JOHN D. MACDONALD

  

Most readers loved MacDonald's work because he told a rip-roaring yarn. I loved it because he was the first modern writer to nail Florida dead-center, to capture all its languid sleaze, racy sense of promise, and breath-grabbing beauty...For me and many natives (of Florida), some of McGee's finest moments were when he paused, mid-adventure, to inveigh against the runaway exploitation of this rare and dying paradise. If a cypress swamp got plowed to make way for another shopping mall, he took it personally: "This was instant Florida, tacky and stifling and full of ugly and spurious energies." Every McGee saga guarantees such splendidly mordant commentary. The customary targets are greedhead developers, crooked politicians, chamber-of-commerce flacks, and the cold-hearted scammers who flock like buzzards to the Sunshine State. For John D. MacDonald, these were not just useful fictional villains; they were villains of real life. When he passed away unexpectedly in 1986, millions of fans worldwide wondered what would become of Travis McGee. Not me. I wondered what would become of Florida without him...."

 Carl Hiaasen, from an intro to   The Deep Blue Goodbye.

                                                                

JOHN D. MACDONALD  "....the great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller."

  --STEPHEN KING

....a master storyteller, a masterful suspense writer."

  --MARY HIGGINS CLARK

....a dominant influence on writers crafting the continuing series character."

-SUE GRAFTON

"....my favorite novelist of all time."

  --DEAN KOONTZ

"...the consummate pro, a master storyteller and witty observer."

-JONATHAN KELLERMAN

"...remains one of my idols."

   --DONALD WESTLAKE

THE TRAVIS McGEE SERIES

...one of the great sagas in American fiction."

    --ROBERT B. PARKER

"...what a joy that these timeless and treasured novels are available again."

   --ED McBAIN

“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