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Fletch #8
Fletch Won
Fletch Won
As a fledgling reporter, Fletch is doing more flailing than anything else. That and floating around from department to department trying to figure where he fits in. His managing editor’s got him pegged for the society pages, but the kind of society Fletch gets involved with is anything but polite.
Fletch Won
His first big interview, a millionaire lawyer with a crooked streak and an itch to give away some of his ill-gotten gains, ends up dead in the News-Tribune’s parking lot before Fletch can ask question number one. So Fletch ends up going after the murderer instead, and ends up learning a thing or two about crime and punishment.
Fletch Won
At the same time, he’s supposed to be covering (or maybe uncovering) a health spa that caters to all its clients needs, and gets hired as a very personal trainer. Never mind that he’s supposed to be getting married at the end of the week; Fletch has a few other engagements to take care of first.
As a fledgling reporter, Fletch is doing more flailing than anything else. That and floating around from department to department trying to figure where he fits in. His managing editor’s got him pegged for the society pages, but the kind of society Fletch gets involved with is anything but polite.
Fletch Won
His first big interview, a millionaire lawyer with a crooked streak and an itch to give away some of his ill-gotten gains, ends up dead in the News-Tribune’s parking lot before Fletch can ask question number one. So Fletch ends up going after the murderer instead, and ends up learning a thing or two about crime and punishment.
Fletch Won
At the same time, he’s supposed to be covering (or maybe uncovering) a health spa that caters to all its clients needs, and gets hired as a very personal trainer. Never mind that he’s supposed to be getting married at the end of the week; Fletch has a few other engagements to take care of first.
272 pages, Paperback
First published July 9, 1985
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 131 reviews
February 27, 2013
Hang on a second. I gotta start listening to Harold Faltermeyer's soundtrack while I write this review.
Fletch Won is the eighth book in the series, but it’s a prequel to the original Fletch. Young Irwin M. Fletcher is a Vietnam veteran trying to become a sports reporter, but he’s been stuck writing obituaries and headlines for his newspaper. His irreverent attitude angers his editor and gets him assigned to a fluff story about a wealthy criminal lawyer donating $5 million to an art museum, but the attorney is killed in the newspaper’s parking garage before Fletch even meets him.
Despite Fletch insisting that he should get to cover it, the murder is given to the paper’s bullying crime reporter, and Fletch is given the task of infiltrating a whore house masquerading as a gym instead. However, Fletch keeps digging into the attorney’s life which annoys his fiancé who thinks he’ll get fired right before their wedding.
I noted in my review of Fletch that there’s a curious thing about the print and movie versions of the character. While Chevy Chase’s portrayal captured the smug smart-ass nature of Fletch, the film one was also more of a goofball with funny disguises and pratfalls. There’s sometimes an edgier meanness to Fletch in the books.
Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and there’s certainly no shortage of smart ass protagonists in crime fiction, but Fletch’s tone frequently makes him seem like kind of a asshole and puts him far down the list of my favorite fictional sleuths.
Fletch Won is the eighth book in the series, but it’s a prequel to the original Fletch. Young Irwin M. Fletcher is a Vietnam veteran trying to become a sports reporter, but he’s been stuck writing obituaries and headlines for his newspaper. His irreverent attitude angers his editor and gets him assigned to a fluff story about a wealthy criminal lawyer donating $5 million to an art museum, but the attorney is killed in the newspaper’s parking garage before Fletch even meets him.
Despite Fletch insisting that he should get to cover it, the murder is given to the paper’s bullying crime reporter, and Fletch is given the task of infiltrating a whore house masquerading as a gym instead. However, Fletch keeps digging into the attorney’s life which annoys his fiancé who thinks he’ll get fired right before their wedding.
I noted in my review of Fletch that there’s a curious thing about the print and movie versions of the character. While Chevy Chase’s portrayal captured the smug smart-ass nature of Fletch, the film one was also more of a goofball with funny disguises and pratfalls. There’s sometimes an edgier meanness to Fletch in the books.
Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and there’s certainly no shortage of smart ass protagonists in crime fiction, but Fletch’s tone frequently makes him seem like kind of a asshole and puts him far down the list of my favorite fictional sleuths.
January 26, 2024
The eighth published Fletch novel is a prequel chronicling Fletch's first real scoop as a young reporter just starting out. The story is essentially a murder investigation that also sees the smug, irreverent, wise cracking Fletch go undercover inside a prostitution ring. His keys to success seem to be a total disregard for authority and a willingness to shamelessly humiliate himself. McDonald strikes a nice balance between plentiful madcap action and hijinks and what turns out to be a solid mystery with some weighty elements and seriously shady characters.
August 31, 2018
Back to the publication order re-read of the Fletch novels. It took a while to restart after the dreadful Carioca, Fletch, but this is back on form. Sparkling dialogue, fast pace and witty repartee.
A welcome return to form.
A welcome return to form.
September 6, 2014
My introduction to Gregory McDonald began with Fletch Won, the eighth mystery featuring wise guy newspaper reporter I.M. Fletcher. Published in 1985, the novel is actually a prequel chronicling Fletch as he chases down his first big story. Having grown up watching the movie Fletch (which was based on the 1974 novel of the same name), I couldn't get the voice or attitude of Chevy Chase out of my head while reading this book, which does recall certain plot elements from the film while at the same time, feels light in the loafers.
Fletch is introduced his third month on staff at the News Tribune. His editor, the acerbic Frank Jaffe, started Fletch off writing headlines, but after submissions like WESTERN CAN CO. SITS ON ITS ASSETS, shifted him to obituaries. Fletch's habit of digging for the truth resulted in more unprintable work. Begging to cover sports, Fletch is instead assigned to the society beat and given a piece on Donald Habeck, a defense attorney who's due to announce a donation of $5 million to a local museum.
Before Fletch can meet the philanthropist, Donald Habeck is shot and killed in the News Tribune parking lot. The paper's crime reporter Biff Wilson has jurisdiction over the story, but Fletch begins digging, provoked by his colleague's want of investigative skills and lazy determination that this was a gangland execution. Fletch beats both Wilson and plainclothes cop Lt. Gomez to Habeck's home, where Fletch is coaxed into the swimming pool by a strange old bird who claims to be Mrs. Habeck. Later, the gardener informs Fletch that he's never seen the woman before.
Because this is a mystery novel, Fletch is assigned what at the time appears to be a totally unrelated case, that of the Ben Franklyn Friend Service, an escort company that managed to wiggle its way into free advertising in the News Tribune under Frank Jaffe's watch. Fletch is mortified at being asked to go undercover at an escort service because he's to be married on Saturday. His fiancee Barbara works at a flower shop and while giving the sarcastic journalist his space, is busy making big plans for their future.
The chief reason to read Gregory McDonald is his dialogue, which races by often without character names serving as speed bumps.
"Messages for you," said the resource desk's Mary over the car phone. "Someone named Barbara called. Sounds like a personal message."
"Yes?"
"We're not supposed to take too many personal messages, you know."
"Ah, come on, Mary. Be a sport." Fletch's hunger, the morning's heat, the bright sunlight, made his eyes and head ache.
"Message is, 'Did you eat all the pizza yourself? All is forgiven. Please phone.'"
The reference to pizza made his tum-tum beat a tom-tom.
"Well?" Mary asked.
"Well what?"
"Did you eat all the pizza yourself?"
"Mary, that's a personal question. No personal questions, please."
"You did. I think you ate the pizza yourself. There's nothing worse than expecting someone to bring you a pizza and that someone eats it all himself."
Being a fan of the Chevy Chase film, I wasn't surprised that Fletch comes on like a major league smart ass. When confronting cops or solving the mystery, the character's prep school wit hit home. At other times, it becomes repetitive. I often wondered why Fletch bothered going into journalism, with its monotonous typewriter component, when he'd seem much more comfortable, and maybe meet more women, bagging groceries at Trader Joe's.
I was surprised by how chaste the character was. This is a very lighthearted, PG-13 romp with no sex or violence. Fletch's ears turn positively red at the prospect of having to go near an escort service and he's strictly hands off when it comes to being alone with his fiancee. I got the impression that McDonald might blush if a young woman smiled at him at a church picnic. It wasn't a bad choice but a bewildering one that caught me off guard.
One of the things that disappointed me about Fletch Won is how every character sounds alike, slipping into the same banter as Fletch in order to navigate a conversation with him. In McDonald's world, everybody's got a comeback. It's a little too cute.
Fletch's fiancee Barbara has got to be one of the most useless characters I've ever come across and in fact, none of the female characters in the book stood out much (McDonald's church picnic inclinations finally hamstring his fiction, I think).
The novel has no sense of place, no atmosphere. The newspapers are fictitious, landmarks non-existent and I'm positive that the words "Los Angeles" were never mentioned. It gives the book a very bland feel.
I guess whether or not McDonald is to your liking comes down to whether you're in the mood for a detective mystery that slams you through a wall and features all sorts of lurid detail, or is a lark, almost a joke book. At 264 pages, I shot through this paperback in three days, so it is a light, effortless read. It's not a bad novel, but one I can barely recommend. Based on what I found here, I doubt I'll be returning to Fletch again.
Fletch is introduced his third month on staff at the News Tribune. His editor, the acerbic Frank Jaffe, started Fletch off writing headlines, but after submissions like WESTERN CAN CO. SITS ON ITS ASSETS, shifted him to obituaries. Fletch's habit of digging for the truth resulted in more unprintable work. Begging to cover sports, Fletch is instead assigned to the society beat and given a piece on Donald Habeck, a defense attorney who's due to announce a donation of $5 million to a local museum.
Before Fletch can meet the philanthropist, Donald Habeck is shot and killed in the News Tribune parking lot. The paper's crime reporter Biff Wilson has jurisdiction over the story, but Fletch begins digging, provoked by his colleague's want of investigative skills and lazy determination that this was a gangland execution. Fletch beats both Wilson and plainclothes cop Lt. Gomez to Habeck's home, where Fletch is coaxed into the swimming pool by a strange old bird who claims to be Mrs. Habeck. Later, the gardener informs Fletch that he's never seen the woman before.
Because this is a mystery novel, Fletch is assigned what at the time appears to be a totally unrelated case, that of the Ben Franklyn Friend Service, an escort company that managed to wiggle its way into free advertising in the News Tribune under Frank Jaffe's watch. Fletch is mortified at being asked to go undercover at an escort service because he's to be married on Saturday. His fiancee Barbara works at a flower shop and while giving the sarcastic journalist his space, is busy making big plans for their future.
The chief reason to read Gregory McDonald is his dialogue, which races by often without character names serving as speed bumps.
"Messages for you," said the resource desk's Mary over the car phone. "Someone named Barbara called. Sounds like a personal message."
"Yes?"
"We're not supposed to take too many personal messages, you know."
"Ah, come on, Mary. Be a sport." Fletch's hunger, the morning's heat, the bright sunlight, made his eyes and head ache.
"Message is, 'Did you eat all the pizza yourself? All is forgiven. Please phone.'"
The reference to pizza made his tum-tum beat a tom-tom.
"Well?" Mary asked.
"Well what?"
"Did you eat all the pizza yourself?"
"Mary, that's a personal question. No personal questions, please."
"You did. I think you ate the pizza yourself. There's nothing worse than expecting someone to bring you a pizza and that someone eats it all himself."
Being a fan of the Chevy Chase film, I wasn't surprised that Fletch comes on like a major league smart ass. When confronting cops or solving the mystery, the character's prep school wit hit home. At other times, it becomes repetitive. I often wondered why Fletch bothered going into journalism, with its monotonous typewriter component, when he'd seem much more comfortable, and maybe meet more women, bagging groceries at Trader Joe's.
I was surprised by how chaste the character was. This is a very lighthearted, PG-13 romp with no sex or violence. Fletch's ears turn positively red at the prospect of having to go near an escort service and he's strictly hands off when it comes to being alone with his fiancee. I got the impression that McDonald might blush if a young woman smiled at him at a church picnic. It wasn't a bad choice but a bewildering one that caught me off guard.
One of the things that disappointed me about Fletch Won is how every character sounds alike, slipping into the same banter as Fletch in order to navigate a conversation with him. In McDonald's world, everybody's got a comeback. It's a little too cute.
Fletch's fiancee Barbara has got to be one of the most useless characters I've ever come across and in fact, none of the female characters in the book stood out much (McDonald's church picnic inclinations finally hamstring his fiction, I think).
The novel has no sense of place, no atmosphere. The newspapers are fictitious, landmarks non-existent and I'm positive that the words "Los Angeles" were never mentioned. It gives the book a very bland feel.
I guess whether or not McDonald is to your liking comes down to whether you're in the mood for a detective mystery that slams you through a wall and features all sorts of lurid detail, or is a lark, almost a joke book. At 264 pages, I shot through this paperback in three days, so it is a light, effortless read. It's not a bad novel, but one I can barely recommend. Based on what I found here, I doubt I'll be returning to Fletch again.
June 20, 2014
Fletch Won is the first (chronologically), in the series, whilst being the eighth book to be published (Don't you just love prequels? (insert sarcastic wink here)). The first chapter introduces us to the wise-cracking, rookie reporter being assigned to interview a lawyer who is donating $5M to an art museum. This same lawyer is found "shot dead" (the only thing "shot live" used to be sit-com's) in the newspaper's parking lot. The fun begins when Fletch is held at gunpoint in a liquor store for asking directions and then is conned out of his bourbon-soaked clothes by a woman claiming to be the dead man's wife.
The literal riot at the end makes Fletch Won well worth reading.
The literal riot at the end makes Fletch Won well worth reading.
Read
March 9, 2023forgot to review the 1st one last summer but i remember it was like a puzzle box where everything snapped into place @ the end w/ an almost audible *click.* this one was brilliantly scathing on the topic of greedy law firms but it didn't go *click.* those *clicks* are rare, man... you gotta cherish them
August 27, 2020
Another amusing little Fletch farce!
June 24, 2024
Back on track. After the first six Fletch books, which ranged from "I liked" to "I loved", the seventh just disappointed me completely. Now, the eighth in the series is a return to form, but only in the "liked" category. #8 can be considered a prequel, as all the events happen prior to the other books, and flesh out his background that is referenced throughout those. He's a rookie journalist in this one, and manages to stay ahead of his competition at his newspaper to solve a murder that just happens to occur in their own parking lot!
January 13, 2009
Well, let me think; where to start? Ye gods.
This story, a sequel, or more accurately, a prequel, chronicles the start of investigative journalist Irwin M. Fletcher's career.
Marked by quick wit and a dizzying blur of action, thought, and some seemingly unrelated events that somehow puzzle themselves out yet keep the reader guessing I have to say; I'm glad I picked it up, and I'm glad I can finally put it down. The author really sells you on the details and backgrounds, adding things purely for flavor that enhanced the story in ways I'd not have thought of until you sit back to play the whole story through in your mind.
Definitely more cerebral than many modern day stories. I enjoyed it.
This story, a sequel, or more accurately, a prequel, chronicles the start of investigative journalist Irwin M. Fletcher's career.
Marked by quick wit and a dizzying blur of action, thought, and some seemingly unrelated events that somehow puzzle themselves out yet keep the reader guessing I have to say; I'm glad I picked it up, and I'm glad I can finally put it down. The author really sells you on the details and backgrounds, adding things purely for flavor that enhanced the story in ways I'd not have thought of until you sit back to play the whole story through in your mind.
Definitely more cerebral than many modern day stories. I enjoyed it.
August 9, 2019
★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
This is chronologically the first Fletch novel, he's a rookie reporter, who's been bounced around from headline writer, to obituaries, to wedding announcements, and is finally sent to the Society pages—with a warning. Fit in, and don't make any trouble or he'll be unemployed. His first assignment is to meet with an attorney, Donald Habeck, in the publisher's office to discuss a major donation he'll be making to a local museum and do a puff piece about it. Fletch objects, wanting to do real news—the kind of stuff he'll later be known for. His editor (Frank Jaffe, a name known to those who've read Fletch and Fletch and the Widow Bradley) refuses, insisting that this is his assignment—and maybe later he'll get a chance to do something else.
There's a catch—Habeck is murdered in the newspaper's parking lot on his way to this meeting. Fletch jumps on the opportunity to report on this, but the senior crime reporter shoos him off (and Jaffe). Fletch tries to exercise squatter's rights, but no one is having any of it. Naturally, this means that Fletch will ignore this and will investigate the murder on his own—and typically is a few steps ahead of both the police and the senior crime writer.
In the meantime, he has to do his actual job (at least until he has something he can print). There's another story they want Fletch to work on, there's a local "escort service" parading itself as a fitness establishment—Jaffe insists that Fletch do an expose about them. To stay employed, Fletch agrees—but threatens the most detailed and explicit expense report ever. This isn't a story that appeals to Fletch—I don't think he cares too much if this service is just close to prostitution, or if it's the actual thing—and he has better things to do with his time. Also, he's about to get married, the last thing his fiancé is going to want is him hanging around a brothel all day.
The opening chapter is a hoot. As are several of the encounters Fletch has with the members of Donald Habeck's family (particularly his wife)—and Alston Chambers never fails to be amusing. The escort service story is fun, and ends up being the kind of thing that Fletch can write about—but its main purpose is to give Mcdonald an opportunity to opine on our cultural obsession with beauty, health, and so on, while causing problems for Fletch's personal life. There's not a lot of meat to this story, but there's a lot of fun. On the other hand, the murder investigation is great and vintage Fletch. It's the best part of the book (as a mystery novel, I guess it should be, right?)
All in all, a decent Fletch novel—full of interesting characters, a nice twist, Fletch bucking all sorts of authority (police, veteran reporters, Frank Jaffee), and more than a few amusing situations. It works as an origin story, how did he become the sort of reporter we know, etc. As I mentioned earlier, we even see young Alston Chambers -- just starting as an associate in a powerful law firm. But—and this is a big but— this places Fletch at the newspaper we know he ends his newspaper career with as a rookie, as a man about to be married (for the first time). We know there's not a lot of time between the end of his first marriage and Fletch, but there's some. Enough for a second marriage and the Window Bradley events, but not much more. What there isn't time for is the past referred to in Confess, Fletch, Fletch's Fortune and even hinted at in The Man Who -- and the first two of those depend on Fletch's history to work. Unless we're to believe that his wives let him leave the state, work in a variety of other papers, developing a Fletchian reputation, move back to the same paper he started his career in (with the same senior editor), and then hit him up for alimony and still be carrying a torch for him. It stretches credulity a bit too much for me to stomach. The next book, Fletch, Too, doesn't help things.
Does that ruin Fletch Won for me? Not totally, but that alone keeps it out of my personal top-tier Fletch novels and rank it slightly above The Widow Bradley (only for the chuckles it gives me). Clearly, McDonald isn't as picky about this sort of thing as many of his readers are, but man, that rankles. Still, it's fun, it features entertaining characters— some odd poetry—and enough Fletchisms to keep you happy. It's a good time, and if you ignore what it suggests about the rest of the series, you should have a good time.
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
This is chronologically the first Fletch novel, he's a rookie reporter, who's been bounced around from headline writer, to obituaries, to wedding announcements, and is finally sent to the Society pages—with a warning. Fit in, and don't make any trouble or he'll be unemployed. His first assignment is to meet with an attorney, Donald Habeck, in the publisher's office to discuss a major donation he'll be making to a local museum and do a puff piece about it. Fletch objects, wanting to do real news—the kind of stuff he'll later be known for. His editor (Frank Jaffe, a name known to those who've read Fletch and Fletch and the Widow Bradley) refuses, insisting that this is his assignment—and maybe later he'll get a chance to do something else.
There's a catch—Habeck is murdered in the newspaper's parking lot on his way to this meeting. Fletch jumps on the opportunity to report on this, but the senior crime reporter shoos him off (and Jaffe). Fletch tries to exercise squatter's rights, but no one is having any of it. Naturally, this means that Fletch will ignore this and will investigate the murder on his own—and typically is a few steps ahead of both the police and the senior crime writer.
In the meantime, he has to do his actual job (at least until he has something he can print). There's another story they want Fletch to work on, there's a local "escort service" parading itself as a fitness establishment—Jaffe insists that Fletch do an expose about them. To stay employed, Fletch agrees—but threatens the most detailed and explicit expense report ever. This isn't a story that appeals to Fletch—I don't think he cares too much if this service is just close to prostitution, or if it's the actual thing—and he has better things to do with his time. Also, he's about to get married, the last thing his fiancé is going to want is him hanging around a brothel all day.
The opening chapter is a hoot. As are several of the encounters Fletch has with the members of Donald Habeck's family (particularly his wife)—and Alston Chambers never fails to be amusing. The escort service story is fun, and ends up being the kind of thing that Fletch can write about—but its main purpose is to give Mcdonald an opportunity to opine on our cultural obsession with beauty, health, and so on, while causing problems for Fletch's personal life. There's not a lot of meat to this story, but there's a lot of fun. On the other hand, the murder investigation is great and vintage Fletch. It's the best part of the book (as a mystery novel, I guess it should be, right?)
All in all, a decent Fletch novel—full of interesting characters, a nice twist, Fletch bucking all sorts of authority (police, veteran reporters, Frank Jaffee), and more than a few amusing situations. It works as an origin story, how did he become the sort of reporter we know, etc. As I mentioned earlier, we even see young Alston Chambers -- just starting as an associate in a powerful law firm. But—and this is a big but— this places Fletch at the newspaper we know he ends his newspaper career with as a rookie, as a man about to be married (for the first time). We know there's not a lot of time between the end of his first marriage and Fletch, but there's some. Enough for a second marriage and the Window Bradley events, but not much more. What there isn't time for is the past referred to in Confess, Fletch, Fletch's Fortune and even hinted at in The Man Who -- and the first two of those depend on Fletch's history to work. Unless we're to believe that his wives let him leave the state, work in a variety of other papers, developing a Fletchian reputation, move back to the same paper he started his career in (with the same senior editor), and then hit him up for alimony and still be carrying a torch for him. It stretches credulity a bit too much for me to stomach. The next book, Fletch, Too, doesn't help things.
Does that ruin Fletch Won for me? Not totally, but that alone keeps it out of my personal top-tier Fletch novels and rank it slightly above The Widow Bradley (only for the chuckles it gives me). Clearly, McDonald isn't as picky about this sort of thing as many of his readers are, but man, that rankles. Still, it's fun, it features entertaining characters— some odd poetry—and enough Fletchisms to keep you happy. It's a good time, and if you ignore what it suggests about the rest of the series, you should have a good time.
March 13, 2024
I was a bit confused because I read this after I read the one that comes chronologically next after this one just before reading this one. The next one (Fletch Too) covers his honeymoon, which turns into a trip to Africa to meet his once-dead father. This covers the days leading up to the wedding as Fletch is assigned his first big story. His career is just barely starting out but his wise-cracking mouth can't keep him out of trouble so he ends up getting moved around until he ends up in the society pages. He is assigned a story that turns into a non-story when the guy he's supposed to interview ends up dead in the parking lot just before they're supposed to meet. Naturally he doesn't listen to anyone and tries to pursue the story both against his boss' orders as well as the other reporter who is assigned to the murder. As you can imagine, he ends up many places he's not supposed to, even while he's supposed to be preparing for his wedding, which includes meeting his future mother-in-law and showing up for wedding meetings, which Barbara ends up having to handle. Like the other book, I feel like Barbara was a fill-in character, because her real personality never really fully developed.
Overall, I'm only finding these books okay. They're somewhat entertaining, but you don't really end up connecting to any of the characters. While I prefer character-driving books, I do love a book when there is a strong plot and great scenes. While there are entertaining scenes to be sure, the plot of these books (of the three I've read) seems to meander around and by the end, I'm still not sure if there was a point.
Overall, I'm only finding these books okay. They're somewhat entertaining, but you don't really end up connecting to any of the characters. While I prefer character-driving books, I do love a book when there is a strong plot and great scenes. While there are entertaining scenes to be sure, the plot of these books (of the three I've read) seems to meander around and by the end, I'm still not sure if there was a point.
July 27, 2020
Heerlijk om Fletch weer tegen het lijf te lopen! Nadat ik het eerste boek 'Fletch' een achttal jaar geleden las (een ontdekking uit mijn speurtocht naar cultboeken) bleek het nadien uitverkocht en sindsdien nergens meer beschikbaar. Onlangs ontdekten we tweedehands een aantal oude pockets uit de reeks, die we met gretige leeshonger aankochten en kijk: dat hebben we ons niet berouwd.
We lezen de boeken nu in chronologische volgorde van het verhaal, hoewel McDonald ze niet in die volgorde schreef (ook altijd een dilemma, me dunkt. cfr: Kijk je de Star Wars films zoals ze verschenen zijn of in volgorde van het verhaal?).
Enfin, het was een blij weerzien met Irwin Fletcher, reporter van de News-Tribune, rad van tong en lefgozer pur sang. Fletcher bevindt zich - gewild of ongewild - steeds ten midden van de actie, weet met zijn nonchalance, sociale vaardigheid en (soms zwart) gevoel voor humor de meesten rondom hem (lezer incluis!) voor zich te winnen, of geneert zich niet om keihard te botsen met zijn omgeving als ze hem niet aanstaan.
De stijl die Gregory McDonald hanteert is razendsnel met heel wat flitsende dialogen en alleen korte beschrijvingen waar nodig. De strakke, snelle verhaallijn en de spanning tussen de karakters zorgen voor veel leesplezier en de dialogen van McDonald (vooral de antwoorden van Fletch zelve) zitten vol humor. U ziet het zelden, maar achter een boek van Fletcher zie je me regelmatig met een brede glimlach zitten.
Heerlijk leesvoer!
We lezen de boeken nu in chronologische volgorde van het verhaal, hoewel McDonald ze niet in die volgorde schreef (ook altijd een dilemma, me dunkt. cfr: Kijk je de Star Wars films zoals ze verschenen zijn of in volgorde van het verhaal?).
Enfin, het was een blij weerzien met Irwin Fletcher, reporter van de News-Tribune, rad van tong en lefgozer pur sang. Fletcher bevindt zich - gewild of ongewild - steeds ten midden van de actie, weet met zijn nonchalance, sociale vaardigheid en (soms zwart) gevoel voor humor de meesten rondom hem (lezer incluis!) voor zich te winnen, of geneert zich niet om keihard te botsen met zijn omgeving als ze hem niet aanstaan.
De stijl die Gregory McDonald hanteert is razendsnel met heel wat flitsende dialogen en alleen korte beschrijvingen waar nodig. De strakke, snelle verhaallijn en de spanning tussen de karakters zorgen voor veel leesplezier en de dialogen van McDonald (vooral de antwoorden van Fletch zelve) zitten vol humor. U ziet het zelden, maar achter een boek van Fletcher zie je me regelmatig met een brede glimlach zitten.
Heerlijk leesvoer!
July 26, 2017
Fletch Won is a return to the comedic cornball goofiness of the early Fletch books. This one chronologically has a young Fletch as a reporter about to get married. Along the way to the alter, he skinny dips in dead men's pools, applies for a job as a male prostitute, embarks on a unique weight training program, hands his clothes to an old lady who skeedaddles with them, visits a monastery, tackles a display of bourbon - but not top shelf bourbon, runs a foot race, and is arrested for ordering pizza. This book really delves into the life of a young struggling reporter, explores why people donate millions of dollars, and looks at dysfunctional families. It works in all its cornball buffoonery.
September 28, 2022
First in the chronological order of Fletch stories, but probably best if read after the first published story.
By this point, Mcdonald had really perfected his writing in the Fletch vein. At times, this reads almost like a movie script - it's very cinematic. Still not high literature, by any means, but a rollicking good read!
By this point, Mcdonald had really perfected his writing in the Fletch vein. At times, this reads almost like a movie script - it's very cinematic. Still not high literature, by any means, but a rollicking good read!
December 6, 2017
Fletch is loosing its steam as we move through the series.
September 9, 2022
Some very detailed sexual scenes. Humor and a well plotted story help save the interest in the storyline. Well narrated. Like the author’s other series more.
May 2, 2026
*No Spoilers…
The Petty Rant
I don’t know if anyone remembers, but in the early 2000s Kevin Smith was adapting and developing Fletch Won for film. Jason Lee was to play the title role. This was all in the works until, as the story goes, Harvey Weinstein: the guy who everyone in Hollywood used to sing the praises of, endlessly, and the guy who anyone associated with Miramax would tell hero stories about, endlessly… stories about how shrewed-Harvey saved their indie movie from permanent shelving because shrewed-Harvey was the only one who believed in it… the guy who everyone sucked the ass of until around 2016 and then just stopped wholly and completely (for some reason)… ol’ Harvey put the final Nails Brand Cigarette in the development coffin of Fletch Won on the grounds that Jason Lee wasn’t good for box office. Or, so the story goes.
Bah!
I would have bought a ticket, maybe even of left the house to see it…
Back in the early 2000s Smith was still in top-form creatively and Jason Lee could play an earnest everyman quite well in addition to supercilious goofballs who made their obnoxiousness just charming enough. Lee would have been perfect for the role, and Smith would have treated the source material with the reverence it deserved. Smith’s Fletch Won would have been at least interesting, I suspect.
And yet, in a certain petty (petty petty petty) way, I’m glad the film wasn’t completed. Because, if it had been, every single iteration of McDonald’s novel’s covers would be replaced, unceremoniously and crassly, by the film’s poster. Even my bought-and-paid-for Kindle version of Fletch Won would have this new cover added, without my permission, via a Kindle sync. Don’t believe me, look what they did with Confess, Fletch once the movie was released (you know, the movie with Jon Hamm as Fletch and absolutely no one as Flynn…). Imagine if a bunch of studio bureaucrats periodically burst into your house to tear off the covers of your novels, recently adapted for the screen, to scotch tape some uninspired 8x4 movie poster in their place.
I don’t like having the visage of a novel character forced into my head by a crass and presumptuous Hollywood. Not the perfect (and hand-picked by Gregory McDonald) Chevy Chase, not the undoubtedly competent Jason Lee, not the… not Jon Hamm. I’m petty that way.
The Fun of Fletch
I really like the Fletch novels. They’re written as damn-near play-like, but this is fine. The dialogical backs-and-forths are really the most organic means with which a person like IM Fletcher would gather information. There are no hamm-fisted or contrived attempts at verbal exposition - the kind where a room full of people inexplicably share information with each other that everyone already has. There are none of these attempts because Fletch doesn’t know the details himself. We’re investigating along with him by proxy.
McDonald seems to have not forgotten, as so many have, that not-so-popular fact of storytelling: dialogue can be as confrontational, shocking, action-packed, and suspenseful as anything kinetic. In the right medium, with the right amount of care, dialogue can be downright riveting, and McDonald knows this (and McDonald capitalizes on this).
I suspect there’s some rationale for why so much writing advice pushes the show don’t tell principle instead of, say, the more McDonaldian:
Tell when that’s the most organic way for a character’s ignorance to be allayed, but tell in a poetic, witty, dialectical, way.
I suspect the rationale for defying this principle is thus: show don’t tell is necessary for screenwriting, screenwriting only comes to fruition if filmed, films are massively more popular than novels, therefore, by implication (and a certain begged question): show don’t tell novel narration is necessary for a novel to be massively popular.
This is wrong-headed.
It’s wrong-headed for the simple fact that McDonald’s Fletch novels are massively popular, solid mysteries. They’re also incredibly fun to read.
Fletch Won
Fletch Won is the eighth of the Fletch books to be published, but the first in terms of the narrative’s chronology. We’re introduced to Fletch (full name: Irwin Maurice ‘IM’ Fletcher… or so he says, and so says his driver’s license, but who knows…), as a dissatisfied wedding announcement writer turned obituary writer, wanting nothing more than a sports beat. He’s in the process of being chewed out by his editor, Frank, for acting the reporter instead of transcriptionist (the latter being all that’s required of a writer of wedding announcements and obituaries). He can’t help it, he has investigative reporting in his blood… or at least the blood (and other fluids) of people he’ll come to investigate…
In his investigating the circumstances of a couple to be wed, Fletch found out the bride and groom had a ‘royal’ relationship of sorts (the kind that gives their kids a drooly underbite), so he includes this fact in their wedding announcement.
In his investigating the life of a recently deceased woman, he finds she’s accomplished absolutely nothing. Impressed by this feat, he mentions it in her obituary.
He’s a reporter. Reporters report the facts. These are the facts.
He’s also a wise-ass where his boss knows, if Fletch is going to take shots at people, he ought to be punching up. Frank gives him a society beat (writing about the foibles and oddities of upper-crusters, to “cater to the anxieties of … middle-class readers”. Fletch’s first assignment is covering the generous donation of an otherwise non-philanthropic lawyer named Donald Edwin Habek.
Before Fletch can even put a brush through the hair on a head with a brain with no clue how to schmooze the local elites, he and Frank learn of Habek’s murder. He’s been shot to death in the parking lot of Fletch and Frank’s own paper. Since Habek is his story, Fletch instantly goes from society reporter to crime reporter by loophole (much to the futile protests of Frank). Fletch gets to work gathering the facts…
A great many people, it turns out, had reason to murder Haybeck, the least of which were violent criminals. This seems counter-intuitive at first, but only until the reader gets to know the victim a little better. Haybeck’s a scummy lawyer you see, known for getting the worst of criminals off the hook, hence he’s loved by those worst of criminals (some who’ve depended on his services in the past, some who would have in the future). The least likely to kill Habeck are murderers. This is a great bit of farcical irony added by McDonald (as well as misdirection).
Alright, so all this sets the scene for our budding investigative reporter to start making a name for himself. The investigation scenes play out in a fairly straightforward manner: Fletch gathers all the background information he can on Habeck, picks out a list of people closest to him, questions them (as well as a few of his all purpose sources), and develops further leads.
Now, some of McDonald’s past mystery elements have been more intricate in structure, with many/much more twists and turns and shock and suspense… an intriguing complexity… where some have been more straightforward. As mentioned, Fletch Won is more straightforward. This isn’t a bad thing. The mystery is still satisfying and if it were any more intricate it would distract from McDonald’s gift for creating unique characters, giving us the story through their witty dialogue. You can strike a perfect balance between plot and character or you can tip the scales. As long as you don’t tip the scales so far the whole narrative apparatus topples, all is good. With Fletch Won, McDonald tips the scales (in the right measure) in the direction of character.
You could easily call the work character driven, even a character study, and you wouldn’t be wrong. It’s a rare character study too in that it doesn’t fall prey to that temptation to make every character a ‘character’. That is, the temptation to have ones characters be so original, they must be unlike any other character in fiction ever. This often results in characters possessing essentially no overlap in properties with any other character of the work. The characters are unique for uniqueness’ sake and nothing else.
The problem with the above mentioned maneuver is: if your characters have nothing in common with anyone else, they possess none of the standard human universals, are dehumanized therefore, and audiences can’t connect with them on any kind of human level. They become shallow and unendearing too, since to show depth of character is to betray thoughts, feelings, and values, hence humanity, hence certain of the human universals that would make the character too similar to others. McDonald avoids all of these pitfalls while still giving his characters a range of eccentricities, quirks, humanity too, where there’s uniqueness of character in whole, but commonality in heart.
Something else I found interesting: Fletch is near clairvoyant when it comes to human character. Take his finding out about Habek’s murder. He seems subtly elated at the idea of his society story turning into a crime report with the pull of a trigger, despite the crime involving a man’s loss of life… a man’s murder. This may seem callous, but the reader very quickly comes to learn that the murdered Habek is not a man to be pitied. On some sort of utilitarian calculus, the pain and suffering Habek has been causing in the world, due his legal practices, will be so much less now. Fletch seems to understand this from the jump.
There’s also a complete lack of irony, even a subdued compassion in Fletch, when he’s around people of various forms of mental disorders, delusion, and indoctrination. He applies all due decorum well before any disorder is apparent, so it really does seem like some special intuition at work.
You can set your watch to Fletch’s precognition of character, as, whatever is his measure of decorum is an equal measure of strength of character in the object of that decorum. If Fletch is callous toward you, you’re of a greater degree of viciousness. If he’s a wise-ass toward you, either you can take it, or you deserve it. If he’s neutral, even kind, there’s a vulnerability present. It’s a helpful subtextual cue for the reader comprehending and some additional character depth for the reader appreciating.
The only thing I can criticize about Fletch Won is the fact that Fletch’s love interest is once again someone he treats more like a news source than an object of affection. It really isn’t at all plausible that Fletch’s fiancee Barbara would have any real affection for a partner so distant. One could argue, this being a prequel, we know Barbara will eventually become Fletch’s ex-wife and so the emotional distance is only natural considering their future estrangement. Maybe, but this is par for the course with Fletch’s other relationships, too. The aloofness might also be an attempt at establishing Fletch’s single-minded doggedness and individualism. However, neither of these explanations make plausible the women in Fletch’s life hanging in there for so long, enduring Fletch’s unremitting emotional detachment.
Anything else negative I could say about the work would be a matter of relativity, of a conflict of tastes (but tastes I suggest be reevaluated). If you want bombastic kinetic set pieces and a creeping suspense born of character action, less deliberation, then the dialogical nature of a Fletch novel may not be to those tastes. But, to that I say, get better taste!
Alright alright… How about this, try to be open-minded to the idea that thought, deliberation, and the dialogue that betrays such processes, can be entertaining in and of themselves, even riveting. Even in cinema we’ve seen this work. Sydney Lumet’s 12 Angry Men is a perfect example of a film featuring a bunch of people talking, from start to finish, where we’re also engaged from start to finish. Another example that people may find a little out of left-field is John McTiernan’s The Hunt for Red October. I’ve often said, 90% of that movie is people poring over information and figuring out the intentions of others and it’s exhilarating.
If great movies can get away with being largely dialogical (pace to Denis Villeneuve), then obviously a novel can.
I’d definitely give Fletch Won a try.
The Petty Rant
I don’t know if anyone remembers, but in the early 2000s Kevin Smith was adapting and developing Fletch Won for film. Jason Lee was to play the title role. This was all in the works until, as the story goes, Harvey Weinstein: the guy who everyone in Hollywood used to sing the praises of, endlessly, and the guy who anyone associated with Miramax would tell hero stories about, endlessly… stories about how shrewed-Harvey saved their indie movie from permanent shelving because shrewed-Harvey was the only one who believed in it… the guy who everyone sucked the ass of until around 2016 and then just stopped wholly and completely (for some reason)… ol’ Harvey put the final Nails Brand Cigarette in the development coffin of Fletch Won on the grounds that Jason Lee wasn’t good for box office. Or, so the story goes.
Bah!
I would have bought a ticket, maybe even of left the house to see it…
Back in the early 2000s Smith was still in top-form creatively and Jason Lee could play an earnest everyman quite well in addition to supercilious goofballs who made their obnoxiousness just charming enough. Lee would have been perfect for the role, and Smith would have treated the source material with the reverence it deserved. Smith’s Fletch Won would have been at least interesting, I suspect.
And yet, in a certain petty (petty petty petty) way, I’m glad the film wasn’t completed. Because, if it had been, every single iteration of McDonald’s novel’s covers would be replaced, unceremoniously and crassly, by the film’s poster. Even my bought-and-paid-for Kindle version of Fletch Won would have this new cover added, without my permission, via a Kindle sync. Don’t believe me, look what they did with Confess, Fletch once the movie was released (you know, the movie with Jon Hamm as Fletch and absolutely no one as Flynn…). Imagine if a bunch of studio bureaucrats periodically burst into your house to tear off the covers of your novels, recently adapted for the screen, to scotch tape some uninspired 8x4 movie poster in their place.
I don’t like having the visage of a novel character forced into my head by a crass and presumptuous Hollywood. Not the perfect (and hand-picked by Gregory McDonald) Chevy Chase, not the undoubtedly competent Jason Lee, not the… not Jon Hamm. I’m petty that way.
The Fun of Fletch
I really like the Fletch novels. They’re written as damn-near play-like, but this is fine. The dialogical backs-and-forths are really the most organic means with which a person like IM Fletcher would gather information. There are no hamm-fisted or contrived attempts at verbal exposition - the kind where a room full of people inexplicably share information with each other that everyone already has. There are none of these attempts because Fletch doesn’t know the details himself. We’re investigating along with him by proxy.
McDonald seems to have not forgotten, as so many have, that not-so-popular fact of storytelling: dialogue can be as confrontational, shocking, action-packed, and suspenseful as anything kinetic. In the right medium, with the right amount of care, dialogue can be downright riveting, and McDonald knows this (and McDonald capitalizes on this).
I suspect there’s some rationale for why so much writing advice pushes the show don’t tell principle instead of, say, the more McDonaldian:
Tell when that’s the most organic way for a character’s ignorance to be allayed, but tell in a poetic, witty, dialectical, way.
I suspect the rationale for defying this principle is thus: show don’t tell is necessary for screenwriting, screenwriting only comes to fruition if filmed, films are massively more popular than novels, therefore, by implication (and a certain begged question): show don’t tell novel narration is necessary for a novel to be massively popular.
This is wrong-headed.
It’s wrong-headed for the simple fact that McDonald’s Fletch novels are massively popular, solid mysteries. They’re also incredibly fun to read.
Fletch Won
Fletch Won is the eighth of the Fletch books to be published, but the first in terms of the narrative’s chronology. We’re introduced to Fletch (full name: Irwin Maurice ‘IM’ Fletcher… or so he says, and so says his driver’s license, but who knows…), as a dissatisfied wedding announcement writer turned obituary writer, wanting nothing more than a sports beat. He’s in the process of being chewed out by his editor, Frank, for acting the reporter instead of transcriptionist (the latter being all that’s required of a writer of wedding announcements and obituaries). He can’t help it, he has investigative reporting in his blood… or at least the blood (and other fluids) of people he’ll come to investigate…
In his investigating the circumstances of a couple to be wed, Fletch found out the bride and groom had a ‘royal’ relationship of sorts (the kind that gives their kids a drooly underbite), so he includes this fact in their wedding announcement.
In his investigating the life of a recently deceased woman, he finds she’s accomplished absolutely nothing. Impressed by this feat, he mentions it in her obituary.
He’s a reporter. Reporters report the facts. These are the facts.
He’s also a wise-ass where his boss knows, if Fletch is going to take shots at people, he ought to be punching up. Frank gives him a society beat (writing about the foibles and oddities of upper-crusters, to “cater to the anxieties of … middle-class readers”. Fletch’s first assignment is covering the generous donation of an otherwise non-philanthropic lawyer named Donald Edwin Habek.
Before Fletch can even put a brush through the hair on a head with a brain with no clue how to schmooze the local elites, he and Frank learn of Habek’s murder. He’s been shot to death in the parking lot of Fletch and Frank’s own paper. Since Habek is his story, Fletch instantly goes from society reporter to crime reporter by loophole (much to the futile protests of Frank). Fletch gets to work gathering the facts…
A great many people, it turns out, had reason to murder Haybeck, the least of which were violent criminals. This seems counter-intuitive at first, but only until the reader gets to know the victim a little better. Haybeck’s a scummy lawyer you see, known for getting the worst of criminals off the hook, hence he’s loved by those worst of criminals (some who’ve depended on his services in the past, some who would have in the future). The least likely to kill Habeck are murderers. This is a great bit of farcical irony added by McDonald (as well as misdirection).
Alright, so all this sets the scene for our budding investigative reporter to start making a name for himself. The investigation scenes play out in a fairly straightforward manner: Fletch gathers all the background information he can on Habeck, picks out a list of people closest to him, questions them (as well as a few of his all purpose sources), and develops further leads.
Now, some of McDonald’s past mystery elements have been more intricate in structure, with many/much more twists and turns and shock and suspense… an intriguing complexity… where some have been more straightforward. As mentioned, Fletch Won is more straightforward. This isn’t a bad thing. The mystery is still satisfying and if it were any more intricate it would distract from McDonald’s gift for creating unique characters, giving us the story through their witty dialogue. You can strike a perfect balance between plot and character or you can tip the scales. As long as you don’t tip the scales so far the whole narrative apparatus topples, all is good. With Fletch Won, McDonald tips the scales (in the right measure) in the direction of character.
You could easily call the work character driven, even a character study, and you wouldn’t be wrong. It’s a rare character study too in that it doesn’t fall prey to that temptation to make every character a ‘character’. That is, the temptation to have ones characters be so original, they must be unlike any other character in fiction ever. This often results in characters possessing essentially no overlap in properties with any other character of the work. The characters are unique for uniqueness’ sake and nothing else.
The problem with the above mentioned maneuver is: if your characters have nothing in common with anyone else, they possess none of the standard human universals, are dehumanized therefore, and audiences can’t connect with them on any kind of human level. They become shallow and unendearing too, since to show depth of character is to betray thoughts, feelings, and values, hence humanity, hence certain of the human universals that would make the character too similar to others. McDonald avoids all of these pitfalls while still giving his characters a range of eccentricities, quirks, humanity too, where there’s uniqueness of character in whole, but commonality in heart.
Something else I found interesting: Fletch is near clairvoyant when it comes to human character. Take his finding out about Habek’s murder. He seems subtly elated at the idea of his society story turning into a crime report with the pull of a trigger, despite the crime involving a man’s loss of life… a man’s murder. This may seem callous, but the reader very quickly comes to learn that the murdered Habek is not a man to be pitied. On some sort of utilitarian calculus, the pain and suffering Habek has been causing in the world, due his legal practices, will be so much less now. Fletch seems to understand this from the jump.
There’s also a complete lack of irony, even a subdued compassion in Fletch, when he’s around people of various forms of mental disorders, delusion, and indoctrination. He applies all due decorum well before any disorder is apparent, so it really does seem like some special intuition at work.
You can set your watch to Fletch’s precognition of character, as, whatever is his measure of decorum is an equal measure of strength of character in the object of that decorum. If Fletch is callous toward you, you’re of a greater degree of viciousness. If he’s a wise-ass toward you, either you can take it, or you deserve it. If he’s neutral, even kind, there’s a vulnerability present. It’s a helpful subtextual cue for the reader comprehending and some additional character depth for the reader appreciating.
The only thing I can criticize about Fletch Won is the fact that Fletch’s love interest is once again someone he treats more like a news source than an object of affection. It really isn’t at all plausible that Fletch’s fiancee Barbara would have any real affection for a partner so distant. One could argue, this being a prequel, we know Barbara will eventually become Fletch’s ex-wife and so the emotional distance is only natural considering their future estrangement. Maybe, but this is par for the course with Fletch’s other relationships, too. The aloofness might also be an attempt at establishing Fletch’s single-minded doggedness and individualism. However, neither of these explanations make plausible the women in Fletch’s life hanging in there for so long, enduring Fletch’s unremitting emotional detachment.
Anything else negative I could say about the work would be a matter of relativity, of a conflict of tastes (but tastes I suggest be reevaluated). If you want bombastic kinetic set pieces and a creeping suspense born of character action, less deliberation, then the dialogical nature of a Fletch novel may not be to those tastes. But, to that I say, get better taste!
Alright alright… How about this, try to be open-minded to the idea that thought, deliberation, and the dialogue that betrays such processes, can be entertaining in and of themselves, even riveting. Even in cinema we’ve seen this work. Sydney Lumet’s 12 Angry Men is a perfect example of a film featuring a bunch of people talking, from start to finish, where we’re also engaged from start to finish. Another example that people may find a little out of left-field is John McTiernan’s The Hunt for Red October. I’ve often said, 90% of that movie is people poring over information and figuring out the intentions of others and it’s exhilarating.
If great movies can get away with being largely dialogical (pace to Denis Villeneuve), then obviously a novel can.
I’d definitely give Fletch Won a try.
October 17, 2024
Super entertaining, witty and breezy mystery.
September 22, 2025
First one was weird but fun. Kind of done with this character now lol.
February 16, 2014
I loved this story, i laughed through many parts of this book just visualizing the ridiculous crap Fletch endures. The dialogue was well written and the sarcasm between the characters was enough for me to continue reading just to see what witty comments they'd throw at each other. I couldn't get the image of Chevy Chase out of my head though.. he played that character so well in the movie that no matter how they describe Fletch you still see Chevy. I loved this book and i plan on collecting the whole series.
March 11, 2014
I watched my Fletch VHS obsessively when I was younger and vaguely recall reading the book. It's been decades, though. Decided to read this book when I heard it was a prequel. I was hoping it was an origin story of sorts. Not so much. It was Fletch's first "case" for the newspaper, though. And it was thoroughly entertaining - for a guy who grew up obsessively watching the film. All Fletch dialog was heard in my brain as Chevy Chase speaking. The synth soundtrack was on a constant loop in my head. It was a blast. I will probably go back and read through the series.
May 29, 2014
4.5 Stars - McDonald continues the series of Fletch novels by turning to the story of Fletch's first big break. As in the other books in the series, the pleasure is in watching Irwin Maurice Fletcher make the journey…the actual solution to the mystery doesn't really matter. My only complaint is that when McDonald gives Fletch's coworker the name Biff, he clearly telegraphs that the guy is going to be a heel. I can't think of a book or movie from the 1980s that had a sympathetic character named Biff.
January 19, 2015
I love this series. I decided to re-read them in chronological order vs publication order. I am sure many folks are familiar with the Fletch movies starring Chevy Chase, but I would challenge you to also pick up the books as well. As with most things the book is always better. In the Fletch series it is not that they are so much better, but there is just so much subtle humor that is lost on the big screen. I am looking forward to reading them all again.
August 27, 2007
The Origin of Fletch.
I love it.
I love it.
February 14, 2008
This was pretty alright - funny, noirish, 90% dialog. I have a suspicious that I will like the first Fletch book more. This book has made me want to read the first Fletch book.
August 19, 2021
After seeing both Fletch films, it was fun coming across the source material, in this case, the 8th Fletch book. Only seeing the movies, I wondered what the books could possibly be like, as Chevy Chase had so perfectly portrayed Fletch, that I wondered, in an unusual twist, if the books would do the movie justice!
Fletch Won, is actually a prequel, showing our hero’s beginnings with the newspaper business and his exasperated boss Frank. A prominent defense attorney is to meet Fletch for a story on how he intends to donate $5m to a local art museum. Fletch is assigned the ho hum story, and off we go. But before the attorney can tell Fletch his story, he is murdered in the garage of Fletch’s newspaper.
Fletch snoops around, after being pulled from the story, in favor of star crime reporter Biff Wilson.
Fletch is the same smart ass we know from the movies, and he works to solve the crime before the cops can throw him in jail on trumped up charges. (Sound familiar?) Two issues with the book. First, almost every character is too smart alecky for my taste. Almost every conversation in the book is written like a comedy routine. Second, the ending is way too rushed, and did not feel organic. That being said, the characters that do shine, are really given some excellent dialogue. The murdered man’s wife and son really give the reader a lot to chew on philosophically, though I won’t go into detail as not to spoil anything, suffice to say, they are the crux of the story in many ways.
I’d like to read the first Fletch book, to see where it all began. I’m sure I’ll enjoy it. That being said, this was a decent introduction to the series for me.
Fletch Won, is actually a prequel, showing our hero’s beginnings with the newspaper business and his exasperated boss Frank. A prominent defense attorney is to meet Fletch for a story on how he intends to donate $5m to a local art museum. Fletch is assigned the ho hum story, and off we go. But before the attorney can tell Fletch his story, he is murdered in the garage of Fletch’s newspaper.
Fletch snoops around, after being pulled from the story, in favor of star crime reporter Biff Wilson.
Fletch is the same smart ass we know from the movies, and he works to solve the crime before the cops can throw him in jail on trumped up charges. (Sound familiar?) Two issues with the book. First, almost every character is too smart alecky for my taste. Almost every conversation in the book is written like a comedy routine. Second, the ending is way too rushed, and did not feel organic. That being said, the characters that do shine, are really given some excellent dialogue. The murdered man’s wife and son really give the reader a lot to chew on philosophically, though I won’t go into detail as not to spoil anything, suffice to say, they are the crux of the story in many ways.
I’d like to read the first Fletch book, to see where it all began. I’m sure I’ll enjoy it. That being said, this was a decent introduction to the series for me.
November 14, 2022
This might be the last Gregory McDonald "Fletch" book I read. What started as a fun lark has turned into an exercise of boredom and frustration. Felt as it the author was attempting a return to form, with an origin story involving Irwin Maurice Fletcher's early days as a journalist, solving his first murder-mystery. Yet "Fletch Won" involves the Case of Who Cares, and Why Bother?
Throughout the experience of reading "Fletch Won," I found myself bored, and disengaged from Gregory McDonald's tepid tale of Fletch trying to solve the murder of a ruthless, unloved yet highly successful defense attorney, and also assigned to bust the lid open on a whorehouse/blackmail ring. Fletch is about to be married to his first wife Barbara, who he does not seem to love so much, and there's an evil, cantankerous veteran reporter named Biff Wilson who later wants to set-up Fletch as a drug dealer and thrown in jail rather than have Fletch get in his way.
Blah Blah Blah, Fletch wears uncomfortable, ill-fitting clothing, and later interviews a just-released-from-prison obese child molester who protests his well-intentioned molestations as an act of love. CUT TO: a police station breakout that makes no sense, and later:a horribly constructed and completely nonsensical and highly unsatisfying finale that made the otherwise mediocre novel far worse than it ever was. This book sucked. What a bummer.
Throughout the experience of reading "Fletch Won," I found myself bored, and disengaged from Gregory McDonald's tepid tale of Fletch trying to solve the murder of a ruthless, unloved yet highly successful defense attorney, and also assigned to bust the lid open on a whorehouse/blackmail ring. Fletch is about to be married to his first wife Barbara, who he does not seem to love so much, and there's an evil, cantankerous veteran reporter named Biff Wilson who later wants to set-up Fletch as a drug dealer and thrown in jail rather than have Fletch get in his way.
Blah Blah Blah, Fletch wears uncomfortable, ill-fitting clothing, and later interviews a just-released-from-prison obese child molester who protests his well-intentioned molestations as an act of love. CUT TO: a police station breakout that makes no sense, and later:a horribly constructed and completely nonsensical and highly unsatisfying finale that made the otherwise mediocre novel far worse than it ever was. This book sucked. What a bummer.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 13, 2018
While this is the eighth (I believe) book of Gregory McDonald's Fletch series, chronologically it's the first book, telling the tale of I.M. Fletcher's (Fletch) early days of his newspaper career and the first case Fletch solved The story moves at a quick, smooth pace and the mystery itself is serviceable.
McDonald's style was to lean heavily on dialogue to tell his stories and move the plot along. Generally, this technique works quite well, especially since the dialogues tend to be quite clever and witty.
However, since the first Fletch novel was published in 1974, I think it's safe to assume "Fletch Won" is set in the late '60s, early '70s. However, since we get mentions of video taped and cars having phones in them, it felt like "Fletch Won" is set in the '80s. But the story is captivating enough one can ignore those anachronisms. The silly way the novel ends is less forgivable.
Overall, "Fletch Won, '. Is an excellent book.
McDonald's style was to lean heavily on dialogue to tell his stories and move the plot along. Generally, this technique works quite well, especially since the dialogues tend to be quite clever and witty.
However, since the first Fletch novel was published in 1974, I think it's safe to assume "Fletch Won" is set in the late '60s, early '70s. However, since we get mentions of video taped and cars having phones in them, it felt like "Fletch Won" is set in the '80s. But the story is captivating enough one can ignore those anachronisms. The silly way the novel ends is less forgivable.
Overall, "Fletch Won, '. Is an excellent book.
June 9, 2020
As a belated prequel, Fletch Won just about passes muster. The original was supposed to be the most important story of its slightly seasoned hero's life. He was a bum then, so it's odd reading him as a slightly less cynical bum here, working on a story with equally big stakes years prior. But it's hard to argue with more Fletch, especially when McDonald seems so reinvigorated with the guy. After international departures and elevations in tax bracket, it's refreshing to see the barefoot reporter toiling away in a newsroom again. His personality is a little softer than in the original - Fletch worries that investigating a brothel may upset his soon-to-be bride - but it's not an unwelcome change, even if the timing doesn't make much sense. The mystery is solid, if a little less airtight than the series gold standard, but this one's more about the ride than the destination, and McDonald only got better at that.
December 13, 2022
Where on Earth did this come from? For the most part, the first six Fletch books were middling little mysteries. Breezy airport reading that had an unjustified mystique about them. Then book 7 was a hellscape of a novel that didn't even earn the single star I awarded it.
Then comes the prequel to end all prequels. As far as I can tell, this is chronologically the first of the series, and it's just great. Fletch is a cub reporter in search of a big story to make his reputation, and boy does he get his wish. A murder in the parking lot of the News-Tribune turns the puff piece he was supposed to write on the now-victim into a city-spanning odyssey featuring murderous convenience store owners, corrupt cops, athletic hookers, academic frauds, crooked lawyers, and his callow fiancée (did I mention he's getting married in a few days?).
Just a great story. Maybe undeserving of 5 stars, but I'll leave it anyway. Best in the series.
Then comes the prequel to end all prequels. As far as I can tell, this is chronologically the first of the series, and it's just great. Fletch is a cub reporter in search of a big story to make his reputation, and boy does he get his wish. A murder in the parking lot of the News-Tribune turns the puff piece he was supposed to write on the now-victim into a city-spanning odyssey featuring murderous convenience store owners, corrupt cops, athletic hookers, academic frauds, crooked lawyers, and his callow fiancée (did I mention he's getting married in a few days?).
Just a great story. Maybe undeserving of 5 stars, but I'll leave it anyway. Best in the series.
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