The Quick Red Fox

Travis McGee #4

by John D. MacDonald

It was the standard blackmail scheme. For years, sultry Lysa Dean's name on a movie had meant a bonanza at the box office. Now a set of pictures could mean the end of her career. When first approached for help by lovely Dana Holtzer, Lysa's personal secretary, Travis McGee is thoroughly turned off by the tacky details. But being low on cash, and tenderly attracted by the star's intriguingly remote secretary, McGee sets out to locate his suspects--only to find that they start turning up dead!

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Detective, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Noir

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

John D. MacDonald was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, and educated at the Universities of Pennsylvania, Syracuse and Harvard, where he took an MBA in 1939. During WW2, he rose to the rank of Colonel, and while serving in the Army and in the Far East, sent a short story to his wife for sale, successfully. He served in the Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.) in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations. After the war, he decided to try writing for a year, to see if he could make a living. Over 500 short stories and 70 novels resulted, including 21 Travis McGee novels.

Following complications of an earlier heart bypass operation, MacDonald slipped into a coma on December 10 and died at age 70, on December 28, 1986, in St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was survived by his wife Dorothy (1911-1989) and a son, Maynard.

In the years since his death MacDonald has been praised by authors as diverse as Stephen King, Spider Robinson, Jimmy Buffett, Kingsley Amis and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.. Thirty-three years after his passing the Travis McGee novels are still in print.

Reviews

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

John MacDonald’s 1964 contribution to the post-modern mythic Florida legend that is Travis McGee (the fourth in the series) is more of tough guy with a mind McGee taking care of business and doing a “favor for friend”.

This episode finds our salvage consultant hero covering the backside of a Hollywood vixen with some indiscretions and some film. Sex, Lies and Videotape in 1964 does come across as somewhat dated in our Reality TV Blurred Lines morality, but as in most of these novels, the real action, the lasting literary significance is what is going on between the lines and behind the scenes.

What I love about MacDonald’s work, especially about the Travis McGee books, is his ability, akin with Hunter S. Thompson, to write like he was forecasting a cultural storm; he had the ironic sociological sensitivity to see a change in the wind, a canary in the coalmine au courant, that allowed him to see way ahead of his time what was coming down the pike.

The casual reader will see a knock-off James Bond, a Mickey Spillane with some loose fitting sophistication, but if a reader tunes in just right, MacDonald was one crying out in the wilderness, WAY BACK in the 60s of a dehumanizing efficacy that has since transformed our world today, fifty years later. Do we still need romantics? Are there still windmills to be attacked, and symbolic dragons to be slain? Yes, and Travis McGee was the vehicle, the instrument, the barometer, that MacDonald used to warn us that this passion in our souls was in danger.

Sure, this is a pulp fiction action adventure with a granite jawed leading man and a made up sensationalist story, but sitting in front of the typewriter was a man of consummate observatory and culturally analytical skill. Read Travis McGee books for the fun misanthropic and politically incorrect action, but read closely and pick up on some poignant social commentary.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars, a delightful and complex noir.

Wow, this is fabulous. A time-machine back to 1964, not just physically but mentally and spiritually. MacDonald truly is a philosopher here, and a good one. The prose and pacing are superb.

One thing that's clear: MacDonald loves women. A lot, in all of the right ways, and respects them. Kind of like me (only McGee is better written). So I very much enjoy the relationships he has, and the bit of reserved chivalry I feel too. Wonderful.

The mystery is complex and compelling until the final act, which seems tacked on. And again McGee loses his love, this time to another unlikely event. I like the endings better when McGee gets 4-6 months of companionship and love.

Vintage Rolls Royce, "Miss Agnes" pickup truck

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39%
The drive from Utica up to the ski resort is a complete delight, especially the "Myra and Frank" schtick that McGee and Dana perform. Worth reading several times.

75%
The visit to Las Vegas is a very complex info-dump, very confusing, upsets the wonderful pacing and clarity. The climax is almost a cartoon cliché, and with an unlikely final villain.

Notes and quotes:

Lots of beautiful, strong women in this book, as usual for MacDonald.

Lysa Dean -
She was quite motionless for a thoughtful second, her smile in place. The capped teeth gleamed, between moistness. Green of iris speckled amber near the pupil. Delicate geometry of the hairs of red- gold brows. Fantasy length of the darker lashes. Paintest of fuzz on her upper lip. It was an unusual and grotesquely familiar face, the features slightly sharp, extremely sensuous, unmistakable. With her head slightly bowed, looking up at me through her lashes, the gold-red weight of hair at the right side of her face had swung slightly forward. Suddenly I knew what she reminded me of. A Vixen. A quick red fox. I had seen one in heat long ago on an Adirondack morning in spring, pacing along well in front of the dog fox with a very alert and springy movement, tail curled high, turning to see if he still followed, tongue lolling from between her doggy grin.
-
Skeeter -
She settled herself more snugly into my lap, arm around me, face in my neck. In a little while she drifted off, and the arm fell away. Her breathing turned deep. I guess it can be touching. A special kind of trust. Something warm to hold. The way a kitten will drowse in your lap, totally confident. Holding something alive, warm, sleeping is like handling fresh moist soil under the sun’s heat. Restorative.
-
Dana -
I liked Dana’s delight. It reminded me of the way she reacted to Skeeter’s mouse. I knew I had to watch it, or I would be trapped into the hopeless project of trying to find ways to delight her, to bring out that little spark so deeply buried.
-
Perhaps, I thought, the most absolute way of categorizing people is by what they are capable of, and what they are not capable of. Temptation does not deliver most of us into evil, because temptation is a constant and evil is a sometime thing with most of us.

McGee mentions Jack London’s Noseless One:

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I had the old illusions, including the one that maybe I might be gaining a little bit, just a very damn little bit, in wisdom as my time went by. And wisdom says there are no valuable goods on the bargain counter. Wisdom says the only values are the ones you place on yourself. And I have locked myself into this precarious role of the clown-knight in the tomato-can armor, flailing away at indifferent beasts with my tinfoil sword. A foible of the knight, even the comic ones, is the cherishing of women, and perhaps even my brand of cherishing is quaint in this time and place. Though I have faltered from time to time, I do want the relationship, if it does become intimate, to rest solidly on trust, affection, respect. Not just for taking, or scoring, or using, or proving anything. That knocks out group adventures right there. Not for recreation, not for health rationalizations, not for sociologically constructive contacts. But because she is a woman, and valuable. And you are a man, and equally valuable. There are more than enough girls and boys around. Break down, McGee. Say it. Okay, for love and love alone. They are people, goddam it, not pneumatic, hydraulic, terrace toys. Not necessarily Heloise and Abelard, Romeo and Miss Capulet, or even Nappi and joe. But just a crumb of some kind of love there, lad. Love that makes her sweet to hold, warm to murmur to, after there’s no more fireworks left in the park.
-
McGee's surprise of his deep connection to Dana. They play act Frank and Myra married couple.
We were Myra and Frank. If I tried another round, she would feel obligated. So I would leave it up to her to start the next one. And she would know I was leaving it up to her and why. That was the funny thing about us, back in the beginning. I had the absolute confidence in her knowing what I was thinking.
-

The Ski Resort at Speculator (town) in the Adirondack Forest Preserve

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Silvery glissandos from the girls.
-

An interesting commentary on 1963 San Francisco
San Francisco is the most depressing city in America. The come-latelys might not think so. They may be enchanted by the steep streets up Nob and Russian and Telegraph, by the sea mystery of the Bridge over to redwood country on a foggy night, by the urban compartmentalization of Chinese, Spanish, Greek, japanese, by the smartness of the women and the city’s iron clutch on culture. It might look just fine to the new ones. But there are too many of us who used to love her. She was like a wild classy kook of a gal, one of those rain-walkers, laughing gray eyes, tousle of dark hair-sea misty, a lithe and lively lady, who could laugh at you or with you, and at herself when needs be. A sayer of strange and lovely things. A girl to be in love with, with love like a heady magic.
-
Some "modern life" bitterness from MacDonald
I get this crazy feeling. Every once in a while I get it. I get the feeling that this is the last time in history when the offbeats like me will have a chance to live free in the nooks and crannies of the huge and rigid structure of an increasingly codified society. Fifty years from now I would be hunted down in the street. They would drill little holes in my skull and make me sensible and reliable and adjusted. I am, to put it as bitterly as possible, a romantic.

A bit more
The dullest wire services the world has ever seen fill their little monopoly newspapers with self-congratulatory pap. Their radio is unspeakable. Their television is geared to a minimal approval by thirty million of them. And anything thirty million people like, aside from their more private functions, is bound to be bad. Their schools are group-adjustment centers, fashioned to shame the rebellious. Their churches are weekly votes of confidence in God. Their politicians are enormously likable, never saying a cross word. The goods they buy grow increasingly more shoddy each year, though brighter in color. For those who still read, they make do, for the most part, with the portentous gruntings of Uris, Wouk, Rand and others of that same witless ilk. Their magazine fare is fashioned by nervous committees. You see, dear, there is no one left to ask them a single troublesome question. Such as: Where have you been and where are you going and is it worth it.
-
Dana to McGee
She held my gaze and her mouth made the shape of that word. Time. Without making a sound. The strength in her face was softened. And younger. “Thank you,” she said solemnly. “Thank you, Travis, for knowing when the time ran out.”
-
The "modern" concept of 6-degrees of connectedness, was actually considered in 1963 or earlier
There is one theory that there are but a hundred thousand people in the United States, and the rest of the 1 89,900,000 is a faceless mob. The theory further states that any person in the hundred thousand can be linked to any other by no more than a three-step process.

Bonus. From the 1970 "Darker Than Amber" movie starring Rod Taylor, pictures of the producers' ideas of McGee's "The Busted Flush":


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And finally, two great blogs about John D. MacDonald, McGee and the rumoured-never-written novel where McGee dies"...

The Birth of Travis McGee (fascinating)
http://thetrapofsolidgold.blogspot.co...

"Black Border for McGee" (rumours surrounding a final book, never published)
http://thetrapofsolidgold.blogspot.co...


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[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I missed the fox in this. I really thought Travis McGee would either be helping out or partnering with an actual fox. Or maybe just hanging out on his houseboat with one. You know sort of a Disney-esque entry into the series.

There is very little Disney-esque in this book.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still find it amazing that MacDonald cranked out so many books and I was getting a little worried he would become formulaic with the McGee novels; A Quick Red Fox demonstrates that he did not fall into this trap (at least yet!). This is probably the most sordid tale in the series so far, with many sleazy characters and no real heroes (except Travis of course).

One day, the secretary (today would be a personal assistant) of a movie starlet contacted McGee; it seems her boss has an 'issue' that Trav may be able to help with. Apparently, the star, one Lysa Dean, knows an old friend of Travis, so he agrees to meet and hear her out. About 18 months prior to their meeting, Lysa Dean, her boy toy at the time, and a fairly large handful of 'swingers' got it on for awhile at some isolated beach house in California. Someone took some explicit pictures with a telephoto lens and used them to blackmail her out of some cash. She paid up, but recently, she received another threatening letter, more pictures (she thought they were destroyed) and basically, comes to Trav to find a way out. Well, McGee picks up the case of course, and Lysa gives him her PA to help out...

Like the others books in the series, MacDonald treats us to some casual speculations by McGee on the state of the world, consumer culture, the movie industry, and of course, relationships in general. The entire case is slimy, and it seems that when ever he picks up a rock, he finds something even uglier. 3.5 sleazy stars, rounding up!!

[Algernon (Darth Anyan) · Rating 4 out of 5]

[7/10]

Had she come along a couple of months sooner, I could not have cared less. But the kitty was dwindling. I was soon going to have to cast about for some profitable little problem. It is nice when they come walking up and save you the trouble of looking.

Travis McGee is living the good life aboard his boathouse, ‘The Busted Flush’ , a celebrated bachelor pad moored at a Fort Lauderdale dock. As usual there’s a friendly person of the female persuasion aboard, but Travis has the roving eye and is quick to spot and appraise the new lady who comes calling. She is tall, well dressed and as cold as ice – all business and no fun. Do I smell a challenge for my man Travis?

Dana Holtzer is just a messenger, the private secretary of a famous Hollywood actress who needs Travis assistance on an urgent personal matter. Short on cash, mr. McGee agrees to hear the lady out.

Her impact, so carefully measured it seemed unaffected, was of a kind of innocence aware. A gamin sparkle, hinting at a delicious capacity for naughtiness.

Lysa Dean, who in the novel is every bit as famous and sultry as Elizabeth Taylor or Ava Gardner, is quickly revealed to be the red fox from the title, a dangerous and predatory seducer who is likely to bite hard on the hand that tries to pet her. Lysa confesses that she is the victim of a double blackmail, having paid once for a set of very explicit pictures taken in secret at an impromptu orgy she happened to be participating in. After paying once with some help from her assistant Dana, the actress is once again getting fresh requests for cash and new threats to expose her scandalous behaviour to the press.
Travis smells a rat, and would prefer to refuse this job, much as he is in need of money. Yet the prospect of spending more time in the cool presence of Dana Holtzer, who is assigned as his sidekick and controller during the investigation, prompts him to get involved.

Together, Travis and Dana, start to track down and interrogate the eight people who were involved in that swinger party on a terrace high above the Pacific ocean. Apparently each of these men and women met with some form of misfortune in the aftermath of the orgy, sometimes with terminal results.

“I think that terrace was a damned unlucky place to be.”

>>><<<>>><<<

John MacDonald is in top form with this fourth episode of the Travis McGee series. Context is important in the appraisal of the morality and social interactions described here. The book was published in the year I was born, 1964, in the middle of the sexual liberation decade. Travis has a lot of commentary to make about toxic relationships and the perverted games people play in the absence of true love, with a side serving about the dreariness of suburban lifestyle and a cautionary tale about the ruthlessness of people who would do anything to preserve their status in society.

The investigations moves from Florida, where a young girl from an affluent family is self-destroying in a private clinic for addicts, to the mountain resorts of upper New York, where an empty-headed playboy is teaching debutantes how to ski. Later trips to California and Nevada fill in the gaps in the blackmail story with more lurid tales of power games and broken hearts. This is how Travis, in a cynical mood induced by the revelations of human nature in the case ( a nastiness somewhere in it that was out of control ), describes a suburban town in California:

... it is as if some cynical genius had designed a huge complex penal colony in the sunshine, eliminating the need for guard towers and barbed wire by merely beaming a gigantic electronic message at the inmates, day and night, saying, You are in heaven! Be happy! If you can’t be happy there, you can’t be happy anywhere! Vote! Consume! Donate! And don’t forget to use your number.

>>><<<>>><<<

The ‘hardboiled’ part of the novel, including some interesting bits about long range photography and post-processing, is very well done. MacDonald deserves all the praise he received from his literary peers and from his legion of fans.
Yet I can’t shake a feeling of ‘yuck’ and ‘creepy’ every time Travis tries to describe one of the women in the novel. This dissonance between words and action on the part of the lead character is an ongoing issue, right from the debut novel, and shows no sign of getting better.

Though I have faltered from time to time, I do want the relationship, if it does become intimate, to rest solidly on trust, affection, respect. Not just for taking, or scoring, or using, or proving anything. That knock out group adventures right there.

Travis talks real good about the need to respect women and to accept ‘No’ as an answer, yet he always undresses them with his eyes and with his inner voice. I believe Travis (and I will not try to confuse the character with the author here) is a textbook predatory male, proud of his ability to seduce women and convinced he is just about the best thing that could have happened to any of them. He truly loves each of his partners in the novels, deeply and sincerely and in beautifully expressed words (provided they are super hot and not interested in marriage)

This next commentary might be a bit spoilerish for those who have not read the previous books in the series, but I knew from the very first chapter, when Dana was introduced as cold and distant, that Travis will see this as a challenge and that a big part of the investigation will actually describe his seduction game. Lo and behold, this is how the character is described after a dose of Travis’ ‘love medicine’:

My drowsy lady walked close at my side, without haste, her smile as inward and bemused as that of the Mona Lisa. She hugged my arm and beamed up at me and gave me a sleepy wink. And then she yawned.

What about self-reliant, independent-minded, equal-partners women? Travis has something to say about that, too:

I patted her on the foot. “I like obedient women.”

I might have done what I did with previous episodes, and discount this as the prevalent mentality of the 1960’s against my third millennium sensibility, but unfortunately Travis is showing his true colours in a Las Vegas trailer park, where he first harangues a young girl, victim of repeated abuse from men, for preferring the company of women in bed, and later brags about beating up her lesbian friends:
The word is butch. Having not the penis nor the beard, they damn well try to have everything else.
Of course, Travis considers that he is the knight-errant of love, defending the poor girl from hateful lesbians, whose aberrations fired their hatred of the authentic male with himself cast in the role of authentic manhood.

>>><<<>>><<<

So, a very difficult rating, torn between a good story and some poorly disguised misogyny, but damn! Macdonald can really deliver a thrill ride. I guess I will continue with the series. Eventually!

[Darwin8u · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The world is shiny and the surface is a little too frangible. Something can reach out of the black and grab you at any moment. Everybody wears a different set of compulsions. You can be maimed without warning, in body or in spirit, by a very nice guy. It is the luck of your draw. I did not feel like a nice guy."
- John D. MacDonald, The Quick Red Fox



A solid, early addition to the Travis McGee series. All the cynical, hard John D. MacDonald prose I could ask for. Part of what I love about MacDonald is his ability to both write like a cheap 10¢ noir novelist and at the same time like an iconic, modern-day Cassandra. 50-years ago, inside these pulp detective novels, he was warning past readers about our sick, slick present. Reading MacDonald is to constantly come across sentences and paragraphs that fill you with unbounded joy. Seriously. Here he is describing San Francisco:

"San Francisco is the most depressing city in America. The come-latelys might not think so. They may be enchanted by the sea of mystery of the Nob and Russian and Telegraph, by the sea mystery of the Bridge over to redwood country on a foggy night, by the urban compartmentalization of Chinese, Spanish, Greek, Japanese, by the smartness of the women and the city's iron clutch on the culture. It might look just fine to the new ones.

But there are too many of us who used to love her. She was like a wild classy kook of a gal, one of those rain-walkers, laughing gray eyes, tousle of dark hair -- sea misty, a lithe and lovely lady, who could laugh at you or with you, and at herself when needs be. A sayer of strange and lovely things. A girl to be in love with, with love like a heady magic.

But she had lost it, boy. She used to give it away, and now she sells it to the tourists. She imitates herself. Her figure has thickened. The things she says now are mechanical and memorized. She overcharges for cynical services."

But he is best when he is bemoaning the loss of privacy, the loss of liberty, the creep of industry an government interference.

"I get this crazy feeling. Every once in a while I get it. I get the feeling that this is the last time in history when the offbeats like me will have a chance to live free in the nooks and crannies of the huge and rigid structure of an increasingly codified society. Fifty years from now [this book was originally published in 1964, so 2014] I would be hunted down in the street. They would drill little holes in my skull and make me sensible and reliable and adjusted."

Not quite Philip K. Dick, but close. Different genre, different prophet writing in the wilderness, but same damn brain-dead apocalypse.

[Francis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about John D. MacDonald. First, there is his prose. I don't as a habit underline passages in books. I often admire the words but I move on, to absorbed in the story to slow down. Sometimes with MacDonald though, I reread the passage, maybe even twice, then I think about highlighting the passage and then finally I move on. Later I might regret not having preserved a particular passage or two with a highlighter. I tip my hat. The man could write.

The mixed part begins and ends with the character Travis McGee. The man is too confident, too self assured. It's like the outcome is never in doubt and if the outcome is never in doubt then the story loses it's tension; not a good thing. There is also this thing about McGee and his magical curative effect on women. I mean, it's never a permanent relationship, they always move on but in a good way. Once lost they are now found, and all due to a roll in the hay (well several actually) with McGee. Their once broken, empty and disillusioned lives have been fulfilled and they will never forget their experience with that one true man/beach bum. And, to his credit, he cures a lot of women.

OK maybe a bit harsh, a bit too overdone, sort of like McGee. But the words, I love the words. I mean the guy could write ...like a beach slumming angel.

[Cathy DuPont · Rating 4 out of 5]

My "go-to" place for everything Travis McGee is D.R. Martin's blog Me and Travis McGee.

When I discovered D.R.'s site, I had read the entire 21 book series twice so I wasn't (and didn't) worry about spoilers. But going through some of D.R.'s entries (a synopsis of each book) and related comments, I noticed that readers had a 'takeaway' from the books that I had never thought of and in all sincerity, rather shocked and frankly annoyed me.

There were some comments about Travis being a misogynist and had no respect for women. In fact, some even said he treated them (my words) as throw-a-ways, simply using them for his own gratification and pleasure...using them as play-toys. Who and what are THEY, THOSE people talking about?

With that said, I decided that I would take note of just how Travis felt about women and boy did I hit on a gold mine in The Quick Red Fox for insight, in Travis' own words, his feelings about women.

Taking a look, here are some direct quotes:

Travis says to actress Miss Dean “Affection, understanding, need and respect. You can be sarcastic about that too, if you want. Bed is the simplest thing two people can do. If it goes with a lot of other things, it can be important, and if it goes with nothing else, it isn’t worth the time it takes.”

Leaving Travis said, “Love you, I said. It doesn’t cost a thing. Not when you do.” Travis sounds in love.

Travis and D... talking: “Don’t do that to yourself, D... You are implausibility…astoundingly, unforgettably great. And I don’t mean just in a…”

D...replies: I know. It isn't me, and it isn't you. Let’s not talk about it. It’s the total of us, the crazy total. I’m not going to talk about it or think of what comes after. Okay? Okay, darling?’

No talk. No analysis.”

And later: “We are kind of beautiful,” she said. It’s enough to know that, I guess. Alone I’m just …sort of efficient and severe and a little heavy-handed. Defensive. Alone you’re just sort of a rough, wry opportunist, a little bit cold and shrewd and watchful. Cruel, maybe. You and your sybarite boat and your damned beach girls. But we add up to beautiful in some crazy way. For now.”

“For now, D…?” replies Travis (Trav in love?)

Obviously a woman's body is just that, hers to love and admire without categorization into the "perfectly sized" woman. (Whatever THAT is!) Travis says: ”In the bathroom, in fading light of day, her body bore the halter marks of the long sunny ride, her broad flat breasts pale, responsive to soapy ablutions cooperatively offered.”

Travis thinks “…and I wondered if, when his (referring to a book character) physical resources began to flag he would stimulate himself by corrupting her. A woman to him would be something owned, to use as he wished.”

Just to be fair, I did find one comment which surprised me and seemed to me, to objectify women; Travis said “The Swedes grow some of the finest specimens of our times.” But Travis can be forgiven by me, out of 160 pages written in 1964, he was still far beyond some men I know today and this is almost 50 years later.

Also, I noted a few comments and words of introspection by Travis which I particularly enjoyed and I've included them:

“I was not a very earnest nor constructive fellow.”

"And I have locked myself into this precarious role of the clown-knight in the tomato-can armor, flailing away at indifferent beats with my tinfoil sword. A foible of the knight, even the comic one, is the cherishing of women, and perhaps even my brand of cherishing is quaint in this time and place.”

"I get this crazy feeling. Every once in a while I get it. I get the feeling that this is the last time in history when the offbeats like me will have a chance to live free in the nooks and crannies of the huge and rigid structure of an increasingly codified society. Fifty years from now I would be hunted down in the street. They would drill little holes in my skull and make me sensible and reliable and adjusted.

“Violence is the stepchild of desperation.”

I've said my peace and offered support of my position that Travis McGee is not a misogynist. He treats women with respect and equality which was, in my mind, was unheard of in the '60's. If you disagree, watch Mad Men on TV, or offer your own support of your position.

Enough said. Oh, the book. The book was great, a bit slim on the storyline, but who cares? It's Travis McGee, so says me and Travis is and always will be my guy!

[Carla Remy · Rating 3 out of 5]

02/2013

liked this the least of the Travis McGee books so far (it's # 4). The mystery started intriguingly but ended convolutedly. it seemed slapped together. But how many books did the man write in 1964? I can forgive.

[fleurette · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty good book, not truly outstanding but enjoyable. My first in this series and probably by this author.

Travis makes an interesting and complicated hero. He could be more developed, but I am generally okay with him. He is smart and most of the time he didn’t annoy me. At the same time, I think that Dana's character is not entirely successful. Something is missing. Some consistency of personality. Consequence in actions. This inconsistency seemed strange to me most of the time. There is something off about her making her an unquestionably one-time character.

The plot line is nice. The search for a blackmailer is a positive change from the usual search for a murderer. Of course, there are also some dead bodies here. The identity of the killer is definitively unobvious and interestingly intertwines in the whole tangled story of people who once spent some fun time together doing things they would gladly forget. And this is a very remarkable group of people with self-destructive tendencies, pretty miserable.

Although if I am to be completely honest, I suspected that Lee is behind it all. For some reason, it seemed to me an obvious solution. On the one hand, I am glad that my predictions have turned out to be completely wrong, but on the other hand I think that the decision of making the villain the photographer's helper (who does not even appear in the book) is very weak.

Anyway, I enjoyed this story and Travis as a hero, I may read another book in this series one day.

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

A friend loaned me a paperback he had found at the library annual sale. It was published in 1964. The title is “The Quick Red Fox” by John D. MacDonald. I have not read a MacDonald book in years, so I sat down and devoured it.

MacDonald (1916-1986) was a prolific writer of novels and short stories. He wrote crime and suspense novels many set in Florida. This book is a Travis McGee novel one of his more popular series characters. MacDonald was named a grandmaster of the Mystery Writers of America in 1972. He won many awards including the National Book Award. In 1939 he obtained an MBA from Harvard and in 1940 he became a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Ordnance Corp. He served in the OSS in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operation. His writing career started in 1945 while still in the Army when he had an article published in Story Magazine.

In this book, Travis McGee is recruited to help a Hollywood star find a blackmailer who threatens her career with some photographs of her. McGee ends up traveling around in this story such as New York, California, Nevada and Arizona on the hunt for the blackmailer. MacDonald describes McGee as tall, broad shouldered with a rugged face and a perfect gentleman who women are constantly attracted to.

MacDonald is a master storyteller. His plot twists and turns keeping the reader in suspense. JDM has a style of writing that keeps the reader fascinated by the story. MacDonald was a popular author during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. After reading this book today I can see he still holds his storytelling touch in our times of 2017. I am going to keep my eyes open for more of his books.

The book was 160 pages, published in 1964 by Fawcett Publishing.

[Tony Vacation · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah, the 1960's--back when a man could fend off a pack of "butch" lesbians with whacks to the ass from a golden putter.

[Maggie K · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far, Ive been quite taken with this series....McGee is a man who comes off as simple, but is anything but...and when he goes to the deep place you dive right in with him!
After the last 2 books, I was starting to see a little bit of a formula, and was concerned that as a series, McGee was going flat. But this installment was actually different and darker. Sordid is probably the best word.
Here, McGee reluctantly takes a job from a beautiful movie star to track down her blackmailer. Except he feels kind of squeamish about it. And the movie star thinks she has him hooked. and the blackmail is ugly. and none of the people involved are very nice. When he figures out what's happening, its too late to stop the dominoes that have started falling.
He has completed the job, but what about the price of the fallout it has caused? Definitely the smarmy side of life....But if all endings were nice and happy, McGee could turn jovial....Now that would be a crime.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished The Quick Red Fox this morning during a quiet period at work.. shhhhhh, don't tell anyone.. ;0) I think this one was a bit grimmer in subject matter than the others, even though so far they are all have a bit of an edge to them. I do like McGee's character, he's thoughtful, cynical, old-fashioned, treats women with respect and tough. It's a series I will continue. I'm glad that I was introduced finally to such an excellent series.

[Jeff Tankersley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Houseboat-living Florida private investigator Travis McGee is hired by a Hollywood starlet (this tale's "Quick Red Fox") to help her deal with a blackmailer. This superstar was photographed in a compromising weekend of bad behavior but she paid the blackmail fees as instructed and now six months later is being threatened again by a new blackmailer whose letter carries quite different and violent undertones. Travis is convinced to take along the star's personal assistant Dana as a sidekick in this case as he starts to visit and deal with the people who were there when the regrettable weekend first happened.

As we follow Trav and Dana along this untidy investigation, we get the sense they don't really like what they are doing. It is unseemly and kind of mean to be strong-arming or victimizing people to get the truth, but that's the path they've chosen here.

Trav's narrative in "Quick Red Fox" (1964) also has an unsettling needling undercurrent of a deeper worry to it, about his place in the world and how the romantics and the individualists are being shuffled by the wayside into a more orderly and conformist society where he's no longer wanted. As such, his ability to read people also serves to disappoint him as he learns more and still maintains a hold on propriety and discretion as personal virtues. Chandleresque vibes in the 60's, and to strong effect.

"Quick Red Fox" is also a classic investigative partner love story as Trav and Dana start as a professional team and then start to take to each other.

Verdict: A smart noir detective mystery, love story, and investigative adventure through 1960's West Coast spots like Phoenix, LA, SF, and Vegas. I didn't think much of the first three McGee novels but this fourth one is very good.

Jeff's Rating: 4 / 5 (Very Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: R

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another truly excellent Travis McGee saga. McGee is Ma knight in tarnished armor who champions lost causes. If something has been taken and there is for a variety of reasons no legal recourse, he will if he feels like it attempt a rescue for a fifty percent share. Otherwise, he camps out on a 52 foot houseboat,The Busted Flush, in the Bahia marina where there is an endless party always going on.
This caper involves a fabulous Hollywood star and some risqué photographs. A touch of blackmail and some unsavory characters. It also involves her personal assistant, Ms. Efficiency herself. Although on the short side for a McGee story, this one feels compact, focused, and is just a terrific read that was extremely hard to put down. It is filled with McGee's trademark patter and MacDonsld's amazing social commentary and ability to describe a character's history so deftly.
A great read. Five stars, indeed.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

What I learned? Never turn your back on a homicidal nymphomaniacal 18-year-old from Iceland, especially if she's carrying a handbag with a murderously heavy stone rabbit inside.

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 4th novel in the 21-book Travis McGee series finds our self-professed lazy sleuth at the point of needing some dough once again so he welcomes a visit to his houseboat, “The Busted Flush” by one Dana Holtzer who has been sent by a potential client to engage his services. The client, as it turns out is a sexy and famous movie star named Lysa Dean who has been paying blackmail to prevent the release of raunchy photographs taken at the scene of a multi-day orgy. While she thought she had completed the rounds of blackmail, the demands have now renewed and thus her decision to hire McGee to get to the bottom of it. Add on a murder or three and Trav has his work cut out for him, requiring him to traipse about the country including stops in Florida (of course), California, Arizona, and upstate New York.

By now, with several of these books under his belt, John D. MacDonald has really settled into his stride. I had expected the girl that would draw Travis’ interest this time around to be the movie star herself but I was wrong. I thought I knew where Travis’ relationship with Dana was headed…wrong. I was also wrong about who were the good guys and who were the bad. In short, Mr. MacDonald led me to surprise after surprise…and I haven’t even alluded to the big twist which would completely spoil everything for you. If this is a sign of future novels in the series, then I have quite a few treats in store.

I will add that while I really enjoyed the beginning and the end, I thought the middle part of the novel bogged down quite a bit. This was the workhorse part of the investigation itself, interviewing potential suspects and trying to piece together what had happened and develop an understanding of how all the moving parts fit together. A few too many moving parts for my poor old brain to handle perhaps, but I found myself looking forward to the Travis-Nora interaction more than the case itself. I understand that this is not the last we will see of the Lysa Dean character either, for which I am glad, based on how this book ends.

All in all, “The Quick Red Fox” was a nice read, fairly quick, and quite enjoyable as well as serving to further develop the overall character of Travis McGee himself.

Please note that no actual foxes were harmed in the writing of this review.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book written in the sixties has scattered nuggets of McGee's (or MacDonald's) philosophy. Trav says ' I get the feeling that this is the last time in history when the offbeats like me will have a chance to live free in the nooks and crannies of the huge and rigid structure of an increasingly codified society. Fifty years from now I would be hunted down in the street.'

Well fifty years have passed and I think McGee would be safe in the street, but he was right on the money about a codified society. Diagnostic codes, PIN numbers, passwords and on and on.

McGee is also quite a poet. ' The hushed cooled air made it an oasis, a thousand years from yesterday and ten thousand years from tomorrow.

These wonderful novels pack quite a punch.

[wally · Rating 3 out of 5]

26 may 15...#40 from macdonald for me, the 7th travis mcgee story. just finished Bright Orange For The Shroud. onward & upward

28 may 15
finished. good story...not great, good. why? maybe because there are a number of deaths, some related to the larger scheme of wrong, some not related, and in the end the antagonist makes a short sweet appearance, people get slapped with a rock rabbit, and the other dames in the story seem to follow suit. cue fleetwood mac. go your own way...lalalalala. some good writing here, good characterization...and in this one, by story end, i wondered how long macdonald spent trying to find a manner in which to wind this one up? oh. yeah. the fabled rock rabbit trick. a reader wonders...so, was that all part of a plan? simple survival....doo dooo doooo! tricksy. onward upward.

story begins
a big noisy wind out of the northeast, full of a february chill, herded the tourists off the afternoon beach, driving them to cover, complaining bitterly. it picked up gray slabs of the atlantic and smacked them down on the public beach across the highway from bahia mar.

and then some.

time place scene setting
* story opens in february, travis aboard the busted flush with skeeter, a saturday afternoon, slip f-18, bahia mar fort lauderdale florida
* a glittering black chrysler limousine
* to a house on a private island, miami/miami beach area
* a room in that house
* (past) california, a year ago in july, 18 months ago, a house near point sur, california
* after party, lysa returned to brentwood
* gabe marchman's place in lauderdale. travis visits with photos for an opinion
* narana kai drive-in, topanga beach, figures in the blackmail money delivery scheme
* sultana, miami beach...lysa dean moves to the sultana
* hope island, bastion key, this is a clinic for alcoholics
* miss agnes...travis' 30s model rolls royce converted to a truck by another, painted blue
* fish house in town for lunch
* albany, new york
* utica, new york...the diplomat, restaurant/bar
* big supermarket store, chas johns
* small relatively new motel at speculator, new york
* up route 8 through poland, new york
* mohawk lodge, 7-8 miles out on indian lake road
* up route 8 (in new york), thr polanc...adirondack forest preserve...to speculator, new york
* sausalito, california
* santa rosita, california
* time passes as in "first tuesday in march"
* a chain motel ...santa rosita i think
* syracuse airport...flight from there to chicago through to san francisco
* san francisco, california
* university hospital san francisco, room 310, where alexander armitage abott, aia, is slowly dying
* the log cabin restaurant...while still in new york
* lysa dean's home in california
* las vegas, nevada
* four treys...las vegas
* desert gate trailer park
* phoenix, arizona
* verano street, december 10th (past) demise of ives
* a cop station
* a drive-in 10 blocks away from cop station, santa rosalito, sergeant bill starr and travis go here to talk
* the apache, a gameless place in las vegas out on the perimeter
* salt river valley (phoenix)...the hallmark/hotel
* a variety of places mentioned not visited, flagstaff, tucson, oklahoma city
* las vegas airport
* nearest rancid saloon...that travis steps into after talking with gannon, one of the investigative services
* 2829 appleton way...was it saulsalito? the ives' residence where only the daughter is now living...ives bought it, mugged left for dead
* barnweather place...where m'gruder and his new young bride are spending time
* hospital

characters major
* travis mcgee, our hero, 1st-person narrator, shopworn beach bum, marina gypsy, a big shambling sharpshooter, favors plymouth gin
* skeeter, about 30 yrs of age, mary keith by name, skeet or skeeter nickname, spending time on the busted flush while her place is painted. she makes a living doing illustrations for children's books under the pseudonym "annamara"
* dana holtzer, a tall girl in a severe dark suit, a kind of agent for the actress lysa dean
* lysa "lee" dean, about 33 years of age, actress, has a problem she wants travis to resolve. she is the lee schontz from dayton, ohio, 1610 madison street, a fireman's daughter. she has had four marriages, is starring in winds of chance
* carl abelle...and lysa a year ago last july stayed together, just the two of them, in the house on point sur. they spent three weeks there, the first two very private, the last became a house party of swingers, photos were taken long-range, used to blackmail lysa. he is a ski instructor, mohawk lodge, speculator, new york
* nancy abbott, 22, also at the house party point sur, 22 at the time of the party, now 24...later, we find her in a alcholic clinic in florida and travis knows the guy running the place. her father is adored, talented, mighty, her mother died in a hotel fire when nancy was seven. nancy has been used by a variety of types, both men and women, for their sexual deviancy
* vance & patty m'gruder, mid-20s, at party...they divorced some time after, he remarried, she is a mystery
* patty m'gruder is the previous patricia gedley-davies, and they were married three years ago...then the marriage was annulled. she is slain in las vegas where she'd been working as a change girl
* cass, male, about 30, at party, full names, caswell edgars, a san francisco artist
* sonny catton, violence, at party, brought whippy to party...later, we learn he died...sounds like at the racetack, or drag races one or the other
* whippy, the last holdout at the party, lesbian, full name, martha whippler
* two college boys from back east, cornell, harvey & ritchie
* a competent girl
* dana was married...still is, after a fashion, husband invalid, tubes, bed, the works...he was/is epileptic, had a fit out in public, an off-duty policeman thought he was a thread, shot him
* ulka atlund, new wife of vance m'gruder, just turned 18, father brought her over here, he lectures in san francisco

characters minor, named, not named
* meyer, travis's economist friend/neighbor at bahia mar marina
* a texas chick (from travis' past)
* lysa dean is staying at the house of a friend
* walter lowery in san francisco, referred lysa dean to travis. he is in san francisco and is presumably some sort of writer
* the field mouse, quimby...skeeter's illustrations of
* her personal maid, her hairdresser, & the man from the agency...people other than dana holtzer who travel with lysa dean
* the poker man...from whom travis won the busted flush...his brazilian mistress...the poker man tried to use as collateral in the game they were playing
* the poker man's friends, who led him away from the game
* a middle-aged man in dove-gray uniform with silver buttons, chauffeur in the black chrysler limousine...later we learn his name is martin
* a gardener...who opened the gate to the limo
* fedder, a stunt man from travis' past
* chipmann...friends of carl abelle who owned the house where lysa and he stayed
* an operator (telephone)
* mary catherine...dana calls her from travis' boat...on lysa dean's staff...maybe the maid
* gabe marchman, korea war photographer, lost use of legs, travis visits to get an opinion on photographs
* a very dear friend (of lysa dean's)...one man
* an old buddy in vegas (of lysa's)
* doris marchman, wife of gabe, chinese-hawaiian
* they have six kids and doris is pregnant with another
* taxi
* alabama tiger, friend, neighbor of travis' at bahia mar, lauderdale
* alexander armitage abbott, in san francisco, father of nancy
* one of bill's old friends, bill, invalid husband of dana...she uses him to get information
* stan burley, runs the hope island clinic on bastion key where nancy abbott has been for some time now. he is a friend/associate of travis.
* marianne, a woman travis brought three times to the clinic...she committed suicide by vehicle
* jenny, secretary type to stan burley at the clinic
* a retired policewoman delivered child...of someone...was it nancy?
* jackie, name used by nancy at clinic when travis visits...she wonder if he is there to visit jackie
* nancy abbott has an older brother who is righteous
* "frank" and "myra"...a bit of the time passages, travis and dana pretending to be characters
* nearby lunch customers
* waitress
* "mom and sis"...more time passages
* ski kids were roaming the area
* gentleman in command...of the small motel, speculator, new york
* "fred & helen hollisbankers"...imaginary...travis & dana having fun...a kind of time passages
* nearby lunch customers
* waitress...at the diplomat
* a great number of young people sprawled on the floor
* snow bunnies...waiter...at the ski lodge
* stewardesses, a porter
* alex abbot, brother of nancy, friend of caswell "cassie" edgars
* elaine, wife of alex
* someone phoned alexander abbott about photos, he gave them what for
* a skinny driftwood blonde, with caswell edgars in saulsalito
* poor little henry, a husband, either current or past, of the blonde
* an elder brother of m'gruder was killed in a war
* "jones" an alias used by travis while calling investigative services
* an "italian wife and two men"...travis story when he calls
* odd-looking people came and went, tenants, clients, customers
* miss ganz, switchboard girl, a service provided to one of the investigative services, gannon, travis trolls looking for information
* "sergeant zimmerman bunco squad" another alias travis uses when speaking with miss ganz on the phone
* "bunco halpern"...travis again, speaking to miss ganz who is calling back to confirm
* mr. t. madison devlaney iii, dana speaks with looking for information about vance m'gruder whom she has known all her life...everyone calls her "squeakie"
* mrs devlaney, hubby, and another couple are going to hawaii
* nude woman on the sun terrace...presumably mrs chipman, from whom dana and carl abelle rented/used the house while the chipmans were gone on vacation
* gallagher, rosen and mendez...law firm...travis calls seeking info
* charlie mendez, one of the lawyers there
* a clear-voiced girl..mr mendez's secretary...miss trofler
* jocelyn ives
* mr d.c. ives...photographer...name obtained from gannon...but ives is dead. lived in santa rosita, had his home for studio, a space in a warehouse for the blackmail material
* sergeant bill starr...travis speaks with to obtain info about ives
* pretty waitress, at the drive-in, sausalito
* samuel bogen, 46, a semi-retarded employee of ives
* one korean couple (lysa dean's staff) a maid and gardener
* mexican architects who designed lysa dean's house
* batch of pilgrims (las vegas)...a pair of appraisers (presumably employed by casinos at airport to catch undesirables coming into vegas)
* a porter at...the apache i think
* spooks, tourists, cops, change girls: las vegas
* bobby blessing, butch lesbian living with "whippy" martha whippler in las vegas
* society editor, phoenix paper
* glenn & joanne barnweather, m'gruders staying with in phoenix, ranch out beyond scarsdale
* tulio, in okc; mary west, in tucson; paul & betty dover, in flagstaff, a convoluted manner of name game travis uses to get invited to the barnweather ranch for a party that takes shape
* a gleaming, beaming little fellow in a red coat tended bar
* about 35 people in all
* reporters
* the mexican boyfriends
* herm louke...hollywood man...takes care of business
* manny in rome? louke wonders if travis was involved...no
* a man...a thin man...a girl in glasses...fly a girl in
* scotty, victor scott...handles money for lysa dean
* a quintet of little girls dashing in and out of the silvery spray of a sprinkler
* polite cops

characters real, famous, imaginary famous, so forth so on
* norm thompson (flannel shirt)
* scott (tuner)
* fisher (amplifier)
* bernstein
* shostakovich (fifth)
* raggedy ann
* liz taylor, kim novak, doris day
* garbo
* arbuckle (effect)
* liz and frankie, the swede, mitchum, ava
* whore of babylon
* god, christ
* abraham lincoln (gabe marchman is likened too)
* comoy (pipe...presumably a manufacturer of pipes)
* arthur murray
* j edgar hoover
* katie gibb's --type service
* syd solomon, painter, real or imaginary? i've seen the name in other mcgee stories...paintings travis has, displays
* venus de milo
* jane/tarzan
* schweitzer of the gin bottle
* gallahad of the slopes (carl)
* jack london's noseless one
* heloise & abelard
* nappi & joe
* romeo and miss capulet
* beattles
* herb caen, name associated with san francisco
* sonny liston, a butch lesbian has shoulders like
* virginia...as in yes virginia, there is a santa rosita
* uris, wouk, rand...portentous gruntings
* alice (in wonderland)
* freud-fraud
* cuernavaca...is that a place or a person
* joe demaggio
* hemingway
* jesus christ
* harry diadem...?
* king arthur
* joan of arc
* viking

[Gu Kun · Rating 2 out of 5]

Way too much pillow talk. Highly unlikely denouement. Mmm ...

[Jeff Yoak · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Travis McGee as I remember him. In starting this series over again, I thought it wasn't going to appeal to me. It turns out it just took a few novels for MacDonald to hit his stride.

The plot of the Quick Red Fox, like all the McGee novels is almost silly melodrama. The thing that makes these novels so captivating is the sense of time and place that MacDonald creates. I love the typical poetic musing. I love the characters... not just McGee, though he is wonderful. In this one, he creates an amazing vapid actress, a wonderful cast of villains and a strong, brave female companion.

I find myself wanting to dive headlong into the fifth book in the series.

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This time McGee refers to himself as 'the authentic man' and generally made me sad that he was a proud homophobic sexist pig. Since it was written in 1964, I expect this kind of bs and make allowances because these are good mysteries and the writing is great. I could have managed to look past the usual comments on the drudgery of the average schmuck's life in the suburbs (and his vastly superior life as an off-the-books opportunist and authentic man), if there was a good book to read, but not this time in my opinion. The whole plot felt more implausible than usual, but I hold out hope for the next one in the series.

[Jay Fusco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again I realize how good of a writer John D. MacDonald was. There is a reason why Travis McGee is so familiar to readers of mysteries and thrillers. MacDonald's stories are tight, well written, extremely interesting and intriguing, action packed. Even though the book was written in the early 1960's, it is still a great read. The only thing that annoys me, and it is miniscule, is that MacDonald has his characters calling each other "dear" after they know each other for about 5 minutes. Anyone who has not read the Travis McGee books should read them all to see how it is done.

[Benoit Lelièvre · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to like this one more than I actually did.

It's far from bad and John D. MacDonald really nails his characters and Travis McGee's evolving relationship to his loneliness and to women, but the investigation takes forever to pan out and there's not that second gear the first couple books that that shift perception in the second half. Great era piece in many, many way, just not that great a mystery.

[Mack · Rating 2 out of 5]

Makes you feel slimy and uncomfortable. It is a book, however.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I've found it: The best Travis McGee novel by John D. MacDonald. The Quick Red Fox is one of the Floridian's most perplexing cases. He is called in by a popular Hollywood actress who is being blackmailed for participating in an orgy that was secretly photographed. To make matters worse, bad things suddenly start happening to the participants in the orgy. Like unexplained deaths, insanity, and family feuds.

The love interest is the actress's secretary, Dana, who is seconded to Travis to help with the investigation. In the end, things do not entirely go McGee's way, even though he succeeds in protecting his client, who manages to stiff him of much of his fee. The villain turns out not to be the guy McGee thought it was. And the secretary, injured in the line of battle, decides Travis is not the man for her.

Travis returns to Florida a sadder but wiser man.

[Daniel Sevitt · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first Travis McGee in a few years. They haven't aged nearly as well as other contemporaneous stuff. Trav is a big lunk, and this was a bit of a plod. It reminded me most of the worst aspects of Fleming's Bond books, but at least there the dubious sexual politics was handled with a little more panache.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Travis McGee's world, sometimes he gets the girl, and sometimes he gets the goods. His process works well, and sometimes he gets the girl and the goods. No process is fool-proof, and even McGee gets fooled, and he gets neither. McGee has met his match here with the actress being blackmailed.

[Edward Kreppein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another pretty awesome Travis McGee book… if you haven’t read them… try them and you will love. Short, well written and very funny.