Gregory Mcdonald (1937–2008)

2nd (of 9) in the Fletch series of comic mysteries; winner of the 1977 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original.

We find Fletch in Boston, where he is, at least in theory, researching his biography of a minor New England artist. But what he's mostly up to is attempting to find the stolen art collection of his Italian fiancee after the kidnapping and presumed murder of her father. She and her stepmother are squabbling over who is to inherit the paintings (if they are found); the lawyers refuse show more to release the Count's will until his body is actually found.

Fletch's investigation into the stolen art is complicated when he arrives at his rental apartment to find the naked body of a young woman; he becomes, inevitably, the chief suspect in her murder.

Mcdonald writes with such a breezy comic style that the plot sometimes seems to take a back scene to the witty conversations and the snappy banter. Entire scenes feel like drifty interludes that are beside the point, but I never minded because they are so much fun. When all of those things that felt like amusing digressions turn out to have been relevant after all, and all of the plot threads are neatly tied together into a clever solution, you realize just how smartly Mcdonald has conceived his story.

The murder is being investigated by Inspector Francis Xavier Flynn of the Boston police department, who is such a charming eccentric that Mcdonald spun him off into his own 4-book series.

Confess, Fletch was adapted into a very good movie last year starring Jon Hamm, perfect for the role. The movie was barely released in theaters for being dumped onto Showtime's streaming service, where almost nobody saw it. In a better world, it would have been the first of a long-running franchise for Hamm. show less

Another series I’d dropped years ago when a lack of free time allowed me to continue to follow only my very favorites. Here Fletch becomes the Press Liaison for a presidential campaign. Like his protagonist McDonald was once a reporter, and he had intimate knowledge of how these things worked back in 1983. It is fascinating to compare that world to today’s of instant knowledge. And let’s not even get into tactics. The conclusion is almost irrelevant, and it reads that way. It was show more almost as if McDonald belatedly realized he actually had to solve the murders to get out of the book satisfactorily; there are, after all, certain expectations attached to the genre. But the afterthought nature of the solution is not a major problem. The killings were beside the point all along. show less

Heerlijk om Fletch weer tegen het lijf te lopen! Nadat ik het eerste boek 'Fletch' een achttal jaar geleden las (een ontdekking uit mijn speurtocht naar cultboeken) bleek het nadien uitverkocht en sindsdien nergens meer beschikbaar. Onlangs ontdekten we tweedehands een aantal oude pockets uit de reeks, die we met gretige leeshonger aankochten en kijk: dat hebben we ons niet berouwd.

We lezen de boeken nu in chronologische volgorde van het verhaal, hoewel McDonald ze niet in die volgorde show more schreef (ook altijd een dilemma, me dunkt. cfr: Kijk je de Star Wars films zoals ze verschenen zijn of in volgorde van het verhaal?).

Enfin, het was een blij weerzien met Irwin Fletcher, reporter van de News-Tribune, rad van tong en lefgozer pur sang. Fletcher bevindt zich - gewild of ongewild - steeds ten midden van de actie, weet met zijn nonchalance, sociale vaardigheid en (soms zwart) gevoel voor humor de meesten rondom hem (lezer incluis!) voor zich te winnen, of geneert zich niet om keihard te botsen met zijn omgeving als ze hem niet aanstaan.

De stijl die Gregory McDonald hanteert is razendsnel met heel wat flitsende dialogen en alleen korte beschrijvingen waar nodig. De strakke, snelle verhaallijn en de spanning tussen de karakters zorgen voor veel leesplezier en de dialogen van McDonald (vooral de antwoorden van Fletch zelve) zitten vol humor. U ziet het zelden, maar achter een boek van Fletcher zie je me regelmatig met een brede glimlach zitten.
Heerlijk leesvoer! show less

Unbelievably bad in every way. If McDonald's editor wasn't out for cocktails on the money from the first umpteen books in this series, he would have had a fit over some of these sentences. The invention at the center of the billionaire's fortune is both overemphasized and under-explained. B plot is bizarre and unconnected. More time spent describing the contents of the grocery store and the layout of the town square than the motives of the murderer. Author has clearly never met an actual show more human woman of any description.

Since I couldn't bear to put it back in the bookshelf next to the other actual books, and it would feel wrong to inflict it on another human, it has been recycled with the morning paper. You're welcome, world. show less