Dishing out heavy doses of moral philosophy, McDonald always keeps the reader entertained and thought provoked. Not quite on par with some of the earlier McGee's, but never-the-less, vintage McDonald. 30+ years of reading his novels, one can only morn the loss that Travis, Meyer and the rest won't have a new tale to tell.

This is a great book if you're in the mood for a philosophy lesson on the meaning of life and how to maintain it. John D. MacDonald knows how to keep the action flowing, without hitting the reader over the head. It's nice to be treated as if you are an intelligent reader, which is why I keep coming back to the McGee series. Travis helps out a man whose father was killed, shortly before cancer would have taken him anyway. As Travis pokes around, he finds a web of dispicable characters hiding behind the entertainment industry. Justice is served to the guilty, as usual. Unfortunately, some of the innocent do not come out of this one, but only those who are not as careful as our houseboat hero. This is definitely one of the better entries in the McGee series, but one should read "A Quick Red Fox" first.

In "Free Fall in Crimson," the 19th Travis McGee episode, author John D. MacDonald refuses to be tied up with boundaries. In fact, this book seems a great deal like a geography lesson, as the plot takes him from Ft. Lauderdale, to other Florida parts, to Beverly Hills, and, finally, to Iowa for the climactic scene!

However, readers should not let that put them off another top-flight installment in the McGee series--this time involving, yes, a murder and other corruption, a hot

air balloon competition.

The plot is set aloft when Ron Esterland approaches Travis for help--seems he's been completely cut out of his inheritance when his father was murdered two years earlier (most of the estate has been left to his estranged wife and her filmmaker friend). Ron wants Travis to find the truth about the murder, suspecting that the wife and friend had much to do with it.

Travis' pursuit then takes him cross country, eventually landing in Roseland,

Iowa, where a film is being made about a hot-air balloon meet. As with the other McGee stories, MacDonald keeps us on the edge until the final pages. It is not that we don't know the guilty party; it is just that Travis must find a way to secure justice--usually his own brand--as many of the guilty are "out of bounds" to legal prosecution.

Readers will not be disappointed in either the story or McGee! While the series does not require a chronological reading, the earlier books establish the characters (especially McGee and economist friend Meyer). The first book is "The Deep Blue Goodby"--and it's a good place to get started, to "channel" the McGee interest. But regardless, "Free Fall in Crimson" merely adds to the charm of the series and of the character--it will leave you grasping for air!

(Billyjhobbs@tyler.net)

Travis McGee gets a check for $25,000 (a lot of dough for 1969) and the dying wish of an old friend, to look after her suicidal daughter. So McGee goes to Fort Courtney to observe the daughter, her sister and her husband. What McGee encounters is a series of unusual circumstances, including dead bodies, cheating spouses, and the evidence that somebody is spying on him. Could all of these things be connected? Sure - but only McGee could figure out the complicated connection. True to most McGee novels, justice is served in the end, although in a form the reader does not expect.

This is my 11th McGee novel. Clearly MacDonald writes in a more sophisticated style than 98% of the mystery writers today. A new reader may find it annoying that one must suffer through a good 100 pages before the action really begins, but this is typical MacDonald style. Not only do you get a complex mystery, but you get a lot of philosophy along the way.

Well, I'll keep this short & sweet. I'm not much of a mystery reader but this series was recommended to me by several people. I picked this one randomly to start the series. I liked it...the story was quick-moving, had good character development, some humor, a lot of action, and tied up nicely at the end. At 250 pages it's a quick read, perfect for an airplane ride. If you like Dick Francis, Robert Parker, et al, then you'll like this series.

This was my second John D. MacDonald book and my first Travis McGee book. I had heard that MacDonald could flat-out write, and I was not disappointed by this book. What I enjoyed the most was MacDonald's insight into the human condition; he really understood what motivated people. This helped his plotting and dialogue seem fresh and real even after 30 years.

I'm hooked. If you haven't read MacDonald you're missing out.

This is a companion book to Don Johnson's Cruising Guide to Maine Vol I Kittery to Rockland. See my review under that title.

As a sailer planning a world cruise, I view this book as one of the best cruising books I have read because it touches so much on the cultures and people along the way rather than merely on the sailing aspects. I have only read volume one and am eagerly awiting volume two. If you are not a sailer, this is a superb armchair travel book. You will really feel you are meeting people all over the globe. Sue manages to convey the excitement, beauty, learning and sharing of a couple sailing around the world.

It is just what I want to use to try new restaurants, but I'd rather have a more current edition than 1994. Is it scheduled for publication

So many of the restaurants listed have either closed or moved that the guide as a whole is useless except for restaurants still around. Even then the chefs change ian, indeed, the cuisine. For the restaurants still in operation the guide is first class. It's a pity that many book stores still sell it without any indication of its vintage.

Over the years I've read hundreds of novels in a variety of genres, but for pure fun and enjoyment it's hard to beat Travis McGee. Some of the books are better than others, but they're nearly all worth a couple of lazy summer days. They are the ultimate summer time (or any other season for that matter), quick-read books. At their core, they're good mysteries. But Travis McGee is such a great character, with such a wry outlook on life, that often the mystery seems secondary to McGee's views on whatever topic author John D. McDonald has selected for his soap box. Most of them take place in Florida, (a Florida no one will ever see again given they were written mostly in the 60s and 70s) and all have a color in the title. Don't take them too seriously, just have fun in the sun.

Some years after his death, John D Macdonald remains much under-valued. The Travis McGee "colour" series parallels Macdonald's career and on re-reading can be seen to develop along with the maturity of the author. Travis observes things as John did. This blurring of the line between author and character is assisted by the use of the first person, and is fascinating in itself. However, it also reaches a new plane in 'Rain'. For twenty-odd years Travis represented the man who lived our dreams: unattached, entirely self-sufficient, a wolf among the sheep. In 'Rain', Macdonald courageously forces his hero to pay the price of those choices. I've read this book many times. The last chapter makes me cry every time (which is tough for a 41 year old Englishman). I don't weep for Travis, but for the end of all our dreams and the persistent treasure of family.

The Travis McGee series represents one of the greatest accomplishments of American fiction -- ever. Never mind the rumors of MacDonald working on another story (before he died) with the color "Black" in the title, this is the way a series should end. Travis has taken countless blows, physical and emotional, throughout his career. In this novel, however, we see Travis's rusty armour nearly falling off, his horse nearly crippled, and his enemies closing in on all sides for the kill. As he triumphs one last time over the insurmountable odds, he gains a new reason to continue being the white knight. While this book is superb, I wouldn't recommend reading it until you've read at least a few others in the series (especially "Pale Gray for Guilt"). Not only will you understand more about the plot and characters, you will have more invested in seeing Travis's ultimate redemption.

Ho, ho, ho! Merrrrry Christmas! The Green Ripper is here to wish all you nice boys and girls a very merry Christmas -- with a machine gun!

Ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta!

John D. MacDonald's classic mystery of love and revenge, religion and fanaticism "The Green Ripper" may be one of the most chilling entertainment novels I've ever read. Ripper was his seventeenth Travis McGee novel, and MacDonald explores the dark side of religio-terroristic minds with a mastery of craft that left me wondering (in several passages) whether he _identified_ with obsessive minds, or was acerbically satirizing such minds. I think the line between the two is probably thinner than we might -- at first glance -- like to admit.

The story begins with McGee's soulmate dying unexpectedly, and inexplicably, and the early pages follow McGee's realization that her death was not accidental -- but was the result of an assassin's dart. And you can't help but wonder.... whether you would be driven to revenge if _your_ wife or loved one was killed in this way. But MacDonald ratchets it up, here, man because McGee finds that the assassins are linked to a religious-terrorist group based in Ukiah, California.

And once you open up religion in an entertainment novel, you've got some really rich ground to work. A few of the passages spoken by the religious nuts are so convincing and so sincere, you don't know whether to hate them or relate to them. Indeed, McGee even crosses the line becoming one of the group and by sleeping with a [street walker]-turned-gun-toting machine of destruction.

I love this storyline, in that as a writer how obsessive minded are you? Truly great entertainment writers like MacDonald, King, Leonard, Koontz, Mary Higgins Clark (whose Green Ripper blurbs appear on the dust-jacket) know how far you have to push yourself into that world to achieve artistic integrity, and there are times when the difference between being a really good writer and being an obsessive fanatic is subtle as hell.

Still, it's safest just to treat a book like The Green Ripper as a metaphor and to take it at face value; that is, as an entertaining mystery thriller. But it's because this novel holds something deeper, I think, that so many intelligent readers can relate to it. A remarkable gem in the Travis McGee jewelry store. And a novel that I -- for one -- highly recommend to all serious-minded fiction readers.

Stacey

This is a book of vengeance and revenge. Travis has finally found true love, and she is snatched from him by death. At first it appears to be a lethal illness, then horrifyingly a random sophisticated killing. Trav is almost mad with a desire to find one face to batter and then to execute the killer. To face the fact that the murder appears to be an organizational hit with no single one-of-a-kind killer seems obscenely unfair. Travis follows some paper-thin leads, discards his identity, and infiltrates a terrorist camp sponsored by a cult religious group.

This is a fast paced book, one of my all-time favorite McGees. I was struck by MacDonald's uncanny accuracy in depicting the terrorist personality way back in 1979. The healthy young American soldiers in superb shape confidently believed their next lives would be vastly improved by destroying the civilization in this one. They disdained, even looked forward to death. One character tells McGee that the terrorists will not "waste" their rockets on military vessels. Blowing up a planeload of civilians containing women and children was far more "productive."

The finale is a fine display of McGee's sniperly abilities, derring-do and just plain luck. (Rambo has nothing on him!) The only thing that dated "The Green Ripper" was McGee's reluctance to treat the female terrorists as anything but "ladies" no matter how fearsome they were. Today no such chivalry (even if misguided) would be allowed.

One of the later books, and closing in on the end of the series, this is my favorite McGee sketch of all time. It is terribly tragic McGee, though, given the death of his beloved and the deepest depth of darkness into which McGee goes to find solace - even if it is the cold comfort of murderous revenge. I must confess to having a strong penchant for vengeance, if this is my favorite of the long line of McGees (oops, got me there). By the time the book is over, one has seen McGee at his absolutely most lethal - and rightly so. All along the way the eternal McGee reflections offer insight into the process of grief, revenge, and humanity - truly a wonderful read.

Here's a quick heads-up to anyone thinking of checking out this book: as per usual, MacDonald indulges his sexist attitudes towards women by having his hero, Travis McGee, meet up with a physically attractive, sexually repressed female whom he subsequently restores to mental good health by way of the bedroom. Anyone who's read this far in the series will not be surprised by that particular plot development. However, the book also indulges, in one brief but potently worded scene, some seriously homophobic sentiments. This, of course, fits in nicely with McGee's habit of handily pigeonholing virtually everyone he meets. Like the previous three McGee books (which are all I've yet read), the attitudes may be outdated, and to some degree offensive--but the writing's good stylistically, plot and pacing are tight. If you're looking for a light but suspensive read (or if you're sexist and homophobic), McGee's your man.

Travis McGee is quick to come to the rescue of damsels in distress and doesn't need much coaxing this time when actress Lysa Dean cries out for help. Lysa is being blackmailed over some photos that were taken during a 4 day drunken party, catching her in some pretty explicit scenes. She has already paid off the blackmailers once, but it would seem that the photos still exist and the blackmailers are coming back for another bite of the cherry. Travis is given a list of 10 people who knew about the party and so uses it to begin his investigation into which one of them organised to have the photos taken.

To help him during his investigation, Lysa supplies Travis with her own personal secretary Dana Holtzer, a highly organised, very professional and of course , strikingly beautiful woman. She also has some personal secrets that makes her cold and aloof, particularly when it comes to men. Travis, being the diligent investigator that he is, goes about unlocking the secrets to Dana's heart while he's unlocking the identity of the blackmailer.

This is a lively mystery which turns out to be more of a mystery than it appears at first glance. The solving of one part leads us onto the next, leading Travis and Dana across the country and forcing them closer and closer together. It's an entertaining entry in the Travis McGee series.

John MacDonald, a prolific mystery/terror novelist, created the Travis McGee series. The Quick Red Fox is one of the earlier ones, and the story is rather tacky. What is important about the Travis McGee series is that there is much philosophy about life which rings very true today, even though MacDonald died in 1996.

In Mystic Sweet Communion, Jane Kirkpatrick transports the reader into the Florida frontier of the 1800's to meet Ivy Cromartie Stranahan. The reader appreciates Ivy and her husband Frank as a couple whose lives make a mark on the history of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Both have integrity, sensitivity and deep faith in God. Mrs. Kirkpatrick has developed a story which captivates the reader, a tribute to her expertise in the genre of historical fiction. Ivy's love and concern and respect for the Seminole indians turns her into an advocate for their protection. As usual with Mrs. Kirkpatrick's books, one is sorry when the story ends. Jane Kirkpatrick's stories are so encouraging that the reader realizes that his/her own life is a pioneer journey and that with faith,hope and love one can make a mark of encouragement on those around us and those who are to come.

I read this book because it is about early Florida, the state in which I live. I fell in love with it because it's about characters who jumped off the page and captured my heart and my imagination.

I was inspired and uplifted by the dedication, determination and self-discipline of Ivy Stranahan. She is the purest example of an early feminist. The true story of how she struggled and fought to improve the lives of women and to increase their say in government and in everyday life is every bit as strong as the story of her determination to help the Seminole Indians.

Ms. Kirkpatrick's ability to bring to life early Florida is astounding. I felt I was there. I marveled at the hardships that faced the early settlers of South Florida. I cheered for their victories and cried at their tragedies. Completing this book was sad because I could not longer learn about those extraordinary people. Without a doubt, this book is now on my all-time favorite list!

This was the first, but certainly not the last, of Ms. Kirkpatrick's books that I will read.

In previous novels, Jane Kirkpatrick has showed the literary world that she knows people, history, faith, language and the great Northwest. But in her latest work, "Mystic Sweet Communion," the Oregon author reveals she's far from a one-region writer. Intead, she shows an impressive ability to bring to life historical characters about as far from her beloved Northwest as possible.

"Mystic Sweet Communion," the story of woman-for-all-seasons Ivy Cromartie Stranahan, not only establishes Kirkpatrick as being regionally broad but also strengthens her position as the standard setter for faith-infused historical novels.

Frankly, "Sweet Communion" surprised me. "Love to Water My Soul," "Sweetness to the Soul" and "A Gathering of Finches" all benefited from Kirkpatrick's deep understanding of the Northwest. I doubted whether she could bring to life turn-of-the-century Florida with the same realness. I was wrong. "Mystic Sweet Communion" is one of those novels so wonderfully woven with detail that you'd think Kirkpatrick and her family tree were planted there. Instead, the book reflects exhaustive research spawned by her scination with Stranahan, which makes for a wonderful blend of history and uncommon literary flair.

Kirkpatrick's lead character, Stranahan, is a tapestry of faith, ambition and ahead-of-her-time activism. The first teacher in Florida's Broward County, she and husband Frank are among the few people courageous and compassionate enough to reach out to to Seminole Indians along the New River, along which Fort Lauderdale would eventually emerge. She begins as a young woman with small dreams, and winds up being called upon by no less than the president of the United States. In the meantime, she deals with society that suppresses women, legalistic religion that often strays from the grace-filled God it purports to serve and people who, unlike Stranahan, seems content with not questioning cultural norms.

The book's plot isn't particularly deep, nor does it twist and turn with heart-stopping drama. But such constraints are a small, and necessary, price to pay for remaining true to a story about real people, whose value needn't be Hollywood-esque to be admired.

Kirkpatrick develops characters so real that, as you're reading, you get the same feeling you get in a movie theater when you forget you're watching a movie. But Kirkpatrick's greatest asset as a writer goes deeper than both plot and characters, to something even more significant: meaning.

Tush Bannon, friend of Travis, a good and gentle man is killed horrifically by an anvil crushing his face and chest. First declared suicide-admittedly a peculiar way to do the deed--- later changed to murder. Tush owned a small marina whose acreage was a valuable parcel to the big bad business interests, and he was being squeezed out. He left a shocked and bereft wife and three young sons. Gallant Knight Travis rides to the rescue.

"Pale Gray for Guilt" was the 8th novel in the Travis McGee series, and I judge it as medium-good McGee. Published in 1968, it has an excellent contemporary flavor about it that captures the late '60s very well. The major flaw in the novel is the extraordinarily complicated sting set up by Meyer and Travis as revenge for Tush's demise. The big businessmen are set up to take a financial bath, and there are pages and pages devoted to capital gains, covering margins, selling short, etc. This has the effect of confining John Wayne to Wall St., not a happy or even very interesting state of affairs. However, Travis does get to expound, and wow his usual lusty women. (this one named Puss Killian-would such a name even be allowed today?) MacDonald allows Travis his special brand of sentimentality, "-went into the master bedroom and slipped out of the robe and into the giant bed and wished I wasn't too old to cry myself to sleep." No other tough private eye would ever be permited to think that way in print.

By the time this book was written, MacDonald had found his groove, though it was too bad he had to foist his interest in the stock market on Travis who, as we all well know, cares nothing about such things. It never happened again.

...and whatever you do, read this one before reading "The Lonely Silver Rain". "Pale Gray" is vintage McGee, and a very fascinating exploration of the Big Con. There must be something more entertaining than these books, but I can't imagine what it would be.

John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series was one of the first truly successful "hard boiled detective" genre series to make it big at the mass market level of sales. Written mostly in the 1960's and early 1970's the books could come across as somewhat dated time period pieces except that MacDonald was a suspense writer of the highest order whose gritty, hard edged characters come to life on the page just as readily today as they did back when written.

In point of fact, these really aren't "detective" books at all; they are generally better classified as suspense novels. However, the formula utilized in the books, as well as the realistic, hard hitting writing style they displayed, set the stage for many a fictional detective series to follow.

McGee advertises himself as a "salvage" specialist. He's more a high-end repo man. If you've lost something of extraordinary value that you do not want the police involved in recovering, he'll do it for you-for 50% of the fair market value of the lost valuables. Once he's made a big score he reverts to being a beach Bum in ft. Lauderdale Florida where he lives on the beach in a houseboat won in a card game.

The Travis McGee novels break down basically into two types of story either (A) a "recovery" tale and (B) a revenge tale. The former is the far more common format.

Pale Gray for Guilt is one of the latter. Tush Bannon, one of Travis' old high school buddies, is killed by developers who want his land for a project, Travis swears revenge. Along with his sidekick, Dr. Meyer, a nationally known economist and fellow beach bum, McGee sets in motion a complicated and dangerous scam to entrap and bankrupt the killers.

On the whole I like the recovery novels better than the revenge novels, but this is one of the better of the latter sort. The plan is ingenious, the characters, as usual, well developed and the con victim so loathsome one is fully engaged in the effort to get the SOB.

This is probably not the best book to start out with McGee but, once hooked, this will make a very pleasant read.

A final note: MavDonald wrote many novels other than the McGee series-however, all McGee novels have a color in the title. If you're browsing for McGee, just select any novel with a color in the title, and there Travis will be.

A Deadly Shade of Gold was my first John MacDonald novel. It was written in the mid - 1960's, and read like it. The dialogue, metaphors and characters were terribly dated - think Sam Spade meets Jimmy Buffet in 1965 Ft Lauderdale and you've got the picture: the chauvinism, the Hemingwayesque machismo, the budding "youth culture" and of course the tropical south Florida sunshine. With that said, however, the book was a remarkably entertaining read. The plot twists kept me rivited to the story line (in spite of the by-now cliched characters). The occasional diatibes against the development of south Florida and the damage to the eco-system also made for entertaining asides - as well as a haunting foreshadowing of what was to come. But I think this will be my last John MacDonald novel. For my money, Randy Wayne White's south Florida sleuth "Doc Ford" is better. If you enjoy John MacDonald, you are sure to love Randy Wayne White.

"A Deadly Shade of Gold," the 5th in the Travis McGee series is bawdy and brutal; a bloody chase novel taking McGee from Florida to Mexico to LA. MacDonald has a wondrous sense of place and you can feel the sensuous breezes and see the spectacular sunsets he creates for you. There are a few creaky spots: Nora, Travis's love interest, is so '50's lady-like, you expect her to be white gloved and hatted even in the shower; -- all characters are super sun worshippers while the reader uneasily thinks about skin cancer. Be that as it may, it's a fine rousing tale with careful characterizations and Travis's philosophies served up painlessly.

Old buddy Sam Taggart, a three-year missing person, contacts Travis in dire need of his services as a salvage consultant. The deal sounds shady at best as Sam claims he is the rightful owner of 28 crude golden idols dating from pre-Colombian times. The hitch is 27 of the 28 have been stolen from him, and he wants them back. Sam is down on his luck and appears to be on the run. When he took off three years ago without a word, he left the beauteous Nora high and dry. Now he is back to redeem himself. Before Trav can get Sam and Nora together, or even decide whether he wants to accept Sam's offer, Sam is brutally murdered. Nora hires Trav to find the killer, but insists on accompanying him (natch) when the trail leads to Mexico. The action is fierce, retribution is swift and oh-so-well-described, and Trav and Nora find something more in common than Sam.

"A Deadly Shade of Gold" at 434 pages is long for a Travis McGee novel, but moves swiftly. MacDonald takes great care in setting up his locales, which makes for lovely reading. Though Sam exits early, he is with us throughout the book, and gradually an entirely different Sam emerges posthumously. This is handled cleverly by friend's ruminations, and we are allowed to derive our own conclusions. Travis is not yet fully formed; he's still pretty rough around the edges, but this novel sets the course for the future.

"A Deadly Shade of Gold" is my first John D. MacDonald, and it won't be my last. I love the tough-as-nails-and-oh-so-smart Travis McGee. I love MacDonald's funny philosophical rants about society and the environment. And I love the 60's flavor of this book. I can't believe a movie hasn't been made of this yet, because it certainly is a visual tale. (And not a bad mystery, either!)