News Lakewood Ranch: June 2020

The recent posting about the beach at Siesta Key, Florida reminded me of the writer John D. MacDonald, a longtime Siesta Key resident, and a wonderful writer.

If you have not heard of him or read any of his dozens of books, you are in for a real treat.

The books in the series featuring Travis McGee, with a color in each title, are real page turners. A great read for the beach, or at home.

The following article is an introduction to him and his work.

Enjoy!

Bill Kamenjarin

https://www.yourobserver.com/article/sense-place-how-john-d-macdonald-shaped-florida-fiction

John D. MacDonald changed the landscape of Florida fiction. In celebration of his 100th birthday, revisit the Sunshine State as he saw it: seedy, sophisticated — and ever beautiful .
by: Marty Fugate Contributor

If John D. MacDonald had lived to be 100, last Sunday would’ve been his birthday. For most of his career, the novelist lived and wrote in Sarasota. The city recently celebrated his birthday and put up a plaque in his honor. It was long overdue. He did more than tell great stories; he reinvented his brand of storytelling.

In the beginning, there was the author John D. MacDonald. Before Tony Montana and his little friend, before the pastel-wearing private eyes of “Miami Vice,” before the eco-warriors of Carl Hiaasen, before the troubled waters of Randy Wayne White, he got there first.

John D. MacDonald. Courtesy photo.

We refer, of course, to the territory of Florida crime fiction. (Which is a wordy way of saying Florida fiction, so let’s stick with that.) Getting it right is all about a sense of place. Before MacDonald came along, most writers were either out of date or just plain wrong.

Judging by books and movies, everyone who lived in Florida either ran a hotel on the beach, worked a fishing boat or sweated in the fields of a family farm.

“The Deep Blue Good-By” was published in 1964. That’s when the rules of Florida fiction changed, along with the standard cast of characters.

That wasn’t MacDonald’s sense of the place. He had moved to Sarasota in 1951. He was a Floridian in the flesh — and his stories would soon follow. By the late 1950s, he’d written a slew of best-selling crime novels, including “The Executioners,” which became the basis for the “Cape Fear” movies. While some of these tales unfolded in the Sunshine State, they weren’t very sunshiny.

MacDonald’s short stories and paperback originals were in the long shadow of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler — the tradition of noir crime fiction, in print and film. The tales of this black-and-white world were usually set in L.A.

But MacDonald was dreaming of Florida — and dreaming in color. Starting with green. The color of nature and money.

His novel “A Flash of Green” came out in 1962. It was a reference to a rare sunset spectacle and a knowing tale of Florida corruption and environmental degradation.

MacDonald lived in this Siesta Key home, designed by Tim Seibert in 1970. Courtesy image.

MacDonald had a lot to say about this territory. Creating his own detective series set in Florida seemed like the perfect idea. His hero would be a knight in “rusted armor” named Travis McGee. Where Sherlock Holmes could be found at 21 Baker St., McGee’s houseboat office was docked at Slip F-18 at Bahia Mar Marina, Fort Lauderdale. No so much a literal detective, McGee was a salvage artist who recovered lost money, valuables and honor. The monochromatic tone of noir crime fiction just wasn’t right for the land of pink flamingos and neon. Why not tropical colors?