Customer Reviews

Print the Legend

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The legend begins with the suicide of Ernest Hemingway, July 2, 1961, "the shot heard `round the world", the tragic end of an iconic figure. Hemingway's forth wife, Mary, has possession Papa's manuscripts. Now the long-suffering Mary intends to write her own story. She is also planning a biography, entertaining the notion that scholar Richard Paulson might be the man for the job. Accompanied by his pregnant wife, Hannah, a talented fiction writer, Paulson fairly oozes hubris, Hannah much abused by her spouse.
And Paulson, a mediocre writer, nurtures a kernel of hope that he may pen quite another scenario of Hemingway's demise. In an interview with the widow at Topping House in Idaho, Paulson may find just the opportunity he seeks. And it doesn't hurt that Mary is frequently in her cups.

A veritable cottage industry has grown around Hemingway, writers, scholars and critics feasting on the literary accomplishments and the lore. In town for a conference where he is the keynote speaker, the last of the Lost Generation, Hemingway's close friend, mystery writer Hector Lassiter intuitively mistrusts Paulson's motives, and his associations, at the same time drawn to the beauty and intelligence of the very pregnant Hannah. Lassiter intends to run interference between the bombastic Richard and the oft-inebriated Mary Hemingway, to protect his friend's "long game".

The self-contained universe of the literati, a group of hard-drinking, ambitious writers, is unaware of the presence of Donovan Creedy, a clandestine FBI agent who reports directly to J. Edgar Hoover. "Even paranoids have real enemies", Papa no exception, from the bohemian scene of 1920s Paris to the years of revolution in Cuba. The surveillance continues, double-dealing agents lending an air of menace, the ambitions of a drunken, bullying Paulson merging with Creedy's malevolence, the widow at the heart of the mystery. Then there are the others: the twittering scholars and critics trolling for material, hangers-on who complain and cajole, looking for an angle.

All converge at Topping House, a mystery writer, a hack, his talented wife, the spy, Mary in an alcoholic haze, spinning her own web. There are villains and heroes, a government far exceeding its boundaries. Throughout, Hemingway's reputation looms, larger-than-life, the years of his writing and travels filled with strange politics and stranger bedfellows. Mc Donald has blended a heady cocktail of espionage, betrayal, reputation and ambition, with masterful, nail-biting scenes and deeply flawed characters, the truth best left to the imagination: "When legend becomes fact, print the legend." Luan Gaines/2010.

Lots of books are good: good premise, good characters, good pacing, good structure. I think Craig McDonald is just a GOOD writer.

Print the Legend begins with the interesting premise of what if Hemingway didn't commit suicide? Discovering the truth particularly appeals to a Hemingway-obsessed professor who takes on a Papa-persona; and Hector Lassiter, a long-time Hemingway friend and the last of the "Lost Generation" of writers of the 1920s. Lassiter is an on-going McDonald protagonist, and his character development and appeal is woven throughout the tale.

Adding to the mystery is Hemingway's last wife, Mary, who claims to have a variety of her husband's unpublished manuscripts. This concerns Lassiter who--sensitive to academic critics, wonders if Hemingway may have written something that would reveal him.

Historical fiction aficionados will enjoy the references to Hemingway's character and works, other recognizable authors of the era, events of the 20th century, and Fidel Castro and the Cuba of the 1950s. Conspiracy theorists will also indulge in the involvement of Hoover's FBI with so-called Marxist authors.

The book transitions quite smoothly. The plot is well-defined, and frankly it is simply a well-written book. Hemingway would have been pleased.

I stumbled onto Craig McDonald by accident about six months ago. I read Head Games, loved it, and wondered why in the hell this McDonald guy wasn't a huge-selling author yet. Then I read Toros & Torsos, loved it even more, and at this point was apoplectic that this great writer isn't getting the recognition that he deserves. I started telling every reader I know about him.

The character McDonald created, Hector Lassiter, is as well-developed, fascinating and entertaining as any character I've ever read. McDonald has achieved that special effect with Hector that few novelists accomplish with their characters; he has somehow created an utterly fascinating man in such a subtle and nuanced and deep way that Hector simply defies explanation, defies deconstruction. He's as hard to summarize as is a real man. To truly know him, you must read about him.

And now, with Print The Legend, McDonald has even outdone himself. I had such high hopes for this book that I thought perhaps I was in for some disappointment. Just the opposite turned out to be true. As awesome as the first two books are (flat-out MUST READS), Print The Legend is even better.

I can't explain Craig McDonald's brilliance. It's just one of those things you intuitively realize when you're reading his books. His characters, his plotting, his excellent prose style....It all melds together into what we're all looking for when we read books: high entertainment that also feeds the soul in a strange and lasting way. You can't shake McDonald's writing, especially Hector. He just seems so real. I sure wish he was. Hell, maybe he is. Very few authors can achieve what McDonald has with Hector, even on their best day.

Loved the latest installment in the life of Hector Lassiter!
Great read! Nail biting! Can't put it down!
My highest recommendation.
Keep them coming please.

On July 2, 1961, writer Ernest Hemingway apparently committed suicide with a shotgun blast to his head. Four years later, a "Papa" academia conference in Sun Valley, Idaho is convened. Expected to make an appearance is the late great writer's third and last wife Mary.

Three men arriving in Sun Valley hope to meet with the widow demanding she answer questions they have surrounding her husband's death. The last survivor of the Lost Generation, Hemingway's friend crime novelist Hector Lassiter has heard rumors that manuscripts never published exist; including a novel by the deluded Papa that casts several of his friends in a bad light. Hemingway scholar Professor Richard Paulson and his pregnant wife Hannah believe Mary killed Hemingway and they plan to prove it. They seek the truth not out of some form of justice as the Paulsons believe she committed a mercy killing, but to make his reputation. The third person on a mission is aging FBI Agent Donovan Creedy who obsessively believes a homicide occurred and just can't let it go.

The premise that Mary killed her husband Hemingway in a mercy killing is carried out brilliantly in the latest Hector Lassiter mystery (see Toros & Torsos). The cast makes the tale as the three men; Mary and Papa (through the memories of Mary and Hec, and the beliefs of Creedy and Paulson) collide in 1965 Idaho. Fans will be enthralled as Print the Legend is a terrific historical thriller that grips readers with its exciting look at the shocking 1961 death of a literary great.

Harriet Klausner

They say that the book was so much better than the movie. And this book has all the features that makes that statement true. It is not written inside the head of a single character but we the reader are allowed to see inside the brains of all his characters. The writer paints a picture of all the things seen and felt by his characters. I only wish that I could notice, see, and understand as much of what is going on around me as Graig McDonald allows his characters to see, feel, and understand. I personally only see through my eyes and have my feelings and most of the time I do not know what is happening around me. But Graig has that ability to get in the minds of his characters and make sense of what is happening around them. This is the third book I have read from this author and I am amazed at the detail and blown away by the amount of time it must have taken Graig to research all the facts that makes his books not only interesting to read but very informative.