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....)
Lippencott: 1977
Welcome to Golden Sands, the dream condominium built on a weak foundation
and a thousand dirty secrets. JDM’s powerful novel is a panoramic look at the
shocking facts of life in a Sun Belt community: the real estate swindles and political
payoffs, the maintenance charges that run up, and the health benefits that run out,
the crack-ups and marital breakdowns, the disaster that awaits those who play in
the path of a hurricane.
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 . . .
Lippencott: 1977
Welcome to Golden Sands, the dream condominium built on a weak foundation
and a thousand dirty secrets. JDM’s powerful novel is a panoramic look at the
shocking facts of life in a Sun Belt community: the real estate swindles and political
payoffs, the maintenance charges that run up, and the health benefits that run out,
the crack-ups and marital breakdowns, the disaster that awaits those who play in
the path of a hurricane.