The Long Lavender Look

The Long Lavender Look: Having read a lot of non-fiction [1] and heavier fiction [2], my mind was aching for something lighter and simpler.  So I dove back into familiar waters and read another in the Travis McGee series.

This one started out in a way that made me think I was not going to like it much.  Travis and Meyer end up stuck in a town halfway between nowhere and the swamp.  All of the characters looked to be the Florida equivalent of swamp people and I was not too excited.

Except that in the time it took me to make that discernment, I had read another page or two and MacDonald had me hooked.  I read the whole thing in three sittings and in the middle sitting I only read about fifteen pages.

The story is about small town people who live near the swamp in Florida, but the story doesn't actually go into the swamp and while some of the characters had clearly been there a time or two, MacDonald doesn't wallow in it. [3]

There's murder and unsolved crimes and the requisite "love" interest. [4]  Drugs, solicitation, misdirection and the hiding of a dead body.  Everything you'd want from the tale.

At a couple of points near the end the writing got a shade to "implying" the action and less "telling" the action. [5]  And the ending was kind of rushed in the way MacDonald endings sometimes are.  Sort of like he either was tired of the tale or had hit a page limit and decided to wrap it up quick.  But neither of those things can keep me from saying I was thoroughly engaged and very much enjoyed it.

So much so that I'm going to start the next in the series as soon as I post this.

The Long Lavender Look: A-

[1] - If you're lucky I'll write about it.
[2] - If I'm lucky I'll finish it.
[3] - Like Reality TV would have.
[4] - Such as they go with McGee naturally
[5] - Of course it is just as likely that I was tired.

Dress Her in Indigo

Dress Her in Indigo (by John D. MacDonald): Another in the Travis McGee series.  If this one falls short of the others it's because it isn't really your typical McGee story.  Instead of the usual, in which Travis is hired to retrieve some money or item, in this one he's hired by a father to go find out whether his daughter, who died in a car crash in Mexico, was happy.  Um, okay?

So instead of there being any identified villain or tangible goal, Travis and Meyer just sort of flounder around.    I'm making it sound worse that it was, but I don't mean to.  It's still a great Travis McGee story.  We still get all of the usual features, including a rant about society ruining itself thrown in for good measure.  (This one is a short of backhandedly mocking the hippies.*)

It's just that the book never really took off for me, but I'm still glad I read it.

Dress Her in Indigo: B

* - The book was written in 1967 or so.

The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper

Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper: by John D. MacDonald. Another Travis McGee novel.  This one was originally published in 1968.  Despite its years it holds up well and could easily be told in the modern era (with a few changes surrounding telephones).  The book has an interesting side arc between McGee and the black maids who work at the hotel he is staying at.  It's used as a mode for McGee to uncover some information, but at the same time it's used to highlight the racial tensions of the time.  In particular the way in which blacks and whites interacted when they are strangers to each other.  (The maids all initially act dumb and subservient, but once it becomes clear that McGee is not trying to hurt or abuse them in any way an uneasy friendship develops and then the maids turn out to be bright ladies using the mask of expected ignorance to avoid conflicts.)  The book doesn't really have the usual danger that most McGee novels have.  He gets into a couple of scrapes but both lack any real danger.  Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this one and think it's probably one of my favorites so far.*

The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper: A-

* - For the record this one is the 10th in a series of 20 or so.  I started reviewing them with the previous book Pale Gray for Guilt, the 9th.

Pale Gray for Guilt

Pale Gray for Guilt: by John D. MacDonald.  One of the many Travis McGee novels by MacDonald.  I've been (slowly) working my way through them.  (Slowly not because of the quality of the book, but because I always seem to get sidetracked onto something else and then forget about them.)  I like these books a lot and not the least in part because they are a little dated in setting.  Again, don't think I'm talking poorly of them.  Even though they were originally written in the late 60's, they could just as easily have been written yesterday by somebody setting the story in the 60's.  (Only if somebody had written them yesterday, they wouldn't have gotten all of the tiny details exactly right.)  This entry into the series is typical of the tales.  McGee (a sort of societal drop out who drops back in again when he needs money) is helping out the widow of an old friend in a story that starts out slowly and like most of the books picks up steam slowly, but quick enough and well told so that you are hooked into the tale before you realize it.  There is the usual McGee/MacDonald bash on society and the modernization of the world, but I always take that as something that lets you understand McGee's philosophy of life more than a glimpse at MacDonald's.  The story gives a good lesson on the confidence scam called the 'pigeon drop' and perhaps there's a bit more stock market, money and business talk than the ordinary reader would want out of a suspense novel, but there's plenty of the usual McGee action as well (fists and girls).  Overall not the best in this series that I have read, but still a good book.

Pale Gray for Guilt: B+