Search Results: John D. MacDonald from I Cannot Live Without Books

Bright Orange for the Shroud (Travis McGee Series, Book #6) by John D. MacDonald
Travis McGee is looking forward to a "slob summer," spending his days as far away from danger as possible. But trouble has a way of finding him, no matter where he hides. An old friend, conned out of his life savings by his ex-wife has tracked him down and is desperate for help. To get the money back and earn his usual fee, McGee will have to penetrate the Everglades and the mind of a violently twisted grifter.
McGee has never seen a man so changed by one year of life. Arthur Wilkinson had been an amiable and decent young man looking to invest some of his considerable inheritance in a marina enterprise. Then a pretty blonde named Wilma Ferner showed up. She was soon Mrs. Wilkinson, and it only took her a year to leave Arthur bankrupt and broken.
But what starts out as a simple job turns into a dangerous situation when McGee comes face-to-face with a quick-thinking and quicker-fisted foe in the Florida swamps. Now Arthur's… Read More

Darker than Amber (Travis McGee Series, Book #7) by John D. MacDonald
A fishing trip is anything but relaxing when Travis McGee is involved. As McGee and his friend Meyer settle down to some midnight casting, a woman falls into the water from the bridge above them. Her name is Evangeline, and the hints she gives about the events leading to her near drowning suggest a less than pristine past. But McGee has saved her, and he wants to see her make a new life -- even if it means confronting a gang of murderers that makes his blood run cold.
Evangeline may be the intended target in a complex scheme, but she's no ordinary victim. Behind her darker than amber eyes is a woman who lures men onto her boat and robs them, throwing them overboard when she's done with them. And now she's enlisted the resistant Travis and Meyer to rescue her "savings" from her partners in crime.
When Evangeline winds up dead, McGee and Meyer must get involved. But the stakes are high -- and Evangeline may not be the only casualty of… Read More

Darker than Amber (Travis McGee Series, Book #7) by John D. MacDonald
A fishing trip is anything but relaxing when Travis McGee is involved. As McGee and his friend Meyer settle down to some midnight casting, a woman falls into the water from the bridge above them. Her name is Evangeline, and the hints she gives about the events leading to her near drowning suggest a less than pristine past. But McGee has saved her, and he wants to see her make a new life -- even if it means confronting a gang of murderers that makes his blood run cold.
Evangeline may be the intended target in a complex scheme, but she's no ordinary victim. Behind her darker than amber eyes is a woman who lures men onto her boat and robs them, throwing them overboard when she's done with them. And now she's enlisted the resistant Travis and Meyer to rescue her "savings" from her partners in crime.
When Evangeline winds up dead, McGee and Meyer must get involved. But the stakes are high -- and Evangeline may not be the only casualty of… Read More

A Deadly Shade of Gold (Travis McGee Series, Book #5) by John D. MacDonald
When Travis McGee picks up the phone and hears a voice from his past, he can't help it: He has to meddle. Especially when he has the chance to reunite Sam Taggart, a reckless, restless man like himself, with the woman who's still waiting for him. But what begins as a simple matchmaking scheme soon becomes a bloody chase that takes McGee to Mexico, a beautiful country from which he hopes to return alive.
Deception. Betrayal. Heartbreak. When Sam left his girlfriend, Nora, and vanished from Fort Lauderdale. But when he shows up three years later lying in a pool of his own blood, people start to ask questions. And his old friend Travis McGee is left to find answers.
But all he has to go on are a gold Aztec idol and a very angry ex-girlfriend. Is that enough to find his friend's killer? And when the truth is as terrifying as this, does he really want answers after all?

The Deep Blue Good-by (Travis McGee Series, Book #1) by John D. MacDonald
Travis McGee is a self-described beach bum who won his houseboat in a card game. He's also a knight-errant who's wary of credit cards, retirement benefits, political parties, mortgages, and television. He only works when his cash runs out, and his rule is simple: He'll help you find whatever was taken from you, as long as he can keep half.
McGee isn't particularly strapped for cash, but how can anyone say no to Cathy, a sweet backwoods girl who's been tortured repeatedly by her manipulative ex-boyfriend Junior Allen? What Travis isn't anticipating is just how many women Junior has torn apart and left in his wake. Enter Junior's latest victim, Lois Atkinson.
Frail and broken, Lois can barely get out of bed when Travis finds her, let alone keep herself alive. But Travis turns into Mother McGee, giving Lois new life as he looks for the ruthless man who steals women's spirits and livelihoods. But he can't guess how violent his quest… Read More

The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper (Travis McGee Series, Book #10) by John D. MacDonald
He had done a big favor for her husband, then for the lady herself. Now she's dead, and Travis McGee finds that Helena Pearson Trescott had one last request of him: to find out why her beautiful daughter Maureen keeps trying to kill herself. But what can a devil-may-care beach bum do for a troubled young mind?
McGee makes his way to the prosperous town of Fort Courtney, Florida, where he realizes pretty quickly that something's just not right. Not only has Maureen's doctor killed herself, but a string of murders and suicides are piling up -- and no one seems to have any answers.
Just when it seems that things can't get any stranger, McGee becomes the lead suspect in the murder of a local nurse. As if Maureen didn't have enough problems, the man on a mission to save her will have to save himself first -- before time runs out.

Nightmare in Pink (Travis McGee Series, Book #2) by John D. MacDonald
Travis McGee's permanent address is the Busted Flush, Slip F-18, Bahia Mar, Lauderdale, and there isn't a hell of a lot that compels him to leave it. Except maybe a call from an old army buddy who needs a favor. If it weren't for him, McGee might not be alive. For that kind of friend, Travis McGee will travel almost anywhere, even New York City. Especially when there's a damsel in distress.
The damsel in question is his old friend's kid sister, whose fiance has just been murdered in what authorities claim was a standard Manhattan mugging. But Nina knows better. Her soon-to-be husband had been digging around, finding scum and scandal at his real estate firm. And this scum will go to any lengths to make sure their secrets don't get out.
Travis is determined to get to the bottom of things, but just as he's closing in on the truth, he's knocked out and taken captive. If he's locked up in a mental institution with a steady stream of… Read More

One Fearful Yellow Eye (Travis McGee Series, Book #8) by John D. MacDonald
It only takes one word to get Travis McGee to leave the sunny deck of his houseboat in Ft. Lauderdale for the gray cold of Chicago. The word is "help," and it's uttered by Glory Geis, an old girlfriend of McGee's and the pretty young widow of world-renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Fortner Geis. The trouble is, the good doctor converted his considerable estate into cash before he died. But where he stashed it, no one knows.
Although everyone from the IRS to Dr. Geis's greedy grown children suspects that Glory is hiding the lost fortune, she hasn't a clue to its whereabouts. To prove her innocence, she must find the money and the culprits who stole it. Enter McGee, for one of the most challenging salvages of his career.
How do you extort $600,000 from a dying man? Someone must have done it very quietly and skillfully. While untangling the mess of Dr. Geis's last days, McGee makes a startling discovery: Some folks would love nothing… Read More

Pale Gray for Guilt (Travis McGee Series, Book #9) by John D. MacDonald
Travis McGee's old football buddy Tush Bannon is resisting pressure to sell off his floundering motel and marina to a group of influential movers and shakers. Then he's found dead. For a big man, Tush was a pussycat: devoted to his wife and three kids and always optimistic about his business -- even when things were at their worst. So although his death is ruled a suicide, McGee suspects murder and a vile conspiracy.
Tush Bannon was in the wrong spot at the wrong time. His measly plot of land just so happened to sit right in the middle of a rich parcel of five hundred riverfront acres that big-money real estate interests decided they simply must have.
It didn't matter that Tush was a nice guy with a family, or that he never knew he was dealing with a criminal element. They squashed him like a bug and walked away, counting their change. But one thing they never counted on: the gentle giant had a not-so-gentle friend in Travis… Read More

A Purple Place for Dying (Travis McGee Series, Book #3) by John D. MacDonald
Travis McGee is taking his retirement in installments while he's still young enough to enjoy it. But sooner or later, his money runs out and he has to work. This time McGee's lured out West to a strangely secretive meeting with a woman in trouble, in a place whose beauty hides some ugly dangerous secrets.
Mona is in love with a poor young college professor and married to a wealthy man who she is convinced is stealing from her trust fund. So she does what any self-respecting girl would do: She hires someone to steal her money back so she can run away with the love of her life.
McGee isn't sure he wants to help out until he sees Mona getting shot and killed out on the cliffs near her cabin. Now he's a lead suspect in a plot to help her escape and to clear his name he needs to get to the bottom of things. But the murders just keep mounting, and for McGee, even working with Mona's husband doesn't seem to help matters. Will he be… Read More

The Quick Red Fox (Travis McGee Series, Book #4) by John D. MacDonald
She's the opposite of a damsel in distress: a famous movie star, very beautiful, very much in control of her life. She's just made one little mistake and now she needs Travis McGee to set it right. The money is good and Travis's funds are in need of replenishing. But that's not the only reason he takes the case. There is the movie star's assistant -- efficient and reserved, with a sadness underneath that makes McGee feel he'd brave any danger to help her.
Sultry movie star Lysa Dean has gotten herself into a spot of blackmail, posing for naked photos while participating in a debauched party near Big Sur. If the pictures get out, Lysa's engagement to her rich, straitlaced fiance doesn't stand a chance. Enter Travis McGee, who's agreed to put a stop to the extortion, working alongside Lysa's assistant, Dana Holtzer.
They begin by tracking down everyone associated with the lurid evening, and soon enough they're led on a chase across… Read More