Swampy's Florida

I love this cover of the paperback! The balloon floating skyward and the figure of McGee free falling off the cover. It’s a bit of a risky cover in terms of selling the product and would never be done today. This is the original cover of the first edition which I bought when it came out. Still have the Garfield, the cartoon cat, bookmark in the book that I bought with it.

‘Free Fall in Crimson’ was the 19th addition to the Travis McGee series started by author John D. MacDonald back in 1964. This one appears in 1981 and is one of a number of the books not to entirely take place in Florida. It’s the only one to venture into the midwest after a start in Fort Lauderdale, McGee’s home base.

The hero, Travis McGee, lives on his boat, “the Busted Flush”, in slip F-18 at the Bahia Mar marina in Fort Lauderdale. McGee was, and is, so popular that there is a historical plaque at the marina marking the spot. McGee was written as a “Salvage Consultant” who could return anything lost or stolen for half it’s value.

I consider this book as one of three phases of the McGee character by McDonald. The first third or so of the books has McGee more of a loner and in a bit of a darker mood. The mid third he’s mostly teamed with his pal, Meyer, and is in brighter spirits. The last few books McGee had gotten melancholy about his life and a focus on aging and death were often referenced.

The end was coming. Only two more McGee books were published before MacDonald died in 1986. The introspection by McGee is likely a view of McDonald’s own concern with longevity.

MacDonald wrote more than the 21 McGee books. In totwl there were 77 books and a skew of short stories and articles written. Most of his output was based in Florida where he lived a good part of his life on Siesta Key in Sarasota.

You can purchase your own copy of ‘Free Fall in Crimson’ by clicking here: 
https://amzn.to/42lQpYJ

This book is part of the Swampy’s Florida library.
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#Florida #Books #FloridaBooks #TravisMcGee

Today starts a new feature here: Florida based books! Especially those with interesting or well illustrated covers. Swampy’s Florida Facebook follower, Randall Beggs, was asking about ‘Free Fall in Crimson’ by John D. MacDonald involving another post. That spurred this to start today. Thanks, Randall!