Deep Blue Goodbye (Crime Masterworks 04) [Paperback]

John D MacDonald (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 21, 2002 | Series: Crime Masterworks 04

Travis McGee, beach bum and 'salvage expert' (he'll retrieve what you've lost for 50 per cent), lives on a houseboat in Fort Lauderdale. Instead of taking retirement at sixty, he takes it in chunks as he goes along. If he likes you he'll help you, and he likes Cathy Kerr, who has been robbed of everything but her dignity...the first in the series establishes the fast-talking, wisecracking standard MacDonald maintained for over 20 years.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John D MacDonald (1916-1986) MacDonald was born in Sharon, Pa, and educated at the Universities of Pennsylvania, Syracuse and Harvard, where he took an MBA in 1939. After war service in the Far East he wrote hundreds of stories for the pulps and over seventy novels, including the 21 in the Travis McGee sequence.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Orion Paperbacks (March 21, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0752847678
• ISBN-13: 978-0752847672
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #729,303 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The 1st in the Travis McGee Series, June 5, 2002

By 

Mitchell Scott (Deep South) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deep Blue Goodbye (Mass Market Paperback)

This was the first in the beloved Travis McGee series. Buy Deep Blue Goodbye. Then buy Nightmare in Pink. Now you are on your way to reading one of the best book series ever written. John D. Macdonald is my favorite fiction author for many reasons: his social commentary, characters, storylines, ...
Deep Blue Goodbye gives much, and leaves you wanting more. Thank goodness there are so many good works by this author.
But don't take my word for it. Read the entire T. McGee series!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great american writer, August 8, 2005

By 

SML "reader in Northridge" (Northridge, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deep Blue Goodbye (Mass Market Paperback)

Got started with the Travis McGee series 20 years ago. Didn't read them in order, but suggest others do. My favorite is The Green Ripper, and thought the only one a little lacking was Freefall in Crimson. But just want to say, when you finish all the McGees, go immediately to his other novels and short stories. Some are clunkers-- Man of Affairs, Border Island-- but some are unbelievably great novels of the crime/"pulp fiction" genre. The Empty Trap; April Evil; On the Run; The Girl, the Gold Watch and Everything; Linda (found in Border Town Girl), and on and on and on. Also short stories-- Good Old Stuff, More Good Old Stuff (Seven not as good) and the sci-fi-- yes, that's right-- sci-fi stories from very early in his career are in a collection, too. They're hit and miss, but mostly hit. For me, MacDonald and Steinbeck capture so much about this country.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Color him McGee in this 'must read'!, January 11, 2004

By 

Billy J. Hobbs "Bill Hobbs" (Tyler, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Deep Blue Goodby (Mass Market Paperback)

"Home is the `Busted Flush,' 52-foot barge-type houseboat, Slip F-18, Bahia Mar,
Lauderdale."

Is there any address in American literature so readily identified? Probably not.
It's the home of Travis McGee, "knight in tarnished armor," and central character of the
over-20 volumed series by John D. MacDonald.

With quite a following of readers around the world (my first McGee was while
vacationing in Torremolinas years ago and needing something to read while soaking up the

Spanish sunshine and absorbing the sangria deliciosa!), MacDonald's hero, along with his
sometimes bizarre assortment of friends, enemies, and hangers-on, goes from one adventure
to another. Each of the McGee books contains a color in the title, easily recognizable. And
it's not purple prose either! MacDonald, a best-selling novelist for years, has more than
just a storyline to carry his books.
Certainly, McGee is his principal concern. He's "retired" most of the time--he
only goes back to work when he sees he's running out of money. He'd rather stay aboard
his houseboat and entertain his friends that work. He claims he's taking his retirement one
day at a time!

"The Deep Blue Good-by" is the first in this series, published in 1964. It is amazing,
too, that in reading it here in the year 2000, the book still stands as relevant now as it was
then. McGee, as usual, finds himself befriending and then helping out Cathy Kerr, who
has come to him in desperation. Her misfortune has been to meet up with Junior Allen, "a
smiling, freckle-face stranger" with depravity on his mind and a more odious person you
don't want to meet. There is also something about missing inheritance. McGee is unable
to resist and from the moment he accepts the challenge, the reader is glued to the pages.

MacDonald's style is terse (some would say Hemingwayesque--one of MacDonald's favorite
writes, incidentally) and moves rapidly, a pace easy to keep up with but one that if you
blink, you might miss something. But who wants to blink when MacDonald is
on a McGee crusade! The author's knack for piercing characterization, his ability to
capture the landscape and atmosphere of "Lauderdamndale," and his penchant for a good
story make this first episode one not to be missed. True, the McGee books ordinarily don't
have to be read in sequence, it's still a good idea. Over the course of the series, naturally,
an affinity toward complete understanding of Travis, and his good friend Meyer, keeps
readers truly involved.

"The Deep Blue Good-by" is a "hello" to a great series!