Look down upon her?” — Meyer (perhaps facetiously)
“Cut it out, Meyer. I can go with all that approach right up to a point. When it doesn’t mean much one way or another. You know. But here we have one of the truly great, all-time, record-breaking, incomparable girls. And I want to call her a girl.” — McGee
Though it takes some time to get there, there is a terrific ending to this one I suspect some readers won’t see coming. It’s violent and exciting, and unexpected. It begins with a pair of binoculars, and leads to a moment of terror for McGee, a moment in which he finally, after all these years, grows up.
It’s all tied up neatly, with only the relationship between Gretel and McGee left up in the air. McGee loves her, but is Gretel ready? It is hardly as simplistic as her not wanting to be McGee’s solution, because she is more than that and knows it. Perhaps it’s because I know about The Green Ripper that I don’t feel Gretel’s reaction rings quite as genuine as Cindy Birdsong’s did in The Dreadful Lemon Sky. Both relationships have a rich mature feel to the male/female dynamic but Cindy’s reasons in Lemon Sky feel more grounded, and resonated with me more than Gretel’s.
Overall, a truly stellar entry in this great series. It’s probably a 4.5 for me, as Lemon Sky was, so I’ll round up as I did there. MacDonald captured the mood and spirit of his times and his location better than anyone, while still giving readers a thrilling and involving tale. The Empty Copper Sea is funny, insightful, suspenseful and resonating. A great writer at his very peak.
April 28, 2018
Spring is finally here and it's time to work on my tan. John D. MacDonald published twenty-one Travis McGee mysteries (between 1964 and 1984) narrated by his weary "salvage consultant" who often agrees to locate missing persons or items, 52-foot houseboat The Busted Flush docked in Fort Lauderdale serving as McGee's office. MacDonald was one of the earliest authors to use themed titles for their series and his brilliant use of color not only offered a visual motif to help readers distinguish each one, but generated some of my favorite titles: A Purple Place For Dying, A Deadly Shade of Gold, Bright Orange For the Shroud, etc.
Next up is The Empty Copper Sea. Published in 1978, this novel continues a trend that finds McGee threatened by greater physical dangers and existential dread as he ages, and MacDonald's facility with plot and character getting sharper as the author aged. McGee is introduced replacing the rail posts on his boat, his body wearing down much like his vessel. He receives a visit from Van Harder, a charter captain who McGee hasn't seen in six or seven years. Harder gets around to stating that he's lost his license after his employer, businessman Hubbard Lawless, went overboard off the coast of Timber Bay and Harder was found by the sheriff below deck, passed out drunk.
A born again Christian, Harder maintains that he blacked out after sharing one customary drink with Hub, a family man and community pillar who had asked Harder to take Hub, Hub's loyal yes-man John Tuckerman and two local girls out on the water at night. With no body recovered, word around Timber Bay is that Hubbard Lawless is alive, living like a king in the Yucatan. Harder asks McGee to clear his name and figuring its value to be $20,000, agrees to pay McGee half that amount back over time. McGee agrees to discuss the matter with his neighbor Meyer, a sharp-witted retired economist, answering questions over drinks at Dorsey Brannigan's pub.
"What do you think about Van Harder's story?"
"He's a reliable man. So let's say it was a heart attack, a stroke, a savage bout of food poisoning, or somebody put something in his drink. In any event I think we can say that Lawless left the boat before it returned. He left on purpose or by accident. And in either case, he died or left town."
"I don't know what I'd do without your help."
"It's simple mathematics, Travis. Permutations and combinations. You have three sequences--of four choices, two choices, and two choices. So there are sixteen possibilities."
I stared blankly at him. "Such as?"
"It was a heart attack. Lawless fell overboard by accident. He made shore and realized what a good chance it was for him to try to disappear forever. Or--Lawless put something in the drink, went overboard on purpose, miscalculated the risk, and drowned. Do you see why I say there are--"
"I see, I see. You don't know what a help that is."
"Break it down and you can't find one of the sixteen where Harder is at fault."
Looking for a cover story to get them through doors shut after investigators and newspapermen have overrun Timber Bay with questions, Meyer cashes in a favor owed to him by a CEO and furbishes letters of introduction declaring that Meyer is in town to invest in the community. While Harder pilots The Busted Flush around the Florida peninsula to pick them up, McGee and Meyer fly to Timber Bay, impersonating money men. In the lounge of the North Bay Yacht and Tennis Resort, McGee gets familiar with piano player Billy Jean Bailey and gets on the last nerve of Nicky Noyes, a construction foreman and one of many who lost his livelihood after Hub disappeared.
After outlasting Noyes in a parking lot fistfight and sharing Billy Jean's bed, McGee learns that Hub had something going with a bombshell architect named Kristin Petersen, who left town a day after Hub. Visiting Coast National Bank with Meyer in the morning, the men are received by the bank president and learn that Hub was in debt, his bet on developing real estate into a condominium and shopping center gone bust. McGee pays a visit to Sheriff Haggermann "Hack" Ames, who proves sharper than the good ole boy McGee expected. Ames has dispatched a deputy to assist an insurance investigator in Guadalajara, where an anonymous tipster has placed Hub after his disappearance.
McGee and Meyer eventually locate Hub's yes-man John Tuckerman, who's blasted his mind with alcohol and drugs since his boss vanished and is squatting in a shack on the beach Hub left to him. Looking after Tuckerman is his sister Gretel, a laid back Amazon in her mid-twenties. McGee repairs their generator and Gretel informs him that her brother conspired with Hub to help him disappear, but the big boss got sick in his swim to shore and that Kristin Petersen took off with him, leaving her brother in the lurch. It still doesn't answer the question of where Hub Lawless, his girlfriend or the money they embezzled are hiding. McGee ultimately becomes smitten with Gretel.
It was a great day. Eating and swimming and napping, walking and talking. A simple day. I can remember the precise pattern of the white grains of sand on the round tan meat of her shoulder, and the patterns of the droplets of seawater on her long thigh. Gretel filled my eyes. I learned her by heart, wrists, and ankles, mouth corners and hairline, the high arches and slender feet, downy hollow of her back, tidy ears, flat to the good skull.
There would never be enough time in all the world for us to say to each other all the things that needed saying, time to tell all that had happened to each of us before the other had appeared--a sudden shining in the midst of life. In so many ways she was like a lady lost long ago, so astonishingly like her--not in appearance as much as in the climate of the heart--that it was like being given another chance after the gaming table had already been closed for good. She had a great laugh. It was a husky, full-throated bray, an explosion of laughter, uncontrolled. And she laughed at the right places.
The Empty Copper Sea is dazzling in how many gears MacDonald switches in this detective story. There's the mystery of what happened the night Hub Lawless disappeared and where the businessman has absconded to with his money--Mexico or the bottom of the sea. There's the fantasy of the man living off the grid who can lift anchor and move on anytime he chooses. The relationships, romances, really, between McGee and Meyer, McGee and Gretel and McGee and the supporting characters resonate with the ways human beings attract and repel each other; love and hate, trust and deceit. And there is as always McGee's cranky social commentary, the Korean War veteran making his way in the year of our lord 1978.
Once I found my way into the Mall, I located an orientation map, one of those YOU ARE HERE! things, and found where I was in relation to Top 40 Music. I plodded along the tile-finished concrete under the perpetual fluorescence, past all the jewelry stores, shoe stores, cut-rate blue-jeans stores, gift marts, caramel-corn outlets, and health-food hustles. I plodded along in the din of canned music, in the perpetual carnival atmosphere of everyday, past the custom T-shirts, the pregnant ladies eating ice cream cones, and the lines of children on school holiday waiting to get into another revival of Star Wars, shrieking and jabbing at one another and pretending to die of serious wounds.
When I came to Top 40 Music, I turned out of the slow parade and went in, feeling as if I were leaning into the blare of somebody electronically amplified, yelling "Babybabybabybaby ..."
Music stores? Sounds like the good old days. John D. MacDonald is of my grandfather's generation and I'll be damned if anyone can read a Travis McGee novel and not learn something, about boating, construction, alcohol, how to throw a punch, how to talk to a cop, how to enjoy sex without ruining it in your head (for those who don't know that stuff already). MacDonald is never in a hurry to throw plot at the reader and move on to shipping the next product, but truly seems to enjoy thinking about the world and what shape we should leave it in, or if we should even try.
Next up is The Empty Copper Sea. Published in 1978, this novel continues a trend that finds McGee threatened by greater physical dangers and existential dread as he ages, and MacDonald's facility with plot and character getting sharper as the author aged. McGee is introduced replacing the rail posts on his boat, his body wearing down much like his vessel. He receives a visit from Van Harder, a charter captain who McGee hasn't seen in six or seven years. Harder gets around to stating that he's lost his license after his employer, businessman Hubbard Lawless, went overboard off the coast of Timber Bay and Harder was found by the sheriff below deck, passed out drunk.
A born again Christian, Harder maintains that he blacked out after sharing one customary drink with Hub, a family man and community pillar who had asked Harder to take Hub, Hub's loyal yes-man John Tuckerman and two local girls out on the water at night. With no body recovered, word around Timber Bay is that Hubbard Lawless is alive, living like a king in the Yucatan. Harder asks McGee to clear his name and figuring its value to be $20,000, agrees to pay McGee half that amount back over time. McGee agrees to discuss the matter with his neighbor Meyer, a sharp-witted retired economist, answering questions over drinks at Dorsey Brannigan's pub.
"What do you think about Van Harder's story?"
"He's a reliable man. So let's say it was a heart attack, a stroke, a savage bout of food poisoning, or somebody put something in his drink. In any event I think we can say that Lawless left the boat before it returned. He left on purpose or by accident. And in either case, he died or left town."
"I don't know what I'd do without your help."
"It's simple mathematics, Travis. Permutations and combinations. You have three sequences--of four choices, two choices, and two choices. So there are sixteen possibilities."
I stared blankly at him. "Such as?"
"It was a heart attack. Lawless fell overboard by accident. He made shore and realized what a good chance it was for him to try to disappear forever. Or--Lawless put something in the drink, went overboard on purpose, miscalculated the risk, and drowned. Do you see why I say there are--"
"I see, I see. You don't know what a help that is."
"Break it down and you can't find one of the sixteen where Harder is at fault."
Looking for a cover story to get them through doors shut after investigators and newspapermen have overrun Timber Bay with questions, Meyer cashes in a favor owed to him by a CEO and furbishes letters of introduction declaring that Meyer is in town to invest in the community. While Harder pilots The Busted Flush around the Florida peninsula to pick them up, McGee and Meyer fly to Timber Bay, impersonating money men. In the lounge of the North Bay Yacht and Tennis Resort, McGee gets familiar with piano player Billy Jean Bailey and gets on the last nerve of Nicky Noyes, a construction foreman and one of many who lost his livelihood after Hub disappeared.
After outlasting Noyes in a parking lot fistfight and sharing Billy Jean's bed, McGee learns that Hub had something going with a bombshell architect named Kristin Petersen, who left town a day after Hub. Visiting Coast National Bank with Meyer in the morning, the men are received by the bank president and learn that Hub was in debt, his bet on developing real estate into a condominium and shopping center gone bust. McGee pays a visit to Sheriff Haggermann "Hack" Ames, who proves sharper than the good ole boy McGee expected. Ames has dispatched a deputy to assist an insurance investigator in Guadalajara, where an anonymous tipster has placed Hub after his disappearance.
McGee and Meyer eventually locate Hub's yes-man John Tuckerman, who's blasted his mind with alcohol and drugs since his boss vanished and is squatting in a shack on the beach Hub left to him. Looking after Tuckerman is his sister Gretel, a laid back Amazon in her mid-twenties. McGee repairs their generator and Gretel informs him that her brother conspired with Hub to help him disappear, but the big boss got sick in his swim to shore and that Kristin Petersen took off with him, leaving her brother in the lurch. It still doesn't answer the question of where Hub Lawless, his girlfriend or the money they embezzled are hiding. McGee ultimately becomes smitten with Gretel.
It was a great day. Eating and swimming and napping, walking and talking. A simple day. I can remember the precise pattern of the white grains of sand on the round tan meat of her shoulder, and the patterns of the droplets of seawater on her long thigh. Gretel filled my eyes. I learned her by heart, wrists, and ankles, mouth corners and hairline, the high arches and slender feet, downy hollow of her back, tidy ears, flat to the good skull.
There would never be enough time in all the world for us to say to each other all the things that needed saying, time to tell all that had happened to each of us before the other had appeared--a sudden shining in the midst of life. In so many ways she was like a lady lost long ago, so astonishingly like her--not in appearance as much as in the climate of the heart--that it was like being given another chance after the gaming table had already been closed for good. She had a great laugh. It was a husky, full-throated bray, an explosion of laughter, uncontrolled. And she laughed at the right places.
The Empty Copper Sea is dazzling in how many gears MacDonald switches in this detective story. There's the mystery of what happened the night Hub Lawless disappeared and where the businessman has absconded to with his money--Mexico or the bottom of the sea. There's the fantasy of the man living off the grid who can lift anchor and move on anytime he chooses. The relationships, romances, really, between McGee and Meyer, McGee and Gretel and McGee and the supporting characters resonate with the ways human beings attract and repel each other; love and hate, trust and deceit. And there is as always McGee's cranky social commentary, the Korean War veteran making his way in the year of our lord 1978.
Once I found my way into the Mall, I located an orientation map, one of those YOU ARE HERE! things, and found where I was in relation to Top 40 Music. I plodded along the tile-finished concrete under the perpetual fluorescence, past all the jewelry stores, shoe stores, cut-rate blue-jeans stores, gift marts, caramel-corn outlets, and health-food hustles. I plodded along in the din of canned music, in the perpetual carnival atmosphere of everyday, past the custom T-shirts, the pregnant ladies eating ice cream cones, and the lines of children on school holiday waiting to get into another revival of Star Wars, shrieking and jabbing at one another and pretending to die of serious wounds.
When I came to Top 40 Music, I turned out of the slow parade and went in, feeling as if I were leaning into the blare of somebody electronically amplified, yelling "Babybabybabybaby ..."
Music stores? Sounds like the good old days. John D. MacDonald is of my grandfather's generation and I'll be damned if anyone can read a Travis McGee novel and not learn something, about boating, construction, alcohol, how to throw a punch, how to talk to a cop, how to enjoy sex without ruining it in your head (for those who don't know that stuff already). MacDonald is never in a hurry to throw plot at the reader and move on to shipping the next product, but truly seems to enjoy thinking about the world and what shape we should leave it in, or if we should even try.
December 4, 2017
Travis McGee bills himself as a salvage consultant, but this time out he’s trying to salvage someone’s reputation rather than their money.
McGee is approached by an old acquaintance named Van Harder who was held responsible for the death of his employer Hubbard Lawless. Supposedly Harder got drunk while skippering Lawless’ boat which indirectly led to Lawless being lost overboard. Harder is a born again straight arrow who left his hard drinking days behind him years ago, and he swears that he must have been drugged. Since Lawless was in deep financial trouble there are rumors that he faked his death and ran to Mexico with what was left of his fortune. McGee and his best friend Meyer head to the town of Timber Bay to see if they can uncover some proof that Harder was set up.
This is kind of an odd plot because it seems like Harder would be cleared even if Travis had done nothing since the entire town is convinced that Lawless ran to Mexico, and the sheriff already has plenty of evidence that he’s investigating to prove that. Travis doesn’t even have to do much conning in this one since Meyer has provided them ample cover in the guise of businessmen potentially interested in Lawless’s holdings if the title issue can be cleared up so all the bigwigs in town are anxious to talk to them.
Still, there’s a nice rhythm to this one with McGee’s typical musings about life and his own nature. Even the sexism inherent to the books is toned down considerably. Hey, it only took until 1978!
McGee only bangs one random woman as part of a tawdry one night stand, and it causes him considerable emotional angst since he’s experiencing a bit of a mid-life crisis. (It also let MacDonald engage in his usual trick of letting Trav bag the babes but make him seem better than just a man-ho because he’s sensitive enough to feel guilty about it, damn it!)
And when Travis has got the blues, what’s the cure? Why another woman of course. Only in this case, the old Sea Cock actually tumbles head over heels for a lady. Granted there’s some unbelievable insta-love going on here, and McGee still has to be kind of a d-bag at times, but this is real progress for the series. Particularly when
McGee is approached by an old acquaintance named Van Harder who was held responsible for the death of his employer Hubbard Lawless. Supposedly Harder got drunk while skippering Lawless’ boat which indirectly led to Lawless being lost overboard. Harder is a born again straight arrow who left his hard drinking days behind him years ago, and he swears that he must have been drugged. Since Lawless was in deep financial trouble there are rumors that he faked his death and ran to Mexico with what was left of his fortune. McGee and his best friend Meyer head to the town of Timber Bay to see if they can uncover some proof that Harder was set up.
This is kind of an odd plot because it seems like Harder would be cleared even if Travis had done nothing since the entire town is convinced that Lawless ran to Mexico, and the sheriff already has plenty of evidence that he’s investigating to prove that. Travis doesn’t even have to do much conning in this one since Meyer has provided them ample cover in the guise of businessmen potentially interested in Lawless’s holdings if the title issue can be cleared up so all the bigwigs in town are anxious to talk to them.
Still, there’s a nice rhythm to this one with McGee’s typical musings about life and his own nature. Even the sexism inherent to the books is toned down considerably. Hey, it only took until 1978!
McGee only bangs one random woman as part of a tawdry one night stand, and it causes him considerable emotional angst since he’s experiencing a bit of a mid-life crisis. (It also let MacDonald engage in his usual trick of letting Trav bag the babes but make him seem better than just a man-ho because he’s sensitive enough to feel guilty about it, damn it!)
And when Travis has got the blues, what’s the cure? Why another woman of course. Only in this case, the old Sea Cock actually tumbles head over heels for a lady. Granted there’s some unbelievable insta-love going on here, and McGee still has to be kind of a d-bag at times, but this is real progress for the series. Particularly when
January 22, 2020
Is Travis McGee, John D. MacDonald’s action / adventure / salvage expert / hero creation, the American James Bond?
Ian Fleming, Bond’s creator, was an English naval officer during the Second World War. John D. MacDonald was an Army officer during WWII.
Bond is a commander in the British Navy when he’s not spying and being cool; McGee’s military career is often hinted at or explicitly stated.
While Bond serves the Queen, American McGee is a loner “salvage consultant” who espouses libertarian ideals and does favors for his friends.
Bond likes good liquor, can handle himself in a fight and is handy with the ladies, as is McGee.
Bond is an English gentlemen, but deadly; McGee is an American everyman man’s man, and deadly, but much friendlier.
Actually, the Florida setting for MacDonald’s hero makes me think of Jimmy Buffett and John Wayne’s 1942 film Reap the Wild Wind (because of the tall hero and the salvage references.)
Speaking of height, McGee is supposed to be very tall and outdoorsy, like John Wayne, AND another reference to Thomas Magnum P.I. (Tom Selleck also hung out on a beach – Hawaii – and is an imposing 6’4”). Interestingly, Magnum P.I. premiered in 1980, while MacDonald’s McGee series ran from 1964 to 1985. Was Magnum inspired by the McGee series?
All good questions, best left for pondering over a beer on a Florida beach.
McGee’s 17th appearance came out in the 1978 publication of The Empty Copper Sea (all of the McGee novels had some kind of color in the title) and has Travis solving the mystery of a rich guy’s supposed fake death – SALVAGING his friend’s good name. And of course McGee hooks up with some ladies, is cool, shows off his fighting skills, and has an altogether good 1970s kind of time.
Fun.
Ian Fleming, Bond’s creator, was an English naval officer during the Second World War. John D. MacDonald was an Army officer during WWII.
Bond is a commander in the British Navy when he’s not spying and being cool; McGee’s military career is often hinted at or explicitly stated.
While Bond serves the Queen, American McGee is a loner “salvage consultant” who espouses libertarian ideals and does favors for his friends.
Bond likes good liquor, can handle himself in a fight and is handy with the ladies, as is McGee.
Bond is an English gentlemen, but deadly; McGee is an American everyman man’s man, and deadly, but much friendlier.
Actually, the Florida setting for MacDonald’s hero makes me think of Jimmy Buffett and John Wayne’s 1942 film Reap the Wild Wind (because of the tall hero and the salvage references.)
Speaking of height, McGee is supposed to be very tall and outdoorsy, like John Wayne, AND another reference to Thomas Magnum P.I. (Tom Selleck also hung out on a beach – Hawaii – and is an imposing 6’4”). Interestingly, Magnum P.I. premiered in 1980, while MacDonald’s McGee series ran from 1964 to 1985. Was Magnum inspired by the McGee series?
All good questions, best left for pondering over a beer on a Florida beach.
McGee’s 17th appearance came out in the 1978 publication of The Empty Copper Sea (all of the McGee novels had some kind of color in the title) and has Travis solving the mystery of a rich guy’s supposed fake death – SALVAGING his friend’s good name. And of course McGee hooks up with some ladies, is cool, shows off his fighting skills, and has an altogether good 1970s kind of time.
Fun.
June 2, 2018
"A man needs only to be turned around once with his eyes shut in this world to be lost."
- Thoreau
This was John D. MacDonald's 17th novel (I'm not sure how many total novels he had published by 1978), but he had been punching them out about 1 per year since 1964, until 1974. So, The Empty Copper Sea came after the biggest McGee break of all. There was a sense of crisis in this novel, and McGee malaise that was diagnosed by Meyer (economist side kick) and fixed by a woman (almost an inverse of McGee's usual sexual healing).
The book takes place mostly in Timber Bay, FL (fictionalized), inside of Dixie County (real), high up the gulf-side, above Clearwater. The town has been rocked by a business man who faked his death and disappeared leaving everyone (wife, kids, business associates, and the captain of the boat he "fell off" high and dry. McGee and Meyer are trying to salvage the reputation of captain (an old friend) and untangle the ugly knot left behind. Essentially, it seems almost like a man in the midst of a writing crisis (JDMcD) is writing a novel where the hero is sorting through his own mortality crisis (McGee) while trying to solve the mess created by a man who tried to ditch his obligations after having his own crisis (Hub). Oh, and perhaps Florida is also having its own crisis caused by growth, tourism, and environmental issues caused by growth.
It was a solid McGee novel. Some of the same feminist traps as most his other McGee novels, but not so deep. With Philip Roth recently dying it is also interesting to observe what Sir Kingsley Amis once said about John D. MacDonald (and probably gets at the root of why, even when I get frustrated with MacDonald, I keep coming back). According to Amis, MacDonald "is by any standards a better writer than Saul Bellow, only MacDonald writes thrillers and Bellow is a human-heart chap, so guess who wears the top-grade laurels." Now, I'm a big big fan of Saul Bellow, so I'm not sure I would go THAT far, but I think we do a disservice when we dismiss good genre fiction too quickly.
- Thoreau
This was John D. MacDonald's 17th novel (I'm not sure how many total novels he had published by 1978), but he had been punching them out about 1 per year since 1964, until 1974. So, The Empty Copper Sea came after the biggest McGee break of all. There was a sense of crisis in this novel, and McGee malaise that was diagnosed by Meyer (economist side kick) and fixed by a woman (almost an inverse of McGee's usual sexual healing).
The book takes place mostly in Timber Bay, FL (fictionalized), inside of Dixie County (real), high up the gulf-side, above Clearwater. The town has been rocked by a business man who faked his death and disappeared leaving everyone (wife, kids, business associates, and the captain of the boat he "fell off" high and dry. McGee and Meyer are trying to salvage the reputation of captain (an old friend) and untangle the ugly knot left behind. Essentially, it seems almost like a man in the midst of a writing crisis (JDMcD) is writing a novel where the hero is sorting through his own mortality crisis (McGee) while trying to solve the mess created by a man who tried to ditch his obligations after having his own crisis (Hub). Oh, and perhaps Florida is also having its own crisis caused by growth, tourism, and environmental issues caused by growth.
It was a solid McGee novel. Some of the same feminist traps as most his other McGee novels, but not so deep. With Philip Roth recently dying it is also interesting to observe what Sir Kingsley Amis once said about John D. MacDonald (and probably gets at the root of why, even when I get frustrated with MacDonald, I keep coming back). According to Amis, MacDonald "is by any standards a better writer than Saul Bellow, only MacDonald writes thrillers and Bellow is a human-heart chap, so guess who wears the top-grade laurels." Now, I'm a big big fan of Saul Bellow, so I'm not sure I would go THAT far, but I think we do a disservice when we dismiss good genre fiction too quickly.
January 17, 2019
If you are are all familiar with the Travis McGee series, you probably know he lived on a houseboat The Busted Flush in the Bahai Marina in Florida and that he sometimes works as a salvage consultant. That means that when something is swindled from someone and there's no legitimate channel for recourse, McGee will interfere and attempt a recovery for half the proceeds. Here, a proud man is swindled out of his reputation and it is not clear how McGee is going to get a fee out of this.
The story is about the meaning of friendship and loyalty and what happens when a whole town wonders if heir loyalty has been betrayed and whether someone absconded to Mexico by faking their own drowning.
The story, like all of those in this series, really takes the measure of human nature and contains great insights into what makes people tick.
The story is about the meaning of friendship and loyalty and what happens when a whole town wonders if heir loyalty has been betrayed and whether someone absconded to Mexico by faking their own drowning.
The story, like all of those in this series, really takes the measure of human nature and contains great insights into what makes people tick.
April 22, 2019
3.5 Stars only
As usual with my reviews, please first read the publisher’s blurb/summary of the book. Thank you.
A somewhat confusing plot, which meanders to an unlikely ending, and a frustrating romance for McGee. There are some moments of power and grace, especially concerning the beautiful Gretel and McGee's growing romance with her, but sadly, it's poorly realised in the end. The prose is often uneven, and the pacing poor.
MacDonald's lost potential and lack of time with Gretel is tragic. Gretel is perhaps the perfect woman for Travis. Very sad to miss more of their interaction.
As usual for MacDonald, there are some fine Quotes:
I wanted to drift the Busted Plush down through glassy bays, past mangroves and pelicans and the leaping of mullet. I wanted to take her down through Biscayne Bay and Florida Bay, and up by Flamingo through Whitewater, and out the mouth of the Shark River, and up past Naples, Port Myers, Boca Grande, Venice, Sarasota, Bradenton, Tampa Bay, Clearwater, all the way on up to Timber Bay.
Most of the story takes place in Bayside, Florida
Full size image here
-
We went out and explored the city in the fading light of evening, drifting the gray Dodge back and forth through the social and commercial strata, snuffling the flavors of change, the plastic aromas of the new Florida superimposed on the Spanish moss, the rain-sounds of the night peepers in the marsh, the sea smell of low tides, creak of bamboo in light winds, fright cry of the cruising night birds, tiny sirens of the mosquitoes, faraway flicker of lightning silhouetting the circus parade of thunderheads on the Gulf horizon-superimposed on all these old enduring things, known when only Caloosas made their shell mounds and slipped through the sawgrass in their dugouts.
-
To keep my attention off wondering how soon I was going to be sick, I said, briskly conversational, "In Texas they scoop those out and make baskets out of them and sell them in roadside stands." After a few moments of silence, Meyer said, "It is to be hoped that on some planet far beyond our galaxy a race of sentient armadillos is busy scooping out Texans and selling them at roadside stands, possibly as [hand] bags"
-
Meyer expressing his happiness that Travis has found Gretel:
"Hard to describe, exactly. You give the impression of having been close for years. You are tuned to her in some fashion. The two of you look larger than life somehow. Of course, you are larger than couples one runs across every day. There is some sort of aura about you two. You had it in place when you came back down the beach that first day.
.
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...
As usual with my reviews, please first read the publisher’s blurb/summary of the book. Thank you.
A somewhat confusing plot, which meanders to an unlikely ending, and a frustrating romance for McGee. There are some moments of power and grace, especially concerning the beautiful Gretel and McGee's growing romance with her, but sadly, it's poorly realised in the end. The prose is often uneven, and the pacing poor.
MacDonald's lost potential and lack of time with Gretel is tragic. Gretel is perhaps the perfect woman for Travis. Very sad to miss more of their interaction.
As usual for MacDonald, there are some fine Quotes:
I wanted to drift the Busted Plush down through glassy bays, past mangroves and pelicans and the leaping of mullet. I wanted to take her down through Biscayne Bay and Florida Bay, and up by Flamingo through Whitewater, and out the mouth of the Shark River, and up past Naples, Port Myers, Boca Grande, Venice, Sarasota, Bradenton, Tampa Bay, Clearwater, all the way on up to Timber Bay.
Most of the story takes place in Bayside, Florida
Full size image here
-
We went out and explored the city in the fading light of evening, drifting the gray Dodge back and forth through the social and commercial strata, snuffling the flavors of change, the plastic aromas of the new Florida superimposed on the Spanish moss, the rain-sounds of the night peepers in the marsh, the sea smell of low tides, creak of bamboo in light winds, fright cry of the cruising night birds, tiny sirens of the mosquitoes, faraway flicker of lightning silhouetting the circus parade of thunderheads on the Gulf horizon-superimposed on all these old enduring things, known when only Caloosas made their shell mounds and slipped through the sawgrass in their dugouts.
-
To keep my attention off wondering how soon I was going to be sick, I said, briskly conversational, "In Texas they scoop those out and make baskets out of them and sell them in roadside stands." After a few moments of silence, Meyer said, "It is to be hoped that on some planet far beyond our galaxy a race of sentient armadillos is busy scooping out Texans and selling them at roadside stands, possibly as [hand] bags"
-
Meyer expressing his happiness that Travis has found Gretel:
"Hard to describe, exactly. You give the impression of having been close for years. You are tuned to her in some fashion. The two of you look larger than life somehow. Of course, you are larger than couples one runs across every day. There is some sort of aura about you two. You had it in place when you came back down the beach that first day.
.
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...
February 19, 2013
I re-read this after quite a few years, and remembered little, which was good. Travis is far from perfect, but there is much that is good in his (and Meyer's) set of values, and these stories are a great contrast to the serious reading that takes most of my time.
December 1, 2019
As a series it is getting close to its swan song, The Lonely Silver Rain, and you can see how the pieces of that story--tired, jaded, disillusioned, needing a vast change in life--are starting to play out. Unless, of course, this is a theme of the entire series. I really must try out the early ones.
You can just seep into the writing, the plotting, and the characters. Even the incidentals are memorable, and McGee's eloquence--filtered through MacDonald--is laser-targeted and emotionally complex. He describes a one night stand with a bar piano player as having "a locker-room drabness", and proceeds in mock conversation to rate the experience in terms of her musical ability.
The discussion of PCP is fascinating both because it is presented here as something new to the reader's experience (nicknames, effects, dangers) and because as I thought about it I haven't heard much about the substance lately. Is it because people finally wised up to its horribleness...or because some new horribleness took its place?
You can just seep into the writing, the plotting, and the characters. Even the incidentals are memorable, and McGee's eloquence--filtered through MacDonald--is laser-targeted and emotionally complex. He describes a one night stand with a bar piano player as having "a locker-room drabness", and proceeds in mock conversation to rate the experience in terms of her musical ability.
The discussion of PCP is fascinating both because it is presented here as something new to the reader's experience (nicknames, effects, dangers) and because as I thought about it I haven't heard much about the substance lately. Is it because people finally wised up to its horribleness...or because some new horribleness took its place?
June 28, 2015
21 jun 15
#50 from macdonald for me and the 17th travis mcgee story. just completed Turquoise Lament, a story in which mcgee violates one oath he espoused in an earlier story. alas.
onward, ever onward.
23 jun 15
finished. great story, good read! thought i read one review that suggested mcgee was not as involved in this one as others, that meyer did much of the work. wasn't this story if the review was about this one. but mcgee does show a range of emotions, up down sideways. approaching the end i wondered well how's this one going to end? there's some that can guess i'm led to believe and i imagine some could see the lines in the sand. i'm too busy enjoying the story and the conclusion is one that perhaps i'd come across given time but i keep reading and the end reveals itself. story does deal with pcp, angel dust...something macdonald has touched before, drugs, acid, other kinds of drugs. he does this nicely, doesn't get too wrapped up with the matter. don't know, myself, much about the subject, but his treatment seems knowledgeable and forthright...although, truth be told...some of the behavior of the participants seemed far-fetched but that's the way we are, often. onward, ever onward.
story begins
van harder came aboard the busted flush on a hot bright may morning. my houseboat was at her home mooring, slip f-18 at bahia mar, fort lauderdale. you go along thinking you are properly maintaining your houseboat and your runabout, going by the book, keeping a watchful eye on the lines, the bilge, the brightwork, all. but the book was written for more merciful climates than florida, once described to the king of spain by desoto as "an uninhabitable sandspit," even though at the time it was inhabited by quite a lot of indians.
suddenly everything starts to snap, rip, and fall out, to leak and squeal and give final gasps. then you bend to it, or you go live ashore like a sane person.
time place scene setting
* may, florida, slip f-18, the busted flush travis mcgee's 52' barge-like houseboat.
* back on march 22nd, van harder captained the julie, boat owned by hubbard lawless, rich man in timber bay, gulf coast florida, when hubbard lawless purportedly fell overboard, drowned, though no body. it has been 6-7 years since travis last saw van harder
* dorsey brannigan's pub, meyer & travis meet talk strategy
* timber bay, florida, 27 nautical miles north of cedar key
* cedar pass marina...where the busted flush could dock in timber bay
* wednesday, may 18th
* zzest travel, where travis gets info on timber bay
* same thursday, travis and meyer fly into timber bay...van harder will take the busted flush around florida, 6-9 days, to timber bay
* north bay yacht & tennis resort, where travis and meyer stay in timber bay
* the captain's galley...eats/drinks...piano player
* glennmore realty, first united plaza, timber bay
* western sky lounge, part of the north bay resort
* parking lot outside the lounge
* b.j.'s cabana, pianoplayer at the lounge, the cabana is part of the resort
* miss agnes has a cameo...although i don't think macdonald used the name "miss agnes" alas
* hub lawless residence, 215 south oak lane
* coast national bank & trust
* baygate plaze mall/ top 40 music
* the cove (bar restaurant)
* 215 south oak lane, timber bay, lawless resident
* sheriff's office, east wing, county court house
* april 8th, orlando woman presumably having an affair took a photo of hub in guadalajara mexico
* time passes with travis and/or meyer visting varius locations in timber bay, trying to get a line on happenings...dates or days are noted: "friday"...other dates from the past, when hub was seen in mexico...dates immediately after his disappearance...and story winds up by july...so may to july
* a hospital...a hospital figures in in many mcgee stories
* john tuckerman's place...small cottage-like place away from most of the new construction...near where one of hub's developments went belly-up
* called north pass vista...or would have been called pepperfish village...i think north pass vista is a completed job...place with names like "symphony"...or "melody"...the wife of the guy who put them up was a harp player reason why
* coast national building
* eleanor ann harder's place, small frame cottage
* lucille's...another bar, timber bay
* naderman-santos medical clinic...where hub has scheduled plastic surgery in mexico
* ben's camera house
characters, major
* travis mcgee, our hero, beach bum, salvage operator, comfortably retired or working as the need fits him. in this story and the previous, too, travis has apparently switched to "boodles" gin...from his old stand-by of...i forget the name of the other, noted it in one review
* meyer, travis's economist friend and neighbor at bahia mar
* van harder, 50-ish, born-again christian, ship's captain, married to...eleanor ann, i think. owned the queen bee iii, sold, got a qb iv, lost it at sea, a ship ran it over, lost two men, captains for others, is accused of drinking when lawless went overboard
* hubbard lawless, 40-41-yr-old, deceased/drowned, rich, timber bay elite, married to julia, teenaged daughters
* billy jean bailey, travis's first dame in this story, plays piano at the western sky lounge, been there three years
* nicky noyes, part or whole indian, former or current employee of hubbard lawless, fights travis in parking lot
* kristen petersen...purportedly left timber bay after the drowning, and allegedly she and hub lawless were an item. norwegian or scandinavian, architect who worked on one of hub's projects that has since failed.
* julie lawless, hub's wife, previously julie herron
* haggemann "hack" ames, sheriff, timber bay area, dixie county
* john tuckerman, hub's right-hand man, vp of four of hub's corporations, with hub on the julia the night hub went overboard, is "38" but probably 40, now drinks heavy
* gretel howard, john tuckerman's sister, and she shows on the scene late...she'd been there before travis and meyer showed, but she showed after the fact. had been married to a billy howard, who ran off with the other woman...gretel is travis's dame, after at least one false start or two with a couple others
characters minor, with names, w/o a name, scene-setting characters
* rance fazzo, van harder sold the queen bee iii to him
* weldron...guy that hubbard lawless sold his tuna company to
* previous captain of julia got into whiskey women
* duke davis...travis was with him march 22nd, getting a boat back
* arthur wilkinson/chookie mccall...bahia mar regulars and there is another story where they feature
* eleanor ann, nursing, timber bay...van harder's wife
* mate on julia, deegee walloway, off on the march 22nd, he and travis had a knock-down fight in the past...guy who gets his rocks off by fighting, happy-camper fighter, happy-drunk fighter
* father dying, cancer, waycross, georgia
* four in party the night of the 22nd: hub, one
* two, john tuckerman, hub's right-hand man
* two young women:
* felicia called 'licia ambar, works the top forty music over baygate plaza mall
* and michele called mishy burns, waitress at the cove, and b.j. bailey called her close to a whore, even so. she is a 22-year-old doris day
* cindy thorner and her husband bob, have grown kids, saw travis and meyer at the first restaurant...."a florida conservationist is a fellow who bought his waterfront property last week."
* emmitt allbritton, chairman of the board...meyer acquires several cover letters, at least one or all three are signed by emmitt, who owed meyer a favor
* doc stuart...van harder had him check him over
* van harder got one-day work with billy maxwell
* peggy, at zzest travel
* a girl at the rental desk (vehicle/travis)
* a fat man labored mightily to improve his stroke
* a few swimmers
* two girls in pastel tennis dresses
* a gallery of about a dozen people
* the young man in the sailor suit (bartender/waiters/resort)
* fellow with a sheaf of menus
* a pretty waitress with frosted hair
* manager, jack the manager, at the resort...no, not jack...this guy's name is dave bellamy, and meyer and him are now pals
* george glenn, if you're talking real estate, glenn is the man to see according to dave bellamy
* a few couple whispering together & groping each other
* some noisy salesmen at the bar
* mitch, the barman
* danny, agent of b.j. bailey, and boyfriend, but died
* a man standing against the glow
* a shirt-sleeved, necktied man thick around the middle...manager jack...of the whole resort i guess
* two young men in warm-up suits volleying
* top man at coast national bank & trust, devlin j boggs
* people crisscrossing the broad expanse of carpeted floor
* two men seated across the deck from him (boggs)
* the secretary (boggs)
* down to about 40 people from the 120 (hub's businesses/employees)
* julie lawless father, d jake herron, state legislator until the day he died
* harold payne, bank's attorney, elfording, payne and morehouse
* walter olivera, with the timber bay journal
* lou latzov, with glennmore realty
* the people who hurried by the waiting room door
* a uniformed woman came briskly in
* deputy wright fletcher...sent to mexico to check out a hub sighting
* an investigator from the insurance company (with fletcher)...his wife's name is madge
* orlando person, female, wrote note, enclosed photo
* her boyfriend thinks she was in san diego with a sister
* dozens of very qualified surgeons...in mexico
* the sheriff was married to a drunk...tree ended that
* some red-hots from tampa, 3 of them...hub fixed em good
* locals from the marts of trade: secretaries, brokers, salesmen, city hall types, lawyers, dentists, contractors...at the captain's galley where travis meets walter
* harry dister, runs the bay journal
* hub's mother, father, older brother killed, plane accident while he was 2nd year at uf/gainesville
* tracy and lynn, the teenaged daughters of lawless, 16 and 14
* john tuckerman's only family is a sister
* the pregnant ladies eating ice cream cones
* lines of children on school holiday
* an extraordinarily beautiful woman...miss ambar...noted above, too...from honduras...and macdonald nails i think, the dialect...that she believes she has lost, chee
* a small white-haired lady with a smudge of dust on her cheek, carol, miss ambar's boss at top forty
* mishy's girlfriend in clearwater...her boyfriend
* some man...police
* a salesman was playing pinball
* a chubby white-haired couple
* a tall hollow-chested bartender, harley, at the cove where mishy works waitress
* another waitress had joined her
* a couple of construction workers
* customers with four kids
* a game warden...d jake herron and travis had previous experience nailing a bad game warden
* two women were working with julia lawless getting stuff ready for a sale: doris jennings and freddy ellis, mother of one of the girls in the tennis outfits from earlier
* 1 lawless daughter...second girl from earlier in tennis outfit...pastel?...lynn
* sandra ellis...was the loswer in that tennis match
* rob gaylor, senior trust officer at the bank
* harley had 2 helpers behind the bar
* two couples (pancho villa regulars...w/nick noyes)
* fritz plous, character in bar, works at the paper, subject to autointoxication
* brenda...getel names her small green car
* the wife of the guy who put up north pass vista, a harp player
* billy howard, long gone husband of gretel howard, john tuckerman's sister
* "steven pickering"...and alias that hub created
* an old pro at a ski camp/tennis camp where gretel worked
* the old pro's sister
* rich kids at a summer camp where gretel worked
* young mothers...and owners, same place
* fat farm california ladies, where gretel worked
* joggers, bookkeeper, at a camp/farm, billy ran off w/the bookkeeper
* garner wedley, texaco station...rented a car to hub
* a slight bald-headed man...at north pass vista
* a paste-white lady with sulfur curls
* office manager at north pass vista, stanley moran
* the man behind the desk looked like a lufthansa pilot
* marjory took the call...at the marina...coop's old lady
* jack case, howie villetti...whipped by deegee walloway
* lucille, the bartender/owner
* two young women who were going in as i was leaving
* the boy pumping gas
* local insurance agent, ralph stennenmacher
* a small group of men
* people began the yelling & the screaming
* people ran out of the north bay resort
* a trucker was lighting some highway flares
* a white-haired man slumped against the horn ring...mr whittaker
* a plump blonde lady, mrs whittaker
* a couple of women in our crowd
* a husky kid about sixteen
* nurses rustled by, a child was crying, two young, thin black girls came in & sat on the couch
* dr. ted scudder
* a drowned and dark blue girl (story/past)...macdonald salts his tellings with an assortment of asides from his past both distant and near
* a 13-year-old girl sit on a gravel pile
* a sturdy woman typed slowly
* a gigantic deputy came in, rudy
* meyer, japan, an audience, wrong audience
* a small japanese man who stood in the wings (story, past, this time meyer's)
* rust hills...friend of travis and meyer...another aside, and the author of the book noted below in the next list, real people
* earnest newscaster wtvt channel 2
* wife of one of the nation's most important citizens
* the girl...at the insurance agent's office
* dora danniker, serf-person...secretary
* the guy she was with, timmy, her boyfriend, travis threw him up in a tree
* the office door opened and a man came out
* a list of five people swearing...that they saw hub in mexico
* mr chance mckay, an atlanta banker...to do with k.p.
* an elderly aunt...of meyer, and another aside, this one to do w/the devil
* couple of fifteen-year-old kids
* a very pretty young girl, tracy lawless, one of the lawless daughters
* ben, of ben's camera house...and the 2nd story in a row in which photos or the like figure big big...it worked once, why not use it again?
* the lady who'd been in mexico...
* roberto, he of the warm blood and the loving nature
* townsend, a doctor
* three other girls from the insurance office...with the lady in mexico
* an old man in uniform
famous, real, fictionally famous people so forth so on
* thoreau, a quote before story opens: a man needs only to be turned around once with his eyes shut in this world to be lost.
* our good lord jesus
* caloosas (floridian indians)
* joe pass (guitar)
* red norvo (music)
* cinderella
* jesus (singular and unaffiliated)
* l. rust hills, how to be good...if opportunity knocks, best to take advantage of it, rather than to leave one feeling forlorn.
* doris day
* shylock holmes
* prince valiant (haircut)
* ben franklin (glasses)
* pancho villa
* wwii israeli hero (fighting w/the british) dayan
* kissinger
* bernard de voto, quote: the rat stops gnawing in the wood, the dungeon walls withdraw, the weight is lifted. your pulse steadies and the sun has found your heart. the day was not bad, the season has not been bad, and there is sense and even promise in going on. meyer quotes him
* lawrence of arabia
* eydie (music/song)
* the devil (first occasion...and here's something to consider...he makes a point of showing the devil as a white man. yeah, we've all heard the jesus as white boy theme. first ever i heard the devil as white boy theme.)
* ilya prigogine, belgium mathematician, dissipative structures
* popeye
* clark gable
* billy carter
* spillane
* gene kelly
#50 from macdonald for me and the 17th travis mcgee story. just completed Turquoise Lament, a story in which mcgee violates one oath he espoused in an earlier story. alas.
onward, ever onward.
23 jun 15
finished. great story, good read! thought i read one review that suggested mcgee was not as involved in this one as others, that meyer did much of the work. wasn't this story if the review was about this one. but mcgee does show a range of emotions, up down sideways. approaching the end i wondered well how's this one going to end? there's some that can guess i'm led to believe and i imagine some could see the lines in the sand. i'm too busy enjoying the story and the conclusion is one that perhaps i'd come across given time but i keep reading and the end reveals itself. story does deal with pcp, angel dust...something macdonald has touched before, drugs, acid, other kinds of drugs. he does this nicely, doesn't get too wrapped up with the matter. don't know, myself, much about the subject, but his treatment seems knowledgeable and forthright...although, truth be told...some of the behavior of the participants seemed far-fetched but that's the way we are, often. onward, ever onward.
story begins
van harder came aboard the busted flush on a hot bright may morning. my houseboat was at her home mooring, slip f-18 at bahia mar, fort lauderdale. you go along thinking you are properly maintaining your houseboat and your runabout, going by the book, keeping a watchful eye on the lines, the bilge, the brightwork, all. but the book was written for more merciful climates than florida, once described to the king of spain by desoto as "an uninhabitable sandspit," even though at the time it was inhabited by quite a lot of indians.
suddenly everything starts to snap, rip, and fall out, to leak and squeal and give final gasps. then you bend to it, or you go live ashore like a sane person.
time place scene setting
* may, florida, slip f-18, the busted flush travis mcgee's 52' barge-like houseboat.
* back on march 22nd, van harder captained the julie, boat owned by hubbard lawless, rich man in timber bay, gulf coast florida, when hubbard lawless purportedly fell overboard, drowned, though no body. it has been 6-7 years since travis last saw van harder
* dorsey brannigan's pub, meyer & travis meet talk strategy
* timber bay, florida, 27 nautical miles north of cedar key
* cedar pass marina...where the busted flush could dock in timber bay
* wednesday, may 18th
* zzest travel, where travis gets info on timber bay
* same thursday, travis and meyer fly into timber bay...van harder will take the busted flush around florida, 6-9 days, to timber bay
* north bay yacht & tennis resort, where travis and meyer stay in timber bay
* the captain's galley...eats/drinks...piano player
* glennmore realty, first united plaza, timber bay
* western sky lounge, part of the north bay resort
* parking lot outside the lounge
* b.j.'s cabana, pianoplayer at the lounge, the cabana is part of the resort
* miss agnes has a cameo...although i don't think macdonald used the name "miss agnes" alas
* hub lawless residence, 215 south oak lane
* coast national bank & trust
* baygate plaze mall/ top 40 music
* the cove (bar restaurant)
* 215 south oak lane, timber bay, lawless resident
* sheriff's office, east wing, county court house
* april 8th, orlando woman presumably having an affair took a photo of hub in guadalajara mexico
* time passes with travis and/or meyer visting varius locations in timber bay, trying to get a line on happenings...dates or days are noted: "friday"...other dates from the past, when hub was seen in mexico...dates immediately after his disappearance...and story winds up by july...so may to july
* a hospital...a hospital figures in in many mcgee stories
* john tuckerman's place...small cottage-like place away from most of the new construction...near where one of hub's developments went belly-up
* called north pass vista...or would have been called pepperfish village...i think north pass vista is a completed job...place with names like "symphony"...or "melody"...the wife of the guy who put them up was a harp player reason why
* coast national building
* eleanor ann harder's place, small frame cottage
* lucille's...another bar, timber bay
* naderman-santos medical clinic...where hub has scheduled plastic surgery in mexico
* ben's camera house
characters, major
* travis mcgee, our hero, beach bum, salvage operator, comfortably retired or working as the need fits him. in this story and the previous, too, travis has apparently switched to "boodles" gin...from his old stand-by of...i forget the name of the other, noted it in one review
* meyer, travis's economist friend and neighbor at bahia mar
* van harder, 50-ish, born-again christian, ship's captain, married to...eleanor ann, i think. owned the queen bee iii, sold, got a qb iv, lost it at sea, a ship ran it over, lost two men, captains for others, is accused of drinking when lawless went overboard
* hubbard lawless, 40-41-yr-old, deceased/drowned, rich, timber bay elite, married to julia, teenaged daughters
* billy jean bailey, travis's first dame in this story, plays piano at the western sky lounge, been there three years
* nicky noyes, part or whole indian, former or current employee of hubbard lawless, fights travis in parking lot
* kristen petersen...purportedly left timber bay after the drowning, and allegedly she and hub lawless were an item. norwegian or scandinavian, architect who worked on one of hub's projects that has since failed.
* julie lawless, hub's wife, previously julie herron
* haggemann "hack" ames, sheriff, timber bay area, dixie county
* john tuckerman, hub's right-hand man, vp of four of hub's corporations, with hub on the julia the night hub went overboard, is "38" but probably 40, now drinks heavy
* gretel howard, john tuckerman's sister, and she shows on the scene late...she'd been there before travis and meyer showed, but she showed after the fact. had been married to a billy howard, who ran off with the other woman...gretel is travis's dame, after at least one false start or two with a couple others
characters minor, with names, w/o a name, scene-setting characters
* rance fazzo, van harder sold the queen bee iii to him
* weldron...guy that hubbard lawless sold his tuna company to
* previous captain of julia got into whiskey women
* duke davis...travis was with him march 22nd, getting a boat back
* arthur wilkinson/chookie mccall...bahia mar regulars and there is another story where they feature
* eleanor ann, nursing, timber bay...van harder's wife
* mate on julia, deegee walloway, off on the march 22nd, he and travis had a knock-down fight in the past...guy who gets his rocks off by fighting, happy-camper fighter, happy-drunk fighter
* father dying, cancer, waycross, georgia
* four in party the night of the 22nd: hub, one
* two, john tuckerman, hub's right-hand man
* two young women:
* felicia called 'licia ambar, works the top forty music over baygate plaza mall
* and michele called mishy burns, waitress at the cove, and b.j. bailey called her close to a whore, even so. she is a 22-year-old doris day
* cindy thorner and her husband bob, have grown kids, saw travis and meyer at the first restaurant...."a florida conservationist is a fellow who bought his waterfront property last week."
* emmitt allbritton, chairman of the board...meyer acquires several cover letters, at least one or all three are signed by emmitt, who owed meyer a favor
* doc stuart...van harder had him check him over
* van harder got one-day work with billy maxwell
* peggy, at zzest travel
* a girl at the rental desk (vehicle/travis)
* a fat man labored mightily to improve his stroke
* a few swimmers
* two girls in pastel tennis dresses
* a gallery of about a dozen people
* the young man in the sailor suit (bartender/waiters/resort)
* fellow with a sheaf of menus
* a pretty waitress with frosted hair
* manager, jack the manager, at the resort...no, not jack...this guy's name is dave bellamy, and meyer and him are now pals
* george glenn, if you're talking real estate, glenn is the man to see according to dave bellamy
* a few couple whispering together & groping each other
* some noisy salesmen at the bar
* mitch, the barman
* danny, agent of b.j. bailey, and boyfriend, but died
* a man standing against the glow
* a shirt-sleeved, necktied man thick around the middle...manager jack...of the whole resort i guess
* two young men in warm-up suits volleying
* top man at coast national bank & trust, devlin j boggs
* people crisscrossing the broad expanse of carpeted floor
* two men seated across the deck from him (boggs)
* the secretary (boggs)
* down to about 40 people from the 120 (hub's businesses/employees)
* julie lawless father, d jake herron, state legislator until the day he died
* harold payne, bank's attorney, elfording, payne and morehouse
* walter olivera, with the timber bay journal
* lou latzov, with glennmore realty
* the people who hurried by the waiting room door
* a uniformed woman came briskly in
* deputy wright fletcher...sent to mexico to check out a hub sighting
* an investigator from the insurance company (with fletcher)...his wife's name is madge
* orlando person, female, wrote note, enclosed photo
* her boyfriend thinks she was in san diego with a sister
* dozens of very qualified surgeons...in mexico
* the sheriff was married to a drunk...tree ended that
* some red-hots from tampa, 3 of them...hub fixed em good
* locals from the marts of trade: secretaries, brokers, salesmen, city hall types, lawyers, dentists, contractors...at the captain's galley where travis meets walter
* harry dister, runs the bay journal
* hub's mother, father, older brother killed, plane accident while he was 2nd year at uf/gainesville
* tracy and lynn, the teenaged daughters of lawless, 16 and 14
* john tuckerman's only family is a sister
* the pregnant ladies eating ice cream cones
* lines of children on school holiday
* an extraordinarily beautiful woman...miss ambar...noted above, too...from honduras...and macdonald nails i think, the dialect...that she believes she has lost, chee
* a small white-haired lady with a smudge of dust on her cheek, carol, miss ambar's boss at top forty
* mishy's girlfriend in clearwater...her boyfriend
* some man...police
* a salesman was playing pinball
* a chubby white-haired couple
* a tall hollow-chested bartender, harley, at the cove where mishy works waitress
* another waitress had joined her
* a couple of construction workers
* customers with four kids
* a game warden...d jake herron and travis had previous experience nailing a bad game warden
* two women were working with julia lawless getting stuff ready for a sale: doris jennings and freddy ellis, mother of one of the girls in the tennis outfits from earlier
* 1 lawless daughter...second girl from earlier in tennis outfit...pastel?...lynn
* sandra ellis...was the loswer in that tennis match
* rob gaylor, senior trust officer at the bank
* harley had 2 helpers behind the bar
* two couples (pancho villa regulars...w/nick noyes)
* fritz plous, character in bar, works at the paper, subject to autointoxication
* brenda...getel names her small green car
* the wife of the guy who put up north pass vista, a harp player
* billy howard, long gone husband of gretel howard, john tuckerman's sister
* "steven pickering"...and alias that hub created
* an old pro at a ski camp/tennis camp where gretel worked
* the old pro's sister
* rich kids at a summer camp where gretel worked
* young mothers...and owners, same place
* fat farm california ladies, where gretel worked
* joggers, bookkeeper, at a camp/farm, billy ran off w/the bookkeeper
* garner wedley, texaco station...rented a car to hub
* a slight bald-headed man...at north pass vista
* a paste-white lady with sulfur curls
* office manager at north pass vista, stanley moran
* the man behind the desk looked like a lufthansa pilot
* marjory took the call...at the marina...coop's old lady
* jack case, howie villetti...whipped by deegee walloway
* lucille, the bartender/owner
* two young women who were going in as i was leaving
* the boy pumping gas
* local insurance agent, ralph stennenmacher
* a small group of men
* people began the yelling & the screaming
* people ran out of the north bay resort
* a trucker was lighting some highway flares
* a white-haired man slumped against the horn ring...mr whittaker
* a plump blonde lady, mrs whittaker
* a couple of women in our crowd
* a husky kid about sixteen
* nurses rustled by, a child was crying, two young, thin black girls came in & sat on the couch
* dr. ted scudder
* a drowned and dark blue girl (story/past)...macdonald salts his tellings with an assortment of asides from his past both distant and near
* a 13-year-old girl sit on a gravel pile
* a sturdy woman typed slowly
* a gigantic deputy came in, rudy
* meyer, japan, an audience, wrong audience
* a small japanese man who stood in the wings (story, past, this time meyer's)
* rust hills...friend of travis and meyer...another aside, and the author of the book noted below in the next list, real people
* earnest newscaster wtvt channel 2
* wife of one of the nation's most important citizens
* the girl...at the insurance agent's office
* dora danniker, serf-person...secretary
* the guy she was with, timmy, her boyfriend, travis threw him up in a tree
* the office door opened and a man came out
* a list of five people swearing...that they saw hub in mexico
* mr chance mckay, an atlanta banker...to do with k.p.
* an elderly aunt...of meyer, and another aside, this one to do w/the devil
* couple of fifteen-year-old kids
* a very pretty young girl, tracy lawless, one of the lawless daughters
* ben, of ben's camera house...and the 2nd story in a row in which photos or the like figure big big...it worked once, why not use it again?
* the lady who'd been in mexico...
* roberto, he of the warm blood and the loving nature
* townsend, a doctor
* three other girls from the insurance office...with the lady in mexico
* an old man in uniform
famous, real, fictionally famous people so forth so on
* thoreau, a quote before story opens: a man needs only to be turned around once with his eyes shut in this world to be lost.
* our good lord jesus
* caloosas (floridian indians)
* joe pass (guitar)
* red norvo (music)
* cinderella
* jesus (singular and unaffiliated)
* l. rust hills, how to be good...if opportunity knocks, best to take advantage of it, rather than to leave one feeling forlorn.
* doris day
* shylock holmes
* prince valiant (haircut)
* ben franklin (glasses)
* pancho villa
* wwii israeli hero (fighting w/the british) dayan
* kissinger
* bernard de voto, quote: the rat stops gnawing in the wood, the dungeon walls withdraw, the weight is lifted. your pulse steadies and the sun has found your heart. the day was not bad, the season has not been bad, and there is sense and even promise in going on. meyer quotes him
* lawrence of arabia
* eydie (music/song)
* the devil (first occasion...and here's something to consider...he makes a point of showing the devil as a white man. yeah, we've all heard the jesus as white boy theme. first ever i heard the devil as white boy theme.)
* ilya prigogine, belgium mathematician, dissipative structures
* popeye
* clark gable
* billy carter
* spillane
* gene kelly
October 7, 2015
This is one of the later Travis McGee novels, the second one I have read, and it had a pretty decent plot with some well sketched support characters all effected, and in some cases implicated, when a small town tycoon goes missing, suspected drowned after falling off his own yacht.
McGee's old friend Van Harder, who was skippering the yacht at the time, is amongst those with an interest in changing the official story, so he hires the expert "salvage consultant" to save his reputation.
In this book McGee does more than just beat people up, bed a couple of ladies and solve the mystery (although he does all those things too). He also does a bit of soul-searching and gets a bit miffed.
Yet the main problem with this novel for me was still McGee himself, as it was with The Deep Blue Good-by, the previous tale I had read a couple of years back. I don't warm to his particular brand of romanticism as I do with, say, Lew Archer or Matt Scudder.
I'm not sure why. I'm going to try another of his books soon and I may be more convinced by him after a third go.
p.s. The front cover of my edition of this book has the head and shoulders portrait of an invisible man in a ten gallon hat with a cigar where the mouth should be. With Travis McGee, I would say that John D MacDonald achieved something not unlike trying to smoke without a mouth -
You can get close, but no cigar.
McGee's old friend Van Harder, who was skippering the yacht at the time, is amongst those with an interest in changing the official story, so he hires the expert "salvage consultant" to save his reputation.
In this book McGee does more than just beat people up, bed a couple of ladies and solve the mystery (although he does all those things too). He also does a bit of soul-searching and gets a bit miffed.
Yet the main problem with this novel for me was still McGee himself, as it was with The Deep Blue Good-by, the previous tale I had read a couple of years back. I don't warm to his particular brand of romanticism as I do with, say, Lew Archer or Matt Scudder.
I'm not sure why. I'm going to try another of his books soon and I may be more convinced by him after a third go.
p.s. The front cover of my edition of this book has the head and shoulders portrait of an invisible man in a ten gallon hat with a cigar where the mouth should be. With Travis McGee, I would say that John D MacDonald achieved something not unlike trying to smoke without a mouth -
You can get close, but no cigar.
July 4, 2022
I know MacDonald's Travis McGee series is out-of-date. I know the books contain more than a little misogyny and some casual racism.
And yet.
And yet all of your favorites are problematic anyway, right? So you have to ask yourself if the writing and the reading and the pleasure you get from it is worth the tradeoff. For me, MacDonald's series is absolutely worth it.
"... A paste-white lady with sulfur curls, wearing bullfighter pants and a leopard to, slouched in a doorway and gave me a kissy-looking smile. Spillane had shot her in the stomach a generation ago, and she was still working the streets."
That allusion to Mickey Spillane's "I, the Jury," was brilliantly done in the context of the scene where Travis McGee is observing the Florida around him and deep in his feelings. A few lines later:
"I wadded it to walnut size and threw it some fifteen feet at a trash container. The swing lid of the trash container was open about an inch and a half. If it went in, I would live forever. It didn't even touch the edges as it disappeared inside. I wished it was all a sound stage, that the orchestra was out of sight. I wished I was Gene Kelly. I wished I could dance."
And yet.
And yet all of your favorites are problematic anyway, right? So you have to ask yourself if the writing and the reading and the pleasure you get from it is worth the tradeoff. For me, MacDonald's series is absolutely worth it.
"... A paste-white lady with sulfur curls, wearing bullfighter pants and a leopard to, slouched in a doorway and gave me a kissy-looking smile. Spillane had shot her in the stomach a generation ago, and she was still working the streets."
That allusion to Mickey Spillane's "I, the Jury," was brilliantly done in the context of the scene where Travis McGee is observing the Florida around him and deep in his feelings. A few lines later:
"I wadded it to walnut size and threw it some fifteen feet at a trash container. The swing lid of the trash container was open about an inch and a half. If it went in, I would live forever. It didn't even touch the edges as it disappeared inside. I wished it was all a sound stage, that the orchestra was out of sight. I wished I was Gene Kelly. I wished I could dance."
February 16, 2024
2.5 rounding up because I am in the sun the sand and the sea.
Read
December 19, 2013Some years back an old friend of mine, now sadly passed on, advised me: "The Travis McGee novels are all pretty much interchangeable--until you get to THE EMPTY COPPER SEA, when things really begin to shift." As I've been reading this series in order, slowly savoring each one, I admit I was looking forward to seeing what mysteries COPPER would hold.
On a narrative level, the differences are not significant, and in fact, in many ways, the plot of COPPER mirrors that of its predecessor, THE DREADFUL LEMON SKY: Trav and Meyer work themselves into the social fabric of a small Florida town (one of JDM's favorite themes) in order to clear the name and salvage the reputation of a friend who can't do so for him/herself.
However, in the case of COPPER, Meyer takes more of a lead on the investigation, which gives McGee time to . . . reflect. And mull. And think about his life, and what it all means, and opportunities missed, and what might have been. We've seen philosophizing before (readers have written the series off due to a dislike of it), but for the first time the interior monologues seem to be more McGee's than MacDonald's--it's as if McGee is starting to come off the page as a three-dimensional character.
The novel is not slow, but the mood is melancholy, and there is a very different sort of ending [SPOILER ALERT]--the lead female character doesn't die in the end. So, will she be back in the next episode? And is that one of the real markers of the change in the series's direction?
Some Travis McGee novels are Superb, and some are merely Good. I'd rate this one Very Good, and am restraining myself from ripping right into GREEN (hah): I promised I'd only read Travis in warm climates, so it will be late January in Key West.
And, as always, some examples of JDM's wonderful prose style:
I woke up at two in the morning with the light still on and the Guide open and face down on my chest. I stayed awake just long enough to be sure I didn't sink back into the same dream that awoke me. I had been underwater, swimming behind Van Harder, following the steady stroke of his swim fins and wondering why I had to be burdened with tanks, weights, and mask while he swam free. Then he turned and I saw small silver fish swimming in and out of his empty eye sockets.
and
The world is full of contention and contentious people. They will not tell you the time of day or day of the month without their little display of hostility. I have argued with Meyer about it. It is more than a reflex, I think. It is an affirmation of importance. Each one is saying, "I can afford to be nasty to you because I don't need and favors from you, buster." It is also, perhaps, a warmed application of today's necessity to be cool. . . . If I were King of the World I would roam my kingdom in rags, incognito, dropping fortunes onto the people who are nice with no special reasons to be nice, and having my troops lop off the heads of the mean, small, embittered little bastards who try to inflate their self-esteem by stomping on yours. I would start the lopping among post-office employees, bank tellers, bus drivers, and pharmacists. I would go on to checkout clerks, bellboys, prowl-car cops, telephone operations, and U.S. Embassy clerks. By God, there would be so many heads rolling here and there, the world would look like a berserk bowling alley. Meyer says this shows a tad of hostility."
On a narrative level, the differences are not significant, and in fact, in many ways, the plot of COPPER mirrors that of its predecessor, THE DREADFUL LEMON SKY: Trav and Meyer work themselves into the social fabric of a small Florida town (one of JDM's favorite themes) in order to clear the name and salvage the reputation of a friend who can't do so for him/herself.
However, in the case of COPPER, Meyer takes more of a lead on the investigation, which gives McGee time to . . . reflect. And mull. And think about his life, and what it all means, and opportunities missed, and what might have been. We've seen philosophizing before (readers have written the series off due to a dislike of it), but for the first time the interior monologues seem to be more McGee's than MacDonald's--it's as if McGee is starting to come off the page as a three-dimensional character.
The novel is not slow, but the mood is melancholy, and there is a very different sort of ending [SPOILER ALERT]--the lead female character doesn't die in the end. So, will she be back in the next episode? And is that one of the real markers of the change in the series's direction?
Some Travis McGee novels are Superb, and some are merely Good. I'd rate this one Very Good, and am restraining myself from ripping right into GREEN (hah): I promised I'd only read Travis in warm climates, so it will be late January in Key West.
And, as always, some examples of JDM's wonderful prose style:
I woke up at two in the morning with the light still on and the Guide open and face down on my chest. I stayed awake just long enough to be sure I didn't sink back into the same dream that awoke me. I had been underwater, swimming behind Van Harder, following the steady stroke of his swim fins and wondering why I had to be burdened with tanks, weights, and mask while he swam free. Then he turned and I saw small silver fish swimming in and out of his empty eye sockets.
and
The world is full of contention and contentious people. They will not tell you the time of day or day of the month without their little display of hostility. I have argued with Meyer about it. It is more than a reflex, I think. It is an affirmation of importance. Each one is saying, "I can afford to be nasty to you because I don't need and favors from you, buster." It is also, perhaps, a warmed application of today's necessity to be cool. . . . If I were King of the World I would roam my kingdom in rags, incognito, dropping fortunes onto the people who are nice with no special reasons to be nice, and having my troops lop off the heads of the mean, small, embittered little bastards who try to inflate their self-esteem by stomping on yours. I would start the lopping among post-office employees, bank tellers, bus drivers, and pharmacists. I would go on to checkout clerks, bellboys, prowl-car cops, telephone operations, and U.S. Embassy clerks. By God, there would be so many heads rolling here and there, the world would look like a berserk bowling alley. Meyer says this shows a tad of hostility."
September 6, 2021
John D. MacDonald wasn't good at taking Travis McGee out of his usual habitat - the east coast of Florida, with the islands offshore (Bimini is only about 50 miles from Florida, the Keys string south from the peninsula, and from Key West to the Caribbean island of Cuba is just 90 miles; it may not be technically correct to call these eastward islands, and the islands of the Caribbean, offshore from Florida, but in practice in these books they are). But in this book he manages it very well. He travels over to the western coast of Florida, to the fictional Timber Bay, to restore Van Harder's good name, Harder being one of those - nearly extinct in 2021, and dying out in 1978 when this book came out - who value a good name. The characters seem real, the town seems real, and especially the beach along the Gulf of Mexico where John Tuckerman and his sister Gretel Howard live seems real.
One wonders about Gretel. She is, in the entire series, the only woman McGee is ever genuinely serious about. In every book, or nearly every book, McGee preaches solemnly on the necessity of valuing women, of committing oneself to the woman one is with, yet in the next book the previous book's woman is gone without regret, and McGee replaces her without any qualms. But Gretel and McGee come together here on a permanent basis, and would've no doubt remained that way if she didn't die in the very next book. By the time The Empty Copper Sea came along MacDonald had been married for 41 years, so it can't be that Gretel indicates that he'd found the woman he wanted to spend his life with. But it sure seems to me that something had to suddenly spark this anomaly in the series, this aberration in Travis McGee's wife. Maybe I'm wrong, but there is no other woman in the entire series who seems so real to me, and it further seems to me that this is because no other woman in the series was as real to the author. And speculation aside, it's that realness which makes this book work even though it's in a made up location far from Fort Lauderdale, where McGee lives.
One wonders about Gretel. She is, in the entire series, the only woman McGee is ever genuinely serious about. In every book, or nearly every book, McGee preaches solemnly on the necessity of valuing women, of committing oneself to the woman one is with, yet in the next book the previous book's woman is gone without regret, and McGee replaces her without any qualms. But Gretel and McGee come together here on a permanent basis, and would've no doubt remained that way if she didn't die in the very next book. By the time The Empty Copper Sea came along MacDonald had been married for 41 years, so it can't be that Gretel indicates that he'd found the woman he wanted to spend his life with. But it sure seems to me that something had to suddenly spark this anomaly in the series, this aberration in Travis McGee's wife. Maybe I'm wrong, but there is no other woman in the entire series who seems so real to me, and it further seems to me that this is because no other woman in the series was as real to the author. And speculation aside, it's that realness which makes this book work even though it's in a made up location far from Fort Lauderdale, where McGee lives.
Read
August 2, 2011I've been taking a break from the Travis McGee novels, but I missed the intrigue and unique brand of humor, so I pulled out the next in the series a few night ago.
I loved it!
Travis falls in love, again. He saves his friend's fortune and reputation, again. Meyer is always there, playing Robin to Travis' Batman. The ending took me completely by surprise. Of all the ways I thought it would end, this option wasn't even in my peripheral vision. Just... wow.
One of my favorite things about this installment is the way Travis and Meyer play good cop-bad cop. There's something so in-tune about them, so symbiotic, that it wouldn't surprise me a bit if it were revealed in a later volume that they've been lovers this whole time. In Travis and Meyer, John D MacDonald has definitely created one of the most complex and interesting friendships in modern literature.
I loved it!
Travis falls in love, again. He saves his friend's fortune and reputation, again. Meyer is always there, playing Robin to Travis' Batman. The ending took me completely by surprise. Of all the ways I thought it would end, this option wasn't even in my peripheral vision. Just... wow.
One of my favorite things about this installment is the way Travis and Meyer play good cop-bad cop. There's something so in-tune about them, so symbiotic, that it wouldn't surprise me a bit if it were revealed in a later volume that they've been lovers this whole time. In Travis and Meyer, John D MacDonald has definitely created one of the most complex and interesting friendships in modern literature.
January 17, 2019
The book starts out flat, but has a different feel that the others in the series. First, Meyer leads the investigation. Second, no aliases or lying is used to get information. The usual number of women are bedded and there is some daring-do at the end, but McGee suffers angst issues and is startingto feel useless and old,
The prose remains elegant and crisp with shades of the romantic.
The prose remains elegant and crisp with shades of the romantic.
August 21, 2013
Good twist at the end. Actually, a couple of them.
McGee and Meyer at their finest.
Good story - a reminder of the early drug scene in the 70's
McGee and Meyer at their finest.
Good story - a reminder of the early drug scene in the 70's
February 22, 2022
Possibly my favorite of the Travis McGee series so far. For this book, at least, MacDonald has omitted the blatant sexism that has been so troublesome through much of the series.
August 25, 2022
I’ve always considered John D. McDonald one of the great writers of our time. I doubt seriously I'm alone in that perspective. Even other writers would see his work as special. It stands out. It's a reflection of the time in which he wrote, and it is a glorious snapshot of society, Florida, life, and a host of other things.
Van Harder gave up hard liquor years ago. His burgeoning love for Jesus replaced the need for alcohol. He was working for Hub Lawless at the time Hub either died or disappeared. While driving a boat filled with Hub Lawless and his friends, Van downed a ceremonial single drink someone handed him. Hub took the boat out with some people to celebrate. Among the passengers were Michelle Burns and Felicia Amber. Michelle was a free love share-and-share-alike kind of young woman who worked at a record store when she wasn’t working guys. Felicia was a Costa Rican-born young woman with a mouth noticeably full of teeth. They were on deck when Van Harder collapsed, presumably from the effects of the drink. While Harder was unconscious, Hub Lawless apparently fell overboard and died. But they never found a body.
Now, in a last-ditch desperate effort to clear his good name, Harder seeks help from Travis McGee. What really happened that night on that boat? Based on investigations done by the local sheriff, it looks like Hub Lawless faked his death and is living well with whatever money he absconded with down in Mexico.
But Travis McGee isn’t so sure. Lawless’s wife, Julie, is sure he’s dead. She knew about his almost-public affair with a young architect from Atlanta who convinced him to overextend himself and invest in property he could ill afford. It seems Kristin, the lovely architect, disappeared around the same time Hub Lawless did.
In typical Travis McGee fashion, he beds an emotionally fragile night-club piano player. As he furthers his investigation, he forgets the pianist in favor of Gretel. She’s the sister of one of Hub’s former employees. Gretel singlehandedly blew away all the midlife crisis self-pity stuff clogging Travis’s life and mind. Here’s how McDonald writes that scene:
“When she looked away, I had a very strange feeling. I felt as if I had shucked some kind of drab outer skin. It was old and brittle, and as I stretched and moved, it shattered and fell off. I could breathe more deeply. The Gulf was a sharper blue. There was wine in the air. I saw every grain of sand, every fragment of seashell, every movement of the beach grasses in the May breeze. It was an awakening. I was full of juices and thirsts, energies and hungers, and I wanted to laugh for no reason at all.”
That’s why you read McDonald. That kind of writing makes you become one with the book and keeps it with you for a long time. Every reader can identify with that single moment when a visceral attraction occurred in the moments following a first encounter.
(I’m indebted to Goodreads author and reviewer Bobby Underwood for including that quote in his review. I copied it from his review because he would have a better sense of punctuation and accuracy than I did. I had access only to the NLS audio edition.)
I always leave these books feeling hopeful McGee finally keeps the girl, whichever one it is in any given book. Much like the fictional James T. Kirk, who always found the new love interest on the new planet, McGee seems to move from woman to woman with each book. He remains lovable for me despite his impermanence.
The final scenes are thrilling and suspenseful. Naturally, McDonald leaves himself wiggle room where the romance is concerned. But it’s a great ending.
Van Harder gave up hard liquor years ago. His burgeoning love for Jesus replaced the need for alcohol. He was working for Hub Lawless at the time Hub either died or disappeared. While driving a boat filled with Hub Lawless and his friends, Van downed a ceremonial single drink someone handed him. Hub took the boat out with some people to celebrate. Among the passengers were Michelle Burns and Felicia Amber. Michelle was a free love share-and-share-alike kind of young woman who worked at a record store when she wasn’t working guys. Felicia was a Costa Rican-born young woman with a mouth noticeably full of teeth. They were on deck when Van Harder collapsed, presumably from the effects of the drink. While Harder was unconscious, Hub Lawless apparently fell overboard and died. But they never found a body.
Now, in a last-ditch desperate effort to clear his good name, Harder seeks help from Travis McGee. What really happened that night on that boat? Based on investigations done by the local sheriff, it looks like Hub Lawless faked his death and is living well with whatever money he absconded with down in Mexico.
But Travis McGee isn’t so sure. Lawless’s wife, Julie, is sure he’s dead. She knew about his almost-public affair with a young architect from Atlanta who convinced him to overextend himself and invest in property he could ill afford. It seems Kristin, the lovely architect, disappeared around the same time Hub Lawless did.
In typical Travis McGee fashion, he beds an emotionally fragile night-club piano player. As he furthers his investigation, he forgets the pianist in favor of Gretel. She’s the sister of one of Hub’s former employees. Gretel singlehandedly blew away all the midlife crisis self-pity stuff clogging Travis’s life and mind. Here’s how McDonald writes that scene:
“When she looked away, I had a very strange feeling. I felt as if I had shucked some kind of drab outer skin. It was old and brittle, and as I stretched and moved, it shattered and fell off. I could breathe more deeply. The Gulf was a sharper blue. There was wine in the air. I saw every grain of sand, every fragment of seashell, every movement of the beach grasses in the May breeze. It was an awakening. I was full of juices and thirsts, energies and hungers, and I wanted to laugh for no reason at all.”
That’s why you read McDonald. That kind of writing makes you become one with the book and keeps it with you for a long time. Every reader can identify with that single moment when a visceral attraction occurred in the moments following a first encounter.
(I’m indebted to Goodreads author and reviewer Bobby Underwood for including that quote in his review. I copied it from his review because he would have a better sense of punctuation and accuracy than I did. I had access only to the NLS audio edition.)
I always leave these books feeling hopeful McGee finally keeps the girl, whichever one it is in any given book. Much like the fictional James T. Kirk, who always found the new love interest on the new planet, McGee seems to move from woman to woman with each book. He remains lovable for me despite his impermanence.
The final scenes are thrilling and suspenseful. Naturally, McDonald leaves himself wiggle room where the romance is concerned. But it’s a great ending.
June 28, 2022
Way back in the 1970s when the Travis McGee series was still fresh, we had to wait about four years between the 16th and this the 17th in the series. McGee had a rough go in The Dreadful Lemon Sky, maybe he was done? No, MacDonald took a break from McGee and took on Florida developers and a hurricane in his massive 550+ page novel Condominium, which came out the year before this one did. The return of McGee here is a bit a of a disappointment. I won't say MacDonald was going through the motions, because McGee and Meyer do plenty of investigating, but McGee is world weary and needed a break so up comes a cream puff of a case to help an old friend recover his reputation. Minimal action with lots of talking and ruminating. The thin story about a businessman who liquidated most of his assets, faked his death, and disappeared with a hot woman, is regurgitated over and over by everyone McGee and Meyer talk to. Gets boring pretty quickly. There is a twist, which I won't spoil, as it comes at the end, and the boring story becomes a mystery solved. It was an OK read, but skippable without any loss to the McGee legacy.
February 11, 2024
I read a lot of John D. MacDonald's novels when I was a twenty-something. I adored mysteries (still do) and I read many, many novels in this genre. I may have read "The Empty Copper Sea" back then but I don't think so. At least I did not remember anything about it except that I recognized the main character, Travis McGee.
What I do remember is that I liked MacDonald's novels a lot back then. Now, I feel that they make a perfect beach book. The Empty Copper Sea was easy to read, action-packed and the good guy solves the mystery, gets the girl, and gets banged up a bit in the process.
I liked the characters in the book, although the story is dated (it was written in 1978, so...) Also, I did not figure out who the murderer was, although, as usual I suspected various people and as usual, I was wrong!
I would read more of the author's book if I was looking for an uncomplicated detective story that is a bit more hardened than a cozy mystery but not full of gruesome details. I also loved the title.
What I do remember is that I liked MacDonald's novels a lot back then. Now, I feel that they make a perfect beach book. The Empty Copper Sea was easy to read, action-packed and the good guy solves the mystery, gets the girl, and gets banged up a bit in the process.
I liked the characters in the book, although the story is dated (it was written in 1978, so...) Also, I did not figure out who the murderer was, although, as usual I suspected various people and as usual, I was wrong!
I would read more of the author's book if I was looking for an uncomplicated detective story that is a bit more hardened than a cozy mystery but not full of gruesome details. I also loved the title.
April 2, 2020
The Empty Copper Sea is a bit more sprawling, and more intricately plotted, than the previous two Travis McGee novels I've recently read in my 692-page, five novel hardback edition. As was the case in The Dreadful Lemon Sky, Travis and his trusty sidekick Meyer again become involved in an assignment that requires them to leave their comfortable surroundings in Fort Lauderdale. This time they head for Timber Bay, where they begin to slowly but surely peel back the layers of bad behavior and evil intent by numerous locals and eventually solve a crime, restore a reputation and allow something which might pass for Justice to prevail. Oh. And in the end, Travis "gets the girl". Maybe. (He's thinking about it. And so is she.) As always, there are lots of new characters, some likable and some not. And there is no shortage of unforeseen events. Vintage MacDonald. But maybe I need a tasty little fictional palate cleanser. I wonder what Spenser, Hawk and Susan are up to these days.
October 30, 2017
Another workmanlike thriller from the great Florida crime/mystery writer. This time, Travis and his pal Meyer try to solve the mystery of multimillionaire businessman, who may or may not have died in a suspicious boating accident; or he may have faked his own death, and disappeared in Mexico, with his lover and big $$ in tow. Along the way, Travis again finds love, or something like it. As usual, terrific descriptions of the Florida landscape and seascape. And some philosophical musings on the part of Travis.
August 12, 2021
This is my first time reading John D. MacDonald, and the Travis McGee series, but I plan to go back and read some more of this series. Great characters, interesting story, and I like the setting there in Florida, at Marina's reminds me of Doc Ford series. Travis decides to help a friend get his license back, after loosing it in a bungled fake death attempt by the guy he was working for, at least this is the story going around. Good fast paced story with lots of action.
May 30, 2017
This time round Travis is sought out by an old friend who has since lost his boat licence due to alleged negligence having lost nearly everything he hires Travis to investigate on the promise of a future IOU. Meyer & Travis travel down whilst the old friend brings Travis's houseboat The Busted Flush down. It would seem things are not quite how the official story states them to be and more digging reveals more secrets.
An excellent addition to the series, plenty of fast talk and fisticuffs. Good ending.
An excellent addition to the series, plenty of fast talk and fisticuffs. Good ending.
January 23, 2025
Just the best. 17th in the series of 21 Travis McGee books, Travis a bit older and becoming a bit more contemplative about his turn at the roulette wheel here on the great green planet earth. Knowing like all the really great runs at the roulette wheel it will eventually end.
The New York Times once referred to John D’s works as “the thinking person‘s beach books.”
Oh, and there is a woman or two…
I really enjoyed this one, remembering almost 0 from previous reads, I read it while at Panacea, Florida. I always read a John D book when I’m in Florida.
The New York Times once referred to John D’s works as “the thinking person‘s beach books.”
Oh, and there is a woman or two…
I really enjoyed this one, remembering almost 0 from previous reads, I read it while at Panacea, Florida. I always read a John D book when I’m in Florida.
January 31, 2018
What a great, fun romp! Even though it's outdated now, it's still worth reading. The story was full of derring-do. The writing was really good. The descriptions made me want to spend May on the Florida Caribbean beach, and I never really wanted to do that. The romantic adventures were exactly right. The women characters were as vivid as Travis McGee. You can't go wrong reading this one.
August 11, 2017
An okay entry in the McGee series.
December 12, 2018
Another great ride!
Another well written, captivating story. Mc Donald 's descriptions of action moments are great. And McGee always seems to put people in their place, like we wished we could. I have enjoyed many of his stories and keep coming back. I am never disappointed.
Another well written, captivating story. Mc Donald 's descriptions of action moments are great. And McGee always seems to put people in their place, like we wished we could. I have enjoyed many of his stories and keep coming back. I am never disappointed.
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