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Fletch #7
Carioca Fletch
Carioca Fletch
Fletch’s trip to Brazil wasn’t exactly planned. But it’s Carnival time in Rio and he has plenty of money, thanks to a little arrangement made stateside. And it took him no time to hook up with the luscious Laura Soares. Fletch is beginning to relax, just a little.
Carioca Fletch
But between the American widow who seems to be following Fletch and the Brazilian widow who’s fingered Fletch as her long-dead husband, he suddenly doesn’t have much time to enjoy the present or even get a wink of sleep.
Carioca Fletch
A thirty-year-old unsolved murder, a more recent suicide, an inconvenient heart attack–somehow Fletch is connected to all of them and one of those connections might just shorten his own life. From Rio to Bahia and back again, at the height of Carnival, Fletch has to keep moving or get stopped cold.
Fletch’s trip to Brazil wasn’t exactly planned. But it’s Carnival time in Rio and he has plenty of money, thanks to a little arrangement made stateside. And it took him no time to hook up with the luscious Laura Soares. Fletch is beginning to relax, just a little.
Carioca Fletch
But between the American widow who seems to be following Fletch and the Brazilian widow who’s fingered Fletch as her long-dead husband, he suddenly doesn’t have much time to enjoy the present or even get a wink of sleep.
Carioca Fletch
A thirty-year-old unsolved murder, a more recent suicide, an inconvenient heart attack–somehow Fletch is connected to all of them and one of those connections might just shorten his own life. From Rio to Bahia and back again, at the height of Carnival, Fletch has to keep moving or get stopped cold.
192 pages, Paperback
First published October 8, 1984
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews
December 22, 2017
3 Stars. More of a "Fletch Does Rio" vacation adventure than a murder mystery. In many ways a travelogue with comedic overtones! It would have been enjoyable to see Chevy Chase turn this into a movie! That sometime journalist Irwin Fletcher has fled to Brazil and met the beautiful concert pianist Laura. As they sit at a patio across the road from Copacabana Beach, an old woman screams that Fletch is her husband - even though, as we learn, her Janio was murdered more than 40 years ago! She thinks Fletch can identify who killed her beloved. Through the booze, the parties and the folklore, Fletch can't get any straight answers. Or any sleep. This isn't the only riddle he sets out to solve. He meets the Tap Dancers who are part of the enigma that is Brazil. It's all here, the music, the frustrations, and the rich and the poor. One can't help asking whether being in one's twenties at Carnival time in Rio is as carefree now as it was in the 1980s? It does hold the reader; but I wanted more mystery than this. (December 2017)
August 8, 2019
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
Just in case people were thinking I'd drunk too heavily in the Fletch/Gregory Mcdonald Kool-Aid bowl, this should alleviate any concern. I just don't like this book.
Following the events of Fletch, our now-jobless journalist is enjoying life in Brazil, he's got a girlfriend, is making some investments and friends and is about to enjoy Carnaval. Quite by accident, he runs into the newly-widowed Joan Allen Stanwyk, and things get a little awkward for a bit. But before he can follow up with her, an elderly Brazilian woman claims that he's the reincarnation of her murdered husband, come back to identify his murderer.
This distracts Fletch greatly and between that, and a new group of acquaintances who seem to be rich young men who devote all their time to wine and women, Fletch can't deal with Joan. He first has to spend some time trying to deal with the problems of their debauchery, this supernatural claim and learning about the Brazilian culture in general.
This might, might, be an okay book if it was about any other American hiding in Brazil, learning about the culture and people. But it's not a Fletch book. He doesn't solve the mystery by being clever or interviewing anyone. It's not a particularly funny book, either. It's mostly Fletch bouncing from situation to situation with little control or agency for a couple of hundred pages, and then solving a decades-old mystery by a cheap stunt.
What redeems this book is the Joan Allen Stanwyk material that bookends it. Those are the only chapters that really feel like Fletch (and, they're grounded in the rest of the series). Also, Fletch's background in, interest in, and history of investing in art is shown here in embryo—as well as the other things he does to pay for his villa, GCN stock, racehorses, and so on. So that's good, but we didn't need to see it, the character was good enough without that.
Naturally, Dan John Miller had nothing to do with any of my problems, he does a great job as usual.
This was just a misfire for Mcdonald (not the only one in the series), and is easily forgotten—and should be.
---
Just in case people were thinking I'd drunk too heavily in the Fletch/Gregory Mcdonald Kool-Aid bowl, this should alleviate any concern. I just don't like this book.
Following the events of Fletch, our now-jobless journalist is enjoying life in Brazil, he's got a girlfriend, is making some investments and friends and is about to enjoy Carnaval. Quite by accident, he runs into the newly-widowed Joan Allen Stanwyk, and things get a little awkward for a bit. But before he can follow up with her, an elderly Brazilian woman claims that he's the reincarnation of her murdered husband, come back to identify his murderer.
This distracts Fletch greatly and between that, and a new group of acquaintances who seem to be rich young men who devote all their time to wine and women, Fletch can't deal with Joan. He first has to spend some time trying to deal with the problems of their debauchery, this supernatural claim and learning about the Brazilian culture in general.
This might, might, be an okay book if it was about any other American hiding in Brazil, learning about the culture and people. But it's not a Fletch book. He doesn't solve the mystery by being clever or interviewing anyone. It's not a particularly funny book, either. It's mostly Fletch bouncing from situation to situation with little control or agency for a couple of hundred pages, and then solving a decades-old mystery by a cheap stunt.
What redeems this book is the Joan Allen Stanwyk material that bookends it. Those are the only chapters that really feel like Fletch (and, they're grounded in the rest of the series). Also, Fletch's background in, interest in, and history of investing in art is shown here in embryo—as well as the other things he does to pay for his villa, GCN stock, racehorses, and so on. So that's good, but we didn't need to see it, the character was good enough without that.
Naturally, Dan John Miller had nothing to do with any of my problems, he does a great job as usual.
This was just a misfire for Mcdonald (not the only one in the series), and is easily forgotten—and should be.
May 29, 2014
This novel is a bit of an enigma. It's clearly a Fletch novel because Fletch is the main character and because it covers an important event in his character's history--what happens weeks after the closing events in the first Fletch novel (Fletch).
This also isn't a Fletch novel. Fletch novels feature Fletch playing the role of an investigative journalist in some form. This is Fletch in the liminal state. He still is Fletch, but he's running from being Fletch…and he clearly isn't working. (He does reluctantly deal with a mystery, but only because he is the mystery.) The events in Brazil will end up making him even more Fletchy--he has a trial by Carnival before he can get there.
This is really a story about Brazil. It's a story of Rio and Carnival that Fletch just happens to fall into, like James Bond falls into the woman's story in The Spy Who Loved Me (which is totally different than the movie--no metal-mouthed baddie in that book). Though Fletch comes out a lot more transformed from this book than James Bond did in that story. I read that McDonald waited to tell this story until he could actually spend time in Brazil to capture it correctly. Brazil is here all the way through. Fletch is in Brazil long enough to start to understand it, but just long enough to illuminate a few of its mysterious ways.
I feel like I could rank my favorites of the 7 Fletch books that I read so far, but I would keep Carioca Fletch in it's own ranked column. It is and isn't a Fletch novel. And it is an important chapter.
This also isn't a Fletch novel. Fletch novels feature Fletch playing the role of an investigative journalist in some form. This is Fletch in the liminal state. He still is Fletch, but he's running from being Fletch…and he clearly isn't working. (He does reluctantly deal with a mystery, but only because he is the mystery.) The events in Brazil will end up making him even more Fletchy--he has a trial by Carnival before he can get there.
This is really a story about Brazil. It's a story of Rio and Carnival that Fletch just happens to fall into, like James Bond falls into the woman's story in The Spy Who Loved Me (which is totally different than the movie--no metal-mouthed baddie in that book). Though Fletch comes out a lot more transformed from this book than James Bond did in that story. I read that McDonald waited to tell this story until he could actually spend time in Brazil to capture it correctly. Brazil is here all the way through. Fletch is in Brazil long enough to start to understand it, but just long enough to illuminate a few of its mysterious ways.
I feel like I could rank my favorites of the 7 Fletch books that I read so far, but I would keep Carioca Fletch in it's own ranked column. It is and isn't a Fletch novel. And it is an important chapter.
October 26, 2022
This was really very terrible.
First of all I don't like reading from the POV of a person who is either very drunk or very tired. Fletch in this book is beyond tired for the whole thing and certainly drunk for parts of it. That's thing one.
Thing two is that it read like perhaps the author had just been to Rio for Carnival and every time he tried to describe it to his friends they fell asleep, and so instead he just decided to put it into a book and call it fiction. Blah, boring, you might as well tell me what you dreamt last night.
The final thing is that hardly anything at all happened in this book and roughly 75% of the words in it could have been cut without the least degradation in the actual plot.
First of all I don't like reading from the POV of a person who is either very drunk or very tired. Fletch in this book is beyond tired for the whole thing and certainly drunk for parts of it. That's thing one.
Thing two is that it read like perhaps the author had just been to Rio for Carnival and every time he tried to describe it to his friends they fell asleep, and so instead he just decided to put it into a book and call it fiction. Blah, boring, you might as well tell me what you dreamt last night.
The final thing is that hardly anything at all happened in this book and roughly 75% of the words in it could have been cut without the least degradation in the actual plot.
June 4, 2018
In theory 'Carioca Fletch' is the seventh published book in the Fletch series, although it follows almost directly on from the first, 'Fletch'. I say 'in theory' because whilst I'm not entirely sure what this is, it sure as heck isn't a Fletch book! Best guess I can make is a free-form, drug fuelled travelogue of Rio and surroundings during carnival, featuring some bloke who goes by the name of IM Fletcher.
Gone is the clever writing and electric dialogue, and in its place resides something someone perhaps thought was art. The lack of pretty much everything I have enjoyed about McDonalds work means this is a painful experience. I suspect if this had some out as the second book it would have killed the series stone dead. At least I got through it relatively quickly, but not because it was a page turner!
Very disappointing.
Gone is the clever writing and electric dialogue, and in its place resides something someone perhaps thought was art. The lack of pretty much everything I have enjoyed about McDonalds work means this is a painful experience. I suspect if this had some out as the second book it would have killed the series stone dead. At least I got through it relatively quickly, but not because it was a page turner!
Very disappointing.
July 25, 2017
Carioca Fletch takes Fletch and deposits him in Rio in the middle of Carnival week. Part travelogue, part mystery, part comedy, the story has Fletch accused of murder and followed halfway around the world by a bereaved widow, sealed in a coffin, possessed by the spirit of a man who died forty years ago, burying bodies at sea, beaten to an inch of his life, confused, dismayed, a stranger in a strange land.
This isn't a plot-driven story as much as it's a series of glimpses of a few days in Rio and various odd events. It doesn't have the format or structure of a traditional novel. Don't read this expecting a story that slowly builds to a climax. It's more like watching an ever-changing parade.
This isn't a plot-driven story as much as it's a series of glimpses of a few days in Rio and various odd events. It doesn't have the format or structure of a traditional novel. Don't read this expecting a story that slowly builds to a climax. It's more like watching an ever-changing parade.
November 26, 2007
As a fan of the wisecracking journalist, Irwin Fletcher, portrayed by Chevy Chase in two films from the 1980s, I really went into this book expecting a goofy story. What I found was a much more serious, yet entertaining, mystery novel. Set in Rio during Carnival, the story follows Fletch as he is unwittingly enmeshed in a forty-seven year old (as in, it happened that long ago) murder mystery. Taking him from the wealthy hotels of the elite to the slums of Rio, Fletch's adventure is highly entertaining and worth the read.
September 17, 2016
Following a few months after the original book Fletch, Carioca Fletch begins with a jolt of plot as an old woman from one of the favelas of Rio de Janeiro identifies Fletch as the reincarnation of her long dead husband and wants to know who murdered him 47 years ago. Everyone apparently believes her wholeheartedly and there's nothing Fletch can do but go along with what might be an elaborate joke. Nearly simultaneously Fletch runs across a widow who he says will think he killed her husband! And so the mystery begins???
Mcdonald does an excellent job of introducing the reader to a particular flavor of Brazilian culture which presages the pace of the plot. As a reader I felt nearly as frustrated with the pace of life and the style of culture (which heavily parallels the plot) as Fletch must have in his own evolving situation. This treatment makes me identify with I.M. much more closely than I might have otherwise, so kudos to Mcdonald for that.
As it turns out the woman Fletch initially dodges because he says she'll think he killed her husband is Joan Stanwyk. She's had him tracked down so that she can confront him about her husband's death as well as a large amount of money that has gone missing. Seemingly only minutes later, Joan disappears just before Carnival and there isn't much Fletch can do to find her. I had hoped for more mystery on this front, but the solution is wrapped up in a few scant pages right at the end.
Travelogue
There's some great description and depiction of the Brazilian culture and the piece feels like a reasonable travelogue in some sense. Sadly it means it's a bit thin on plot. Things start off with a nice bang, but then plod along for most of the book before things begin to pick up again in the last quarter of the book. There was so much more that Mcdonald could have done with the plot. Joan Stanwyk tracking down Fletch for a confrontation, Fletch and the Tap Dancers disposing of a friend's body in a scene that presaged the entire plot of the film Weekend at Bernie's (1989), the detective portion relating to who killed Junio all those years ago... Instead Mcdonald seemingly lets all the plot points work themselves out without any real work from our protagonist who just floats along through the culture. However, I will give him huge points from an artistic standpoint as he's done a great job instilling a particular pace and cultural way of life into the text in such a manner that it really seems natural and satisfying that things work out the way they do.
Wrap up
Yet, in the end ultimately I'm conflicted as I'd have preferred more Fletchness, but I find it to have been enjoyable--at least it was better than Fletch, Too which still sits poorly with me.
I am left a bit adrift at the end with respect to the Tap Dancers who were so pivotal to most of the plot. What happened to the promised trip back to the brothel? Somehow they just seem to drift out of the plot.
Why wasn't there better development of a romantic interest?
I don't recall if this or something else set things in motion from a cultural standpoint, but as I recall the mid-80s, this would have ridden at the forefront of the zeitgeist of Brazillian culture in North America with several other books, television shows, and even movies which featured Brazil and even capoeira at the time.
Highlights, Quotes, & Marginalia
"You have not heard of queima de arquivo?"
...
"It means 'burn the record'" Marilia said.
"It means 'cover up,'" Laura said. "It is the Brazilian way of life. That is why we are so free."
—Loc 65 & 68: One of the motivating concepts within the book and an interesting life philosophy. There are dozens of appearances of the word burn throughout the book.
"Half your diet should be carbohydrates."
"You're reading about diets?"
—Loc 266: I find it interesting that this discussion predates some serious anti-carb literature that appears in the culture about a decade or more hence.
"Anyone can make up a story and say it is the past."
—Loc 234
"Have you ever been paralysed?"
Toninho's big brow eyes swelled. "I have the wisdom to know that one day I will be."
—Loc 462: An interesting life philosophy
"É preciso terno?"
Such was a tourist joke. In Brazil a suit was never necessary.
—Loc 808
Fletch gathered in the stern line. "Not in the S.S. Coitus Interruptus."
—Loc 1300
Colombo, a sparkling clean tearoom noted for its great pastry
—Loc 1958: Who can resist a pastry reference?
The sound is overpowering. It is perhaps the maximum sound the earth and sky can accept without cracking, without breaking into fragments to move with it before dissipating into dust.
—Loc 2287: Mcdonald does a really good job describing the music of Brazil throughout. I particularly liked this passage.
...cheering on the biggest and most amazing human spectacle in the world except war.
—Loc 2426: a nice description of Carnival; apparently one so apt that he uses it multiple times.
Then he remembered his other ear had slipped into the personality of a tomato.
—Loc 2560: great description of an ear after a brutal fight
"Fletch, you always seem to be someplace you're not supposed to be, doing something you're not supposed to be doing."
"Got any other news for me?"
—Loc 2684: Quintessential Fletch description and rejoinder
Fletch had come back to life. He was in a closed coffin.
—Loc 2939: A great pair of sentences just by themselves, but they also have a nice parallelism to where Fletch is within relation to the plot at the time.
(a waitress to Fletch) "Have an accident?"
"No, thanks. Just had one."
—Loc 2979: Witty dialogue
"I was worried about you. I've been stood up for dinner before, often, but seldom for breakfast."
"Not very nice of me."
"It's okay. I had breakfast anyway."
—Loc 2986: Witty dialogue
"I mean, everyone needs a vacation from life. Don't you agree?"
"A vacation from reality."
—Loc 3068
"She fell out of her cradle. She's enjoying a few moments crawling around the floor."
—Loc 3097: great description of a grown woman
"I learned some things."
"I'd love to know what."
"Oh, that the past asserts itself. That the dead can walk." Fletch thought of the small carved stone frog that had been under his bed. "That the absence of symbols can mean as much as their presence."
—Loc 3100
Edgar Arthur Tharp, Junior
—Loc 3106: Fletch indicates that this artist will be part of his future purpose; The name reappears in Confess, Fletch as a tangential part of the plot.
Mcdonald does an excellent job of introducing the reader to a particular flavor of Brazilian culture which presages the pace of the plot. As a reader I felt nearly as frustrated with the pace of life and the style of culture (which heavily parallels the plot) as Fletch must have in his own evolving situation. This treatment makes me identify with I.M. much more closely than I might have otherwise, so kudos to Mcdonald for that.
As it turns out the woman Fletch initially dodges because he says she'll think he killed her husband is Joan Stanwyk. She's had him tracked down so that she can confront him about her husband's death as well as a large amount of money that has gone missing. Seemingly only minutes later, Joan disappears just before Carnival and there isn't much Fletch can do to find her. I had hoped for more mystery on this front, but the solution is wrapped up in a few scant pages right at the end.
Travelogue
There's some great description and depiction of the Brazilian culture and the piece feels like a reasonable travelogue in some sense. Sadly it means it's a bit thin on plot. Things start off with a nice bang, but then plod along for most of the book before things begin to pick up again in the last quarter of the book. There was so much more that Mcdonald could have done with the plot. Joan Stanwyk tracking down Fletch for a confrontation, Fletch and the Tap Dancers disposing of a friend's body in a scene that presaged the entire plot of the film Weekend at Bernie's (1989), the detective portion relating to who killed Junio all those years ago... Instead Mcdonald seemingly lets all the plot points work themselves out without any real work from our protagonist who just floats along through the culture. However, I will give him huge points from an artistic standpoint as he's done a great job instilling a particular pace and cultural way of life into the text in such a manner that it really seems natural and satisfying that things work out the way they do.
Wrap up
Yet, in the end ultimately I'm conflicted as I'd have preferred more Fletchness, but I find it to have been enjoyable--at least it was better than Fletch, Too which still sits poorly with me.
I am left a bit adrift at the end with respect to the Tap Dancers who were so pivotal to most of the plot. What happened to the promised trip back to the brothel? Somehow they just seem to drift out of the plot.
Why wasn't there better development of a romantic interest?
I don't recall if this or something else set things in motion from a cultural standpoint, but as I recall the mid-80s, this would have ridden at the forefront of the zeitgeist of Brazillian culture in North America with several other books, television shows, and even movies which featured Brazil and even capoeira at the time.
Highlights, Quotes, & Marginalia
"You have not heard of queima de arquivo?"
...
"It means 'burn the record'" Marilia said.
"It means 'cover up,'" Laura said. "It is the Brazilian way of life. That is why we are so free."
—Loc 65 & 68: One of the motivating concepts within the book and an interesting life philosophy. There are dozens of appearances of the word burn throughout the book.
"Half your diet should be carbohydrates."
"You're reading about diets?"
—Loc 266: I find it interesting that this discussion predates some serious anti-carb literature that appears in the culture about a decade or more hence.
"Anyone can make up a story and say it is the past."
—Loc 234
"Have you ever been paralysed?"
Toninho's big brow eyes swelled. "I have the wisdom to know that one day I will be."
—Loc 462: An interesting life philosophy
"É preciso terno?"
Such was a tourist joke. In Brazil a suit was never necessary.
—Loc 808
Fletch gathered in the stern line. "Not in the S.S. Coitus Interruptus."
—Loc 1300
Colombo, a sparkling clean tearoom noted for its great pastry
—Loc 1958: Who can resist a pastry reference?
The sound is overpowering. It is perhaps the maximum sound the earth and sky can accept without cracking, without breaking into fragments to move with it before dissipating into dust.
—Loc 2287: Mcdonald does a really good job describing the music of Brazil throughout. I particularly liked this passage.
...cheering on the biggest and most amazing human spectacle in the world except war.
—Loc 2426: a nice description of Carnival; apparently one so apt that he uses it multiple times.
Then he remembered his other ear had slipped into the personality of a tomato.
—Loc 2560: great description of an ear after a brutal fight
"Fletch, you always seem to be someplace you're not supposed to be, doing something you're not supposed to be doing."
"Got any other news for me?"
—Loc 2684: Quintessential Fletch description and rejoinder
Fletch had come back to life. He was in a closed coffin.
—Loc 2939: A great pair of sentences just by themselves, but they also have a nice parallelism to where Fletch is within relation to the plot at the time.
(a waitress to Fletch) "Have an accident?"
"No, thanks. Just had one."
—Loc 2979: Witty dialogue
"I was worried about you. I've been stood up for dinner before, often, but seldom for breakfast."
"Not very nice of me."
"It's okay. I had breakfast anyway."
—Loc 2986: Witty dialogue
"I mean, everyone needs a vacation from life. Don't you agree?"
"A vacation from reality."
—Loc 3068
"She fell out of her cradle. She's enjoying a few moments crawling around the floor."
—Loc 3097: great description of a grown woman
"I learned some things."
"I'd love to know what."
"Oh, that the past asserts itself. That the dead can walk." Fletch thought of the small carved stone frog that had been under his bed. "That the absence of symbols can mean as much as their presence."
—Loc 3100
Edgar Arthur Tharp, Junior
—Loc 3106: Fletch indicates that this artist will be part of his future purpose; The name reappears in Confess, Fletch as a tangential part of the plot.
June 5, 2022
Carioca Fletch is the seventh book in the Fletch series, but chronologically, it takes place right after the events of the first Book "Fletch". Known for his fascinating combination of humor, sarcasm, and mystery, McDonald's Fletch series in general is hugely enjoyable.
And yet... there are at least two books in the series, including Carioca Fletch, that are inconsistent and miss the mark. One gets the definite sense that McDonald had been under the influence while writing Carioca Fletch. Perhaps having set the story in Brazil during Carnival, McDonald was trying to capture the rapturous partying and uninhibited mood of Carnival's street festival, but the plot is scattered, and the events seem even more hazy and disconnected than most Fletch stories.
The story reached a conclusion of sorts, but it isn't one of the better books in the series. I suppose that any series has its highs and lows, but I'm hopeful that future books will be stronger.
And yet... there are at least two books in the series, including Carioca Fletch, that are inconsistent and miss the mark. One gets the definite sense that McDonald had been under the influence while writing Carioca Fletch. Perhaps having set the story in Brazil during Carnival, McDonald was trying to capture the rapturous partying and uninhibited mood of Carnival's street festival, but the plot is scattered, and the events seem even more hazy and disconnected than most Fletch stories.
The story reached a conclusion of sorts, but it isn't one of the better books in the series. I suppose that any series has its highs and lows, but I'm hopeful that future books will be stronger.
September 25, 2020
We blijven fan, maar dit is alleszins niet de meest memorabele episode uit de reeks. Een chaotisch begin, dat uiteindelijk toch net genoeg weet aan te grijpen en uitmondt in een verhandeling over carnaval in Rio, met een moordplotje als verhaallijn.
October 13, 2022
Loved all the bringing in of the Brazilian culture to form what it a good mystery and adventure that only the wise cracking Fletch can live through.
November 29, 2023
I really want to like the Fletch books but they never draw me in sadly.
May 1, 2020
This Fletch book wasn't as funny, amusing, or as witty as I've come to expect. It felt like it was ghostwritten.
They can't all be home runs. Still worth reading/listening to.
They can't all be home runs. Still worth reading/listening to.
November 7, 2018
This was the first Fletch book I've read. It reads just like watching one of the fletch movies.
Probably one of the greatest openings in a book. Fletch finds himself in Rio at the start of Carnival. His meeting with the beautiful Laura Soures and plenty of cash. When a woman comes up Fletch tells his guest that she is probably there to accuse him of her husband death. All this in the first chapter. A Brazilian widow accuses Fletch of being her long dead husband who had been murdered. She says he came back as Fletch to name his killer. How does this even happen. It happens the I.M. Fletcher that's for sure.
Also one of his local compatriots dies while in the company of hooker. To solve this a plan is suggested that he drowned while on a boating trip. This was one of the funniest scenes of the book. Totally reccomend reading the fletch series
Probably one of the greatest openings in a book. Fletch finds himself in Rio at the start of Carnival. His meeting with the beautiful Laura Soures and plenty of cash. When a woman comes up Fletch tells his guest that she is probably there to accuse him of her husband death. All this in the first chapter. A Brazilian widow accuses Fletch of being her long dead husband who had been murdered. She says he came back as Fletch to name his killer. How does this even happen. It happens the I.M. Fletcher that's for sure.
Also one of his local compatriots dies while in the company of hooker. To solve this a plan is suggested that he drowned while on a boating trip. This was one of the funniest scenes of the book. Totally reccomend reading the fletch series
September 1, 2016
After watching the Rio Olympics, I thought I'd give this a try even though it's about 30 years old in its picture of Rio. I didn't realize until I got into it that the plot takes place immediately after the Alan Stanwyck affair. That's kind of the periphery, though. The main plot is a bizarre and often confusing romp through Carnival with Fletch and a group of wild and wealthy young men as they (sort of) help him solve a murder from the past that supposedly happened to a Brazilian inhabiting his body in a sort of reincarnation. I would've put it down several times out of sheer confusion, but I was in need of something to read while waiting for the book I really wanted to read. Anyway, the end does deliver a good payoff, but it's a long time coming.
September 20, 2016
I like the Fletch series; very diverting and good plotting. The female characters are frequently sexual foils for the main character, which can get old, but in general I like the books quite a bit. What is special about the Fletch books is the plotting, which frequently involves at least two mysteries, if not more. In this case, there was the mystery of the missing North American woman in Brazil during carnival, the mystery of Fletch's doppleganger, who was murdered 45 years prior to the time of the novel, and the mystery of how to understand Brazil.
McDonald used culturally transmitted information such as Brazilian superstitions and fairy tales to inform how characters behave, and which turned out to be crucial to solving the mysteries. This was quite a deft touch.
McDonald used culturally transmitted information such as Brazilian superstitions and fairy tales to inform how characters behave, and which turned out to be crucial to solving the mysteries. This was quite a deft touch.
October 2, 2016
This was decent book but it was not a good book. Sequels rarely live up to the original and Carioca Fletch did not disappoint in that regard.
Again. it wasn't a bad book and I enjoyed seeing Fletch in Brazil living it up. It had multiple mysteries happening at the same time and yet I never became confused or forgot what was happening.
My problems come towards the end of the book where we are given two chapters of pure exposition on Carnivale with little to no actions. McDonald rewards us for our patience with a very nice very graphic scene after but why did we need to sit through all the parade description?
All-in-all, if you liked the first Chevy Chase film and wonder what happened next this is it (the second film is a disgrace and was never actual part of the Fletch Canon).
Again. it wasn't a bad book and I enjoyed seeing Fletch in Brazil living it up. It had multiple mysteries happening at the same time and yet I never became confused or forgot what was happening.
My problems come towards the end of the book where we are given two chapters of pure exposition on Carnivale with little to no actions. McDonald rewards us for our patience with a very nice very graphic scene after but why did we need to sit through all the parade description?
All-in-all, if you liked the first Chevy Chase film and wonder what happened next this is it (the second film is a disgrace and was never actual part of the Fletch Canon).
October 18, 2024
Author Gregory McDonald might not have been one of nature's series writers, because he often tried to create Fletch novels that were either subtly or radically different from one another. In fact, his own website has him admitting that he never saw the first book as being the start of a series and lamented Fletch's theft of a small fortune and flight from the USA because it made it hard to follow that book up. But the book was popular, people wanted more, and I'm sure McDonald's lit agent told him he'd be a fool not to write more in the same world. So Fletch became a bit of a chameleon whose situation at the start of each book could come across as absurdly different from each time that came before.
And then we end up here, in a book that almost ended the series for me. While it sets up several interesting threads, it fails to do much with them for the first half of the book, which reads like McDonald musing about a newfound love and respect of Brazil. I think he was smuggling in his thoughts about the culture through Fletch's point of view, and this isn't uninteresting material, but it's at odds with progressing a story and resolving plot threads in an efficient manner. It's very similar to McDonald's loose political theory that threatened to overtake Fletch and the Man Who, leading both books to have long stretches of plotless yet meaningful dialog. Like I said, it's not uninteresting in its own way, but it's less engaging for existing in conflict with the progression of the story.
We'll get back to that, but for the sake of encapsulating this book the story definitely picks up at almost precisely the halfway point, and becomes a wild ride in the final third that almost redeems the free jazz literature that leads up to it.
The story begins with Fletch in Brazil with a new woman and a new situation, rewinding time in the series chronology and taking place shortly after he fled the US with the stolen fortune of a slain man. The immediate premise is very interesting, because that dead man's widow has come to Brazil looking for Fletch. The novel promptly drops this plot, revisiting it briefly here and there, before tying it up at the end in a way that's once more philosophical but slightly disengaged from everything else.
What is going on here, Greg? You literary beatnik.
The bulk of the story, when present, concerns an older Brazilian woman who spots Fletch and swears he's the reincarnation of her husband, murdered 47 years prior and returned to tell her who killed him. Fletch thinks this is nonsense and spends most of the novel dodging her while his new friends and family calling plan seems to take it unusually seriously. This plot is more present throughout the novel, but still takes several leaves of absence as Fletch mostly hangs out with a group of flippant young dandies who mostly fool around and have fun.
And here's a slight problem I have with McDonald's prose. He always writes pretty well and can be descriptive in that spare way that makes his books easy and fast to read, but he does this thing that drives me a bit wild. See, an author can overwrite and be good, or an author can underwrite and be good, but there's a line between these two things that either style should not cross. And specifically what I'm talking about here is the writer who introduces a character and doesn't describe them physically... until 70 pages later, forcing you to rewire the neurons you've dedicated to imagining that character.
As with so many people, when I read a Fletch novel I'm stuck with Chevy Chase as the lead in my head. I know this wasn't completely accurate because the original novel casts him as blonde and fit. That's fine, that amount of description can be either ignored or reconciled. But now, six novels later, he's hanging out with what a bunch of guys who are definitely in the 18-25 range and it makes my brain hurt having to de-age Chevy Chase with imaginary CG. This is kind of a Me Problem, but every time I meet a writer going forward, I'm going to beg them unprompted to never do this.
Back to the plot, because the most interesting and frankly intense parts of the book involve the 50-year-old murder plotline. The novel never quite picks up enough steam because the premise is ridiculous to Fletch and he refuses to contemplate solving the crime, so by necessity the whole mystery part of the book foists itself upon him by force when the supposed murderer (it's never made completely clear if the character IS the murderer,) also starts to believe that Fletch is the reincarnation of the dead man, stalking him and attempting to finish or redo the job. This point of the book, 2/3rds of the way in, is as intense a sequence as I've read in decades. Fletch is underslept, badly beaten, and in the middle of the most vivid, lurid cultural event possible, and his hallucinations as he tries to save his own life are written with genuine talent. From this scene on, the novel is fantastic. If everything before it were at least half as good, this would be a classic book. As it is, I could only recommend it if you're willing to sit through some mildly interesting but drowsy cultural anthropology in order to get a big payoff.
McDonald's more cerebral pursuits might mar the pacing and plot of these latter Fletch novels, but I want to stress that he does have interesting observations and themes if you're willing to spend the time thinking about what's written here. This book does a better job than Fletch and the Man Who of encapsulating and making clear these themes, and there's more of a catharsis to that brief summary. In the end, I'll definitely read the next novel, but I remain ambivalent about continuing past that point.
And then we end up here, in a book that almost ended the series for me. While it sets up several interesting threads, it fails to do much with them for the first half of the book, which reads like McDonald musing about a newfound love and respect of Brazil. I think he was smuggling in his thoughts about the culture through Fletch's point of view, and this isn't uninteresting material, but it's at odds with progressing a story and resolving plot threads in an efficient manner. It's very similar to McDonald's loose political theory that threatened to overtake Fletch and the Man Who, leading both books to have long stretches of plotless yet meaningful dialog. Like I said, it's not uninteresting in its own way, but it's less engaging for existing in conflict with the progression of the story.
We'll get back to that, but for the sake of encapsulating this book the story definitely picks up at almost precisely the halfway point, and becomes a wild ride in the final third that almost redeems the free jazz literature that leads up to it.
The story begins with Fletch in Brazil with a new woman and a new situation, rewinding time in the series chronology and taking place shortly after he fled the US with the stolen fortune of a slain man. The immediate premise is very interesting, because that dead man's widow has come to Brazil looking for Fletch. The novel promptly drops this plot, revisiting it briefly here and there, before tying it up at the end in a way that's once more philosophical but slightly disengaged from everything else.
What is going on here, Greg? You literary beatnik.
The bulk of the story, when present, concerns an older Brazilian woman who spots Fletch and swears he's the reincarnation of her husband, murdered 47 years prior and returned to tell her who killed him. Fletch thinks this is nonsense and spends most of the novel dodging her while his new friends and family calling plan seems to take it unusually seriously. This plot is more present throughout the novel, but still takes several leaves of absence as Fletch mostly hangs out with a group of flippant young dandies who mostly fool around and have fun.
And here's a slight problem I have with McDonald's prose. He always writes pretty well and can be descriptive in that spare way that makes his books easy and fast to read, but he does this thing that drives me a bit wild. See, an author can overwrite and be good, or an author can underwrite and be good, but there's a line between these two things that either style should not cross. And specifically what I'm talking about here is the writer who introduces a character and doesn't describe them physically... until 70 pages later, forcing you to rewire the neurons you've dedicated to imagining that character.
As with so many people, when I read a Fletch novel I'm stuck with Chevy Chase as the lead in my head. I know this wasn't completely accurate because the original novel casts him as blonde and fit. That's fine, that amount of description can be either ignored or reconciled. But now, six novels later, he's hanging out with what a bunch of guys who are definitely in the 18-25 range and it makes my brain hurt having to de-age Chevy Chase with imaginary CG. This is kind of a Me Problem, but every time I meet a writer going forward, I'm going to beg them unprompted to never do this.
Back to the plot, because the most interesting and frankly intense parts of the book involve the 50-year-old murder plotline. The novel never quite picks up enough steam because the premise is ridiculous to Fletch and he refuses to contemplate solving the crime, so by necessity the whole mystery part of the book foists itself upon him by force when the supposed murderer (it's never made completely clear if the character IS the murderer,) also starts to believe that Fletch is the reincarnation of the dead man, stalking him and attempting to finish or redo the job. This point of the book, 2/3rds of the way in, is as intense a sequence as I've read in decades. Fletch is underslept, badly beaten, and in the middle of the most vivid, lurid cultural event possible, and his hallucinations as he tries to save his own life are written with genuine talent. From this scene on, the novel is fantastic. If everything before it were at least half as good, this would be a classic book. As it is, I could only recommend it if you're willing to sit through some mildly interesting but drowsy cultural anthropology in order to get a big payoff.
McDonald's more cerebral pursuits might mar the pacing and plot of these latter Fletch novels, but I want to stress that he does have interesting observations and themes if you're willing to spend the time thinking about what's written here. This book does a better job than Fletch and the Man Who of encapsulating and making clear these themes, and there's more of a catharsis to that brief summary. In the end, I'll definitely read the next novel, but I remain ambivalent about continuing past that point.
September 27, 2009
I was still in high school when I read the first Fletch book. It was 1982. The first Fletch novel was released in 1974.
I used to read a lot of mysteries back then and one day stumbled upon Fletch, I was hooked, that's all the mystery I wanted to read during that time (peppered in with some fantasy, science fiction and literary books, too).
I read all the Fletch books up to the last one, "Fletch Too", in 1986. This one was particularly fun for me, because I was born in Rio and have been back many times since on vacation.
I have fond memories of reading these mysteries, I thought the books were funny and fun.
Worth checking out if you like light mysteries, humor, and fun.
I used to read a lot of mysteries back then and one day stumbled upon Fletch, I was hooked, that's all the mystery I wanted to read during that time (peppered in with some fantasy, science fiction and literary books, too).
I read all the Fletch books up to the last one, "Fletch Too", in 1986. This one was particularly fun for me, because I was born in Rio and have been back many times since on vacation.
I have fond memories of reading these mysteries, I thought the books were funny and fun.
Worth checking out if you like light mysteries, humor, and fun.
April 12, 2023
Have you ever seen a sequel to a movie and were mad that it didn’t immediately pick up where the original left off? Let this book remind us that coherent three act stories aren’t always at the ready after a solid tale before.
It’s obvious McDonald has spent time in Brazil (the dedication at the front and the excruciatingly belabored description of the Carnaval parade make it obvious) and he loves the people and culture. Still, there’s still a patronizing tone and condescension that bleeds through. Fletch’s wit is on the lowest setting here. And the wedging of this book between two existing novels felt more like an obligation than an elaboration of an all-time character.
It’s obvious McDonald has spent time in Brazil (the dedication at the front and the excruciatingly belabored description of the Carnaval parade make it obvious) and he loves the people and culture. Still, there’s still a patronizing tone and condescension that bleeds through. Fletch’s wit is on the lowest setting here. And the wedging of this book between two existing novels felt more like an obligation than an elaboration of an all-time character.
September 27, 2014
An extremely long short book.
I had always been curious about what happened to Fletch after he arrived in Rio. Especially since I first read Fletch when I was a teenager growing up in Sao Paulo (yeah, I'm a paulista, not a carioca). Now I'm no longer curious, and this was a letdown.
It reads like something a famous novelist would write after visiting Rio at Carnival. Some of the small details ring true, but my god, does this man over-romanticize Rio and Brazilians. Ultimately, the mysteries and characters are weak and seem more like an excuse to write swooningly about Brazil.
I had always been curious about what happened to Fletch after he arrived in Rio. Especially since I first read Fletch when I was a teenager growing up in Sao Paulo (yeah, I'm a paulista, not a carioca). Now I'm no longer curious, and this was a letdown.
It reads like something a famous novelist would write after visiting Rio at Carnival. Some of the small details ring true, but my god, does this man over-romanticize Rio and Brazilians. Ultimately, the mysteries and characters are weak and seem more like an excuse to write swooningly about Brazil.
September 28, 2016
This was not my favorite Fletch book but I still enjoyed it. I recently returned from Brazil where I attended the 2016 Summer Olympic games so I especially liked reading about a place I just visited. Slight spoiler coming................................................................I didn't particularly care for the supernatural aspect of this book. The storyline with Janio Barreto was a bit far fetched for my taste. But as usual, the author does a very good job of writing the story and joining the different storylines.
July 23, 2019
This read less like a mystery than like a love letter to Brazil. What it sounds like is that McDonald took a trip to Brazil, fell in love, wanted to tell everyone how much he loved Brazil, so he wrote a mystery and decided to set it in Brazil so he could do just that. Long passages about culture and dancing aren't terribly interesting if you're not fascinated by Brazil and its music and culture and don't do much to advance the plot. The biggest problem ultimately is that the book wants to do two different things and each get in the way of the other. By far the weakest book of the series.
September 13, 2012
This is a very atmospheric and unusual entry to the Fletch novels, and takes place a few months after the exploits of the original novel; Fletch has moved down to Brazil and is embroiled in mystery after an old woman claims him to the doppelganger of her husband, murdered 47 years previously.
Taking place during the hyperreal Carnivale, Carioca Fletch enters surreal territory, dragging its reader in with it.
Taking place during the hyperreal Carnivale, Carioca Fletch enters surreal territory, dragging its reader in with it.
July 12, 2017
It was okay. Not the best in the series. It's funny that he wrote/released them out of order for the chronology in the book. This falls right after Fletch (The book the movie is based on). But it doesn't hinder the story at all.
It feels like a number of events in the novel don't really have much to do with the "case". Just things that happen on the way to the end of the book. But it won't kill you to stick with it.
It feels like a number of events in the novel don't really have much to do with the "case". Just things that happen on the way to the end of the book. But it won't kill you to stick with it.
August 31, 2009
Another great Fletch mystery. Many people complain that there is too much Brazil and not enough Fletch, and compared to other Fletch books, that is true. However, the book is so well written that I really don't mind Fletch taking a back seat to Brazil. If you like Mcdonald's writing style, you'll like Carioca Fletch. Don't believe all of the negative reviews on amazon.
October 10, 2013
OK - but not great. Fletch is in Brazil and has no job but does have a girlfriend. He gets embroiled in solving a murder 47 years in the past when he is mistaken for the dead man by his widow. Hijinx galore around Carnival with Fletch getting no sleep for 3 days and nearly killed by his former murderer. Enjoyable, but not fantastic.
May 2, 2019
An enjoyable read, as all Fletch titles are. A little confusing at first if you don't know that chronologically, this story occurs right after the first Fletch book (which I didn't), but I guess it doesn't really matter. McDonald paints a vivid picture of Rio at Carnivale, and as always the secondary characters are well written.
July 26, 2013
One of the more entertaining and memorable Fletch novels in my opinion, this one takes the lead character to Brazil, where he befriends and parties with locals, adapts to society, and tries to figure out why so many people are mistaking him for a late village hero.
July 27, 2013
I read the Fletch books for (a) the effortless writing, and (b) the oddball mysteries. This one is as easy a read as the others, but the mysteries are pretty simplistic. McDonald was way more interested in capturing the spirit of Brazil than writing a mystery. So this is what you get.
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