The Turquoise Lament [Audio Cassette]

John D. MacDonald (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1983

In what seems an innocuous beginning, Travis McGee sets out to find a scholar's notebooks which contain plans for a number of million-dollar salvage projects.

His first step is to locate the scholar's relatives, and this being a McGee story, it is predictable that the nearest and dearest will be a daughter, one Pidge.

McGee's attention is distracted by Pidge's story that her husband is trying to kill her and that he has another female stowed away aboard the ship. McGee's ability is challenged almost to the limit, but fortunately for the series, he survives.

"A finely wrought plot, multi-dimensional characters, and plenty of action, are all part of the style which has made Mr. MacDonald one of America's most widely read authors." (Saturday Review)

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

6 1.5-hour cassettes

From the Inside Flap

"One of the most enduring and unusual heroes in detective fiction."

THE BALTIMORE SUN

Now that Linda "Pidge" Lewellen is grown up, she tells Travis McGee, once her girlhood idol, that either she's going crazy or Howie, her affable ex-jock of a husband is trying to kill her. McGee checks things out, and gives Pidge the all clear. But when Pidge and Howie sail away to kiss and make up, McGee has second thoughts. If only he can get to Pidge before he has time for any more thinking....


From the Paperback edition. --This text refers to the Unbound edition.

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Books on Tape, Inc. (November 1, 1983)
• ISBN-10: 0736607080
• ISBN-13: 978-0736607087
• Shipping Information: View shipping rates and policies
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,236,344 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Vacation in paradise, McGee style, August 4, 2002

By 

Paul Skinner (Manassas, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Turquoise Lament (Mass Market Paperback)

Travis McGee once again takes on the torch of righteousness as he saves the daughter of an old friend. She thinks she's losing her mind, which is exactly what somebody wants her to think. But McGee sees through the charade, and undercovers a shady past that explains why he's willing to travel halfway around the world to provide justice. The last 50 pages are stunning in this thriller. Like all MacDonald books, you will get a heavy dose of philosophy from a sophisticated author. Enjoy this classic.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interest male angst, January 28, 2003

By 

Glen Engel Cox (Columbus, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Turquoise Lament (Mass Market Paperback)

Had Travis McGee been in a science fiction novel, we would have had books like THE PHILOSOPHY OF MCGEE, similar to THE NOTEBOOKS OF LAZARUS LONG, dedicated to the wit and wisdom of this, MacDonald's best known and best loved character. Perhaps it is for the best. While not quite given to epigrams as Heinlein, MacDonald definitely had a consistent vision of who this latter day Don Quixote was. Long before Robert Parker investigated male angst in the Spenser books, MacDonald had mined the entire territory.

In The Turquoise Lament, McGee must face doubt, guilt, and faith as the grown daughter of a deceased salvage friend is afraid that her newlywed husband is attempting to kill her. Culminating in a fight scene with a cable car that today's Hollywood would go nuts for--in fact, that gets me to wondering why we have never seen McGee on film. Maybe we have, and I just don't know about it? Sure, some of the dialogue might not work on the screen, but the mystery, adventure, and spectacular fights would surely fit today's current vehicles for male stars. Today's directors would probably make a mish-mash of it, though; MacDonald probably better fits a director like Hitchcock than Paul Rudhoven or James Cameron.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Felt like a giant step from the previous books, May 13, 2011

By 

TinCan Frank (Sunny SoCal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Turquoise Lament (Mass Market Paperback)

I was first introduced to the series in the late 70s by a girlfriend, no less. I read 4 or 5 of them, then got on a very heavy science fiction binge for years, McGee was forgotten.

Recently I came upon a yellowed paperback in a box which had been in storage a long time. Since I had forgotten most of that which I had read so long ago anyway, I decided to start from #1, The Deep Blue Good-by (why did he spell it that way?) and read the entire series in chronological order. It was interesting to see the references to characters earlier in the series, the increasing complexity of the plots, the exposition of the MacDonald ethical philosophy.

But the entire structure of The Turquoise Lament was much different than the earlier books, and it took a little getting used to.

Thoroughly enjoyable, in some ways a more human Travis, and I too wonder why Hollywood couldn't make a story like this, with its multiple exotic locations, mix of morality, debauchery and evil, and fast pace into something people would spend money to see?