Travis McGee
Created by John D. MacDonald

Salvage consultant. Recoverer of misplaced goods. Ladies' man. Cynical knight errant. Colourful TRAVIS MCGEE docks his yacht, The Busted Flush, a 52-foot barge type houseboat with twin diesels, at the Fort Lauderdale marina, and takes his retirement on the installment plan. It's all financed by his job as a "salvage consultant." What he actually does is recover missing or stolen goods for half their value. Along the way, he invariably fixes a broken heart or two. He's big on therapeutic sex, is our boy, Trav. From his debut in 1964 with The Deep Blue Goodbye, to his final appearance in 1984's The Lonely Silver Rain, he appeared in twenty-one novels, each with a colour in the title, and remains one of the best, and most beloved private eyes of all time (even if he wasn't licensed, and at times acted more like Robin Hood than Philip Marlowe,that's what he was).

One of the more enduring myths in the P.I. genre is that there is a final McGee, A Black Border for McGee, locked away somewhere. However, despite comments made by MacDonald himself, shortly before his death, both his widow and his publisher deny that any such book exists. But the final book in the series, The Lonely Silver Rain (1984), does have a rather elegiac feel to it, as if both MacDonald and McGee knew that their time was over. As George Pelecanos has pointed out, McGee was "the embodiment of (early 60s) male wish-fulfillment." That the series lasted so long is a testament not just to McGee's character, but to MacDonald's ability to tell a story, and captivate an audience.

Although the books sold like hotcakes, inexplicably, they were never really translated successfully into another medium. A 1970 theatrical release, Darker Than Amber, featuring the suitably-chunky Rod Taylor as McGee, was disappointing. Taylor wasn't bad in the role, but the acting in the flick is so wooden you could get splinters in your eyes watching it too closely. Nice location shots, though, and the bad guy was genuinely creepy. And a 1983 made-for-TV film (and pilot for a potential series) was just wrong, wrong, wrong. Somnolent Magnum P.I./Marlboro Man-lookalike Sam Elliot wasn't even a half-good choice to play McGee, even if he could wake up. A series was never developed from this sorry mess. Thank god.

The McGee series did, however, gave birth to a whole sub-genre of detective fiction -- the Florida adventurer. MacDonald's concerns over the ecological rape of Florida and his disgust for the greedy, corrupt forces that are drive it are reflected in Geoffrey Norman's Morgan Hunt, James Hall's Thorn, John Lutz's Carver and Carl Hiassen's crazed desparadoes and lost rescuers. It's there that the true spirit of MacDonald's tarnished, shambling beach bum knight lives on.

UNDER OATH

• "Commercially speaking, there has never been a smarter creation than Travis McGee. He is the embodiment of male wish-fulfillment. No nine-to-five job, lives by his own set of rules, resides on a houseboat, drinks but is not a drunk, tall, handsome, good with his fists but not a bully, etc. All of the women McGee sleeps with are built like centerfolds, and, more importantly, most of them conveniently kick before that bothersome issue of commitment comes to the forefront (one mystery store in New York actually has an annual Travis McGee Always the Bridesmaid Never the Bride Award in honor of the latest murdered female companion to a male series character). So McGee is the man we--okay, most of us--would like to see when we look in the mirror. And, yeah, I love the books. I even named my old dog, Travis, after McGee."
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  "The McGee books are early 60s timepieces (the hero's Hefner-like, paternal attitude towards women) in the same way that Spillane's books represent a certain kind of attitude (paranoid, racist, homophobic) from the 50s. Think of them on one hand as social records, and try not to judge them from the perspective of our more "enlightened" present. When a modern writer tries to approximate that attitude in a period book (for the sake of his own street-cred or to maintain a rep of cool) is when the issue becomes more complicated and problematic."
  (George Pelecanos, author of Right As Rain, on Rara Avis, April 2001)
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• "..possibly the old houseboat is tied there still; McGee on deck, tending to fresh bruises, sipping his Boodles; watching the sun slide from the sky over Las Olas Boulevard..Anyway, that's what I want to believe. If he's gone, I prefer not to know."
  (Carl Hiaasen ponders McGee's current whereabouts)
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• "To diggers a thousand years from now...the works of John D. MacDonald would be a treasure on the order of the tomb of Tutankhamen."
  (Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.)
  
  
• "Travis McGee had the right idea. Retirement days should be taken early and often."
  (J. Michael Blue, in his novel Justified Crimes)
  

NOVELS

• The Deep Blue Goodbye (1964) ...Buy this book
• A Purple Place for Dying (1964) ...Buy this book
• The Quick Red Fox (1964) ...Buy this book
• Nightmare in Pink (1964) ...Buy this book
• A Deadly Shade of Gold (1965) ...Buy this book
• Bright Orange for the Shroud (1965) ...Buy this book
• Darker Than Amber (1966) ...Buy this book
• One Fearful Yellow Eye (1966) ...Buy this book
• Pale Gray for Guilt (1968) ...Buy this book
• The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper (1968) ...Buy this book
• The Long Lavender Look (1970) ...Buy this book
• A Tan and Sandy Silence (1971) ...Buy this book
• Dress Her in Indigo (1971) ...Buy this book
• The Scarlet Ruse (1973) ...Buy this book
• The Turquoise Lament (1973) ...Buy this book
• The Dreadful Lemon Sky (1974) ...Buy this book
• The Empty Copper Sea (1978) ...Buy this book
• The Green Ripper (1979) ...Buy this book
• Free Fall in Crimson (1981) ...Buy this book
• Cinnamon Skin (1982) ...Buy this book
• The Lonely Silver Rain (1984) ...Buy this book

FILMS

• DARKER THAN AMBER...Buy this video
  (1970, National General)
  Based on the novel by John D. MacDonald
  Screenplay by Ed Waters
  Directed by Robert Clouse
  Starring Rod Taylor as TRAVIS McGEE
  and Theodore Bikel as Meyer
  Also starring Suzy Kendall, Oswaldo Calvo, Jane Russell

TELEVISION

• THE EMPTY COPPER SEA
  (AKA Travis McGee: The Empty Copper Sea)
  (1983)
  Made-for-television film/pilot
  Based on "The Empty Copper Sea" by John D. MacDonald
  Screenplay by Sterling Silliphant
  Directed by Andrew V. McLaglin
  Starring Sam Elliot as TRAVIS McGEE
  Also starring Gene Evans, Katharine Ross, Vera Miles, Amy Madigan, Richard Farnsworth, Geoffrey Lewis

ALSO OF INTEREST

• "Green Gravy for the Blush" (March 1971, EQMM; Travis McGee parody by Jon Breen )
• The Official Travis McGee Quiz Book (1984; by John Brogan, intro by JDM)..Buy this book
• The World According to Travis McGee (2001, by R. Ackroyd)..Buy this book

RELATED LINKS

• Big Bill's John D. MacDonald Stuff
  A tasty and satisfying concoction of rumours, trivia, lists and various other spicy tidbits sure to whet the appetite of any JDM fan.
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• John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee
  A great site by a parrothead who first discovered JDM through a Jimmy Buffet song. There are quotes, some slices of McGee's philosophy, and a reprint of Carl Hiaasen's excellent and thoughtful intro to the 1994 reissue of The Deep Blue Goodbye.
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• The Travis McGee Series by John D. MacDonald
  Another fan site, and a lot of fun. As well as the book-by-book breakdown, and a collection of quotes, there's also a selection of Boat bum Cuisine, complete with recipes for such treats as Meyer's Memorable Chili and McGee's Special Martini.
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• The John D. MacDonald Homepage
  Cal Branches spopradically updated labour of love brags that it's nearly always under construction, and boy, do I sympathize.There is some info on how to subscribe to The JDM Bibliophile, and a few more intriguing bits of info, including the scoop on A Black Border For McGee.
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• Gold Medal Author: John D. MacDonald
  This site is run by a Gold Medal book fanatic, the paperback publisher of so many great private eyes. This page has all the original cover art of all the McGee's, as well as MacDonald's non-series books,along with the back cover blurbs of the plots. My only real gripe is that it's arranged alphabetically by title, instead of chronologically.
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• Sometimes I Wish I Lived on a Houseboat
  Tom Dooley's personable, personal essay on why he wants to be Travis McGee (like, don't we all?). It serves as a perfect intro to the beloved beach bum PI.  There's an outline of the character and an enlightening passage from Free Fall in Crimson.
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• The Travis McGee Fan Club
  Yahoo! Club's mailing list for all things JDMish. Our own Bluefox808 docks there frequently. Drop by and say "Hey!"
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• McGee's Little Black Book
  Let's face it -- the dude got around.
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• Jean Pearson
  This site's entry on Lori Stone's detective hero, who may or may not be McGee's long-lost lovechild. The allusions fall like the lonely silver rain....

TRIVIA

• According to Captain Morgan on the now-defunct McGee Newsgroup, who looked through some of the prices in Yachting magazine back in 1988, a boat like the Busted Flush could easily run to half a million or more, depending on the amenities and adjusted for 1998 dollars. Anyone out there have any idea what it would be worth today?

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Thanks to Bluefox808 for the multiple words to the wise. And Tom Malone for having sharper eyes than me. The first Plymouth's on me, guys.