The Long Lavender Look

After the exotica of Mexico in DRESS HER IN INDIGO, the claustrophobic confines of Cypress County, Florida cast a dark shadow over another journey through death, suffering, and the worst of human nature. Meyer, unfortunately, only appears at the beginning of the book long enough to get arrested, along with McGee, for murder, hospitalized, then at the end when the weary McGee returns to the Busted Flush to recuperate. In the grand comparison, McGee behaves pretty well in this one, but still manages to cause a few deaths by simply being near people. Meyer's presence would have made the whole book a lot more enjoyable. The plot takes a long time--about 50 pages too long--to unwind, and as byzantine as it is, I'm not sure it all really adds show more up. It revolves around $900,000 of hidden loot from an armored car robbery and the group of social deviants who are trying to find it. This is much more of a character study, and there are plenty of characters to observe. As usual, there are some conveniently talkative folks who give McGee most of what he needs in his quest for answers. This is hardly MacDonald's best work, but there are still considerable pleasures to be had here. show less

The Travis McGee novels are just so well-written. This one came out in 1970 and, honestly, the only thing that really dates it for me is a character saying "darling" a lot. Who says that anymore? Excellent plot, characters with dimension, conflict and nuance in the main character, the use of stream of consciousness type writing to convey McGee's inner dialogue ... it all works together very well. This one has McGee and his friend Meyer getting falsely accused of murder in a small Florida town by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. McGee has to uncover a vast web of crime and secrets in order to clear his name. Just so good.

Had a great opening scene as the protagonist is in a car accident, then accused of murder... but the charges are quickly cleared and Travis's motivations for sticking around are pretty thin. There's quite an intricate web of terrible people doing terrible things to each other that gradually gets untangled as the body count increases, but I felt the ending was ultimately unsatisfying.

The Long Lavender Look launches into the action with a dreary car trip back from a wedding turning bizarre with a woman running in front of their car causing Travis to look control and together with Meyer in the passenger seat they end up upside down in a roadside canal. Had that not been a weird enough night someone then takes some pot shots at them when walking back to town on the road, and finally in the morning when they get to a garage to arrange towing of the wrecked car the sheriff of a neighbouring county shows up and arrests them both for murder.

From here the tale of mystery grows to involve a prostitution ring being run by a police officer and the proceeds of a robbery which remain hidden.

Enjoyed this one, was probably in the show more top 3 of all the books in the series I've read so far. show less

The writing is excellent. The misogyny not so much.

Another winner by MacDonald. This author is great if you like American Thriller novels. I do and he is. A lot of good authors have tried to match him but MacDonald did it first usually better. Lee Child is his equal and comes the closest in style.

These books were written in the 1960s yet they don't particularly feel dated. We say we have come a long way but I have little trouble putting most of his characters in the 21st century. Men are still men and women are still women.

A decent entry in the Travis McGee series. Less social commentary but also less slightly offensive remarks about women.