The Deep Blue Good-By by John D. MacDonaldMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is really more of a neo-noir-type crime thriller than a mystery book. Basically Travis McGee is an independent contractor who lives on a houseboat in southern Florida. As usually happens with these things, a dame comes to him with a problem that involves a man named Junior Allen stealing something valuable from the woman's family.
Trav takes the case and soon meets another of Allen's victims named Lois Atkinson and winds up becoming her caretaker because she's been so brutalized. In today's parlance we'd say she has PTSD. For the early 60s it's pretty raunchy and violent and like most noir-type books, Trav is not really a knight in shining armor or a spotless cowboy in a white hat.
My only complaint is this first book doesn't really tell us much about Trav, but I suppose some of the other books in the series might do that. If they weren't so expensive, I'd read them.
(Fun Fact: John Hodgman's character in Dicktown was probably at least in part based on Travis McGee as he's an independent investigator who lives on a houseboat like McGee.)
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Bonus Fact: According to some rap song that comedian/musician Jonathan Coulton covered, outdoor fucking begins today, May 1st. So go enjoy that if you can.
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