Bright Orange for the Shroud
Book description
From a beloved master of crime fiction, Bright Orange for the Shroud is one of many classic novels featuring Travis McGee, the hard-boiled detective who lives on a houseboat.
Travis McGee is looking forward to a “slob summer,” spending his days as far away from danger as possible. But trouble…
Why read it?
3 authors picked Bright Orange for the Shroud as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
John D. MacDonald is the father of modern fictional detectives—especially Robert Parker—who, like MacDonald, is a writer of sparse dialogue. John D. MacDonald’s main character is the unforgettable Travis McGee. Travis McGee lives on his houseboat, The Busted Flush, which he won in a poker game. McGee has no steady job. Instead, he takes on salvage jobs as he can find them and is paid 50% of the value of the recovered items he returns to the owner.
Bright Orange for the Shroud—interestingly, is typical for John D. MacDonald as each of his books is connected to a color—…
From David's list on celebrating an author’s literary style.
Travis McGee tries to play himself off as a hedonistic beach bum who takes his retirement in installments, only leaving his 110-foot houseboat when funds run low. Of course, we know better. Usually it is a damsel in distress that Travis nurses back to health through artful lovemaking (another out-of-date trope.) In this one it is something different.
A man who knew only briefly shows up a shell of his formal self. He was manipulated and taken (once again, by a narcissistic woman) who was fronting for a bunch of evil con artists. Travis, as you might guess, rights the…
From Tom's list on mysteries with a message.
I could list almost any of the color-coded McGee series, but this one stands out: McGee helps an old buddy bankrupted by a real estate swindle. Vicious bad guys, rapists, killers, a tense stand-off and truly grisly ending for the bad guy -- yay! What makes this one special is Mac’s evocation of a rural Florida being devoured by greedy developers, a theme even more developed in Pale Gray for Guilt, 1968, where a buddy has been murdered because he refused to sell his waterfront property and … but that’s enough McDonald. If there is such a thing.
From Neal's list on hard-boiled PIs.
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