John D. MacDonald

John D. MacDonald (1916 - 1986) was an American writer best known for his series of detective novels featuring protagonist Travis McGee. His education included an MBA from Harvard University. He began his literary career just after World War II, writing fiction for the "pulp magazines." He also wrote science-fiction stories, westerns, and "mainstream" novels.

He won the American Book Award in 1980. Stephen King called him "the great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller."

MacDonald's Travis McGee is an intelligent and introspective protagonist. The Travis McGee novels, generally including the name of a color in their title, usually feature an appearance by a sidekick referred to only as "Meyer" who is a retired economist. McGee lives in a houseboat in Fort Lauderdale, and the novels seem to take place in same world as the Florida novels of Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiassen.

MacDonald's 1957 novel The Executioners was made into a movie entitled "Cape Fear" in 1962, and again in 1991.

Novels

Partial list of novels in the Travis McGee series, in chronological order:

• The Deep Blue GoodBye
• Nightmare in Pink
• A Purple Place for Dying
• The Quick Red Fox
• A Deadly Shade of Gold
• Bright Orange for the Shroud
• Darker than Amber
• One Fearful Yellow Eye
• Pale Gray for Guilt
• Dress Her in Indigo
• The Long Lavender Look
• A Tan and Sandy Silence
• The Scarlet Ruse
• The Turquoise Lament
• The Dreadful Lemon Sky
• The Empty Copper Sea
• The Green Ripper
• The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper

Selected novels not in the Travis McGee series:

• Barrier Island
• Condominium
• The Executioners (republished under the title Cape Fear)
• A Flash of Green (not a Travis McGee despite the color name)
• One More Sunday
• Please Write for Details
• Slam the Big Door

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