M-P TITLES

 
 DELL: 1957 LOST WEEKENDS IN THE BAHAMAS SUN—AND BENEATH THE RUM-DAZED SURFACE OF THE HOUSE-PARTIES RAGED A TITANIC STRUGGLE FOR POWER. There were enough girls for everyone. And Mike Dean had a use for all of them. He used them as he would his liquor, his sunshine,his hospitality, his own personal magnetism—to take other men's minds off their troubles, to soften their consciences, to muddy their good sense, to bend them to his will. But one of his house guests refused to see things Mike Dean's way. One of them had a mind of his his own, and a heart of his own. One of them wouldn't be bought. He is the Hero of this fascinating behind the scenes novel of corporate power and glory and corruption.  1951 by Fawcett: 1951 "SHE MAY LOOK LIKE AN ANGEL . . . but she's a tramp." That's when I hit him, my best friend. I thought of Laura and our three day honeymoon. I thought of the sting of her full lips, the long, lush lines of her warm, wonderful body, her throaty, delighted laugh. And I thought of all the nights we were going to spend together. Paul had stumbled to his feet, and there was blood on his mouth. "You need a keeper," he said heavilly and contemptuously. "To save you from yourself—and her."  First published 1956 by Dell Murder In The Wind is, beyond a doubt, one of the most compelling and suspenseful of Macdonald’s novels. . An awesomely described hurricane literally drives his fascinating cast of characters together. Their refuge from the driving wind and rising water become a sort of grand (and grisly) hotel. (NOTE: WEST COAST FLORIDA RESIDENTS SHOULD READ THIS BOOK-- AND CONDOMINIUM-- EACH SPRING LEST THEY BECOME COMPLACENT....)   Fawcett: 1953 
The smell of stale bedrooms and warm gin hovered over that whole section of town. the women, even the young girls, walked a certain way. There was a drifting threat of violence everywhere, and the kids of the neighborhood knew all about knives, garrison belts and bicycle chains long before they were pushed into high school by weary truant officers.  Fawcett 1968 The best-selling author of the Travis McGee novels tells the riveting tru story of the notorious Coppolino murder trial. Note: JDM paid tribute to John Pete Zenk who had suggested he write about the trial, and who worked with JDM “all the way” as JDM noted. In 1996, as a guest at our 6th John D. MacDonald Conference, in Sarasota, Florida, we heard a very touching story by John Pete Zenk. The setting was MacDonald’s home, now owned by a private party, who invited all conferees to have a barbecue lunch on the verandah. Mr. Zenk told us that in 1985, while he was undergoing a very difficult time, both personally and medically, and a check for a sizable sum of money appeared out of nowhere--the explanation was that it was for some”royalties” long overdue from further sales of the book. There was not a dry eye in the house when Zenk told us that it was not until after JDM’s death that he found out that the money was simply given by JDM to Zenk under the “guise” of a royalty payment.  1981 by Harper and Row: 1981 John D. MacDonald & Captain John H. Kilpack FOR CRUISE VETERANS FOR ARMCHAIR TRAVELERS NOTHING CAN GO WRONG . . . But everything does in this exciting tale of the last long cruise of a U.S. passenger ship by superb storyteller Captain John H. Kilpack and renowned author John D. MacDonald. When the S.S. MARISPOSA set sail in 1977 for a 77-day journey from San Francisco to Leningrad and back, crazy antics, practical jokes, human quirks, and an old ship with more than its share of mechanical troubles created a memorable adventure for everyone aboard. This wild tour takes us twice through the Panama Canal, to more than a dozen European ports, to Alaska, and to sultry Caribbean isles in a uniquely amusing and entertaining book.  Fawcett: 1963 Who in the hell did she think she was, plunging into his present life, pleading with him to forget his past, promissing him the impossible? Sid Shanley couldn't stay in one place very long. He had to keep on the run, changing towns, changing jobs, changing women. He worked out the perfect setup—no attachments, no trails, no explanations. But now a girl had caught up with him. Her name was Paula—and a million dollars lay behind her strange invitation . .  Fawcett: 1961 ARCHITECT OF EVIL Step by step, Dwight McAran built a wall of vicious hate around himself. It was easy. He was a man who could slap one woman to death because she loved him, and hum a love song to another while he raped her. Sure, he did some time in jail. He sat in a cell for five long years until he harbored a core of stark, steaming evil designed to explode in a fury of vengeance. Revenge was all he craved—and a plan was what he had—a plan just cruel enough to please him, just crazy enough to work.  Knopf: 1984 Remember all those televangelist scandals in the late 80’s ? JDM wrote this book years before.....prescient as usual...  Fawcett 1960 SHE WOULD NEVER ESCAPE HER PAST--HER FATE TO BE CAUGHT FOREVER IN THE SICK GLITTER OF THE GREAT SUCKER TRAP. Coney Island in the desert. Miami Beach with an ocean. Nothing but sand and neon and money, money, everywhere. Big-name entertainers rubbing elbows with big name ganGsters over the green-baize craps tables. Bare-breasted showgirls conning the big spenders in the small hours. All-night marriage chapels......Little white balls bouncing around all the roulette wheels.... World without end.... VEGAS!!!!  Simon and Schuster: 1959 ART, EROTICA, AND TEQUILA When a jaded exponent of the Fast Buck hitches his starload of schemes to the salacious bent of a well-heeled, well-oiled divorcee, the result is a daffy mail-ordered Mexican art colony known as the Cuernavaca Summer Workshop. The unique goings-on and comings-off of the members of this oddball establishment are the stuff a he-mans dreams are made of. It is a positively no-money-back, uninhibited, unabridged romp through passion and Picasso, under the naked Mexican sun, where East meets West, North meets South, Madison Avenue goes native, and the long-stemmed Texas lovelies unveil their astonishing natural equipment in the hallowed name of Culture. (NOTE: A REALLY “FUN “ READ)  Dell: 1957 She was so alive and he needed her so badly there was nothing to do but kill her . . .