The Quick Red Fox: A Travis McGee Novel

There are thousands of reviews of this man's Travis McGee series. He is the undisputed king of American detective/mystery writing and if someone else makes this claim (publishers of so many iconic crime writers have done just this) THEY SHOULD BE ASHAMED.

If you are a serious literature reader and tend not to delve into mysteries and detective procedurals then this is the author to read should you be seeking a change. It is hard to imagine anyone not having read MacDonald; I cut my adolescent teeth on him.

No matter what you like to read, be it vampire serials or non-fiction, there is absolutely a place in your mind where this book and the other 20 in the series will slot in providing you moving, marvelous moments of polished writerly adventure. If you loved Treasure Island for example this man will not disappoint. Few giants deserve six stars but MacDonald does.

Noted authors such as Donald Westlake and Robert B Parker doff their cap to him, and you should too.

Maybe it's because of the Hollywood commentary in this mcGee outing (Trav helps a vain movie star track down photos of her, taken during a drunken beach house sex party) but this jaunt seems like one of the most vivid, cinematic of the books.
Carefully detailed, pleasantly sordid and joltingly violent, "Quick Red Fox" is easy to imagine, on my mental movie screen, as directed by a period late noir helmsman like Robert Rossen ("The Hustler") or Robert Aldrich ("Kiss Me Deadly"), in crisp black-and-white Cinemascope with Paul Newman or Steve McQueen in the lead.
It's not as big in scale as some of the books, but it bobs and weaves in odd directions. Trav's confrontations with a prissy ski instructor; a pair of menacing, trailer park lesbians; and a spookily rendered German trophy wife may not be politically correct but they typify what's best and occasionally worst about MacDonald's style. McGee's warnings about women who kick for the crotch chafe against political correctness but make for one hilarious scene.
The first time I read it, I was pleased at how aburptly MacDonald wraps this one up. On a second reading, I thought perhaps it was a little anticlimactic but, in re-evaluating it, "Fox" ends economically and with a surpirsing level of sad tenderness. A good starting point for the uninitiated.

Reading John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series is like eating potato chips: you can't eat just one. But unlike potato chips, each book tastes better than the last. In The Quick Red Fox, the 4th book in this series, MacDonald really hits his stride.

Film-star Lysa Dean calls in McGee on a top secret and very sensitive job. Dean was at a party with nine other people when some compromising pictures were taken. The actress has been blackmailed once over these photos, and a year after the original blackmail scheme, she receives more photos and a threatening letter. Afraid that the release of these pictures will jeopardize her film career and interfere with her planned marriage to husband number five, she asks McGee to investigate. She also gives McGee her young, beautiful and efficient, but very frosty personal assistant, Dana Holtzer.

McGee and Holtzer crisscross the country trying to interview the other members from that fateful party. Some are scarred, some are missing and some are mysteriously murdered. But despite all the odds and lots of dead ends, McGee is able to assemble the pieces of this intriguing puzzle.

The Travis McGee series continues to get better and this was the best one yet. I can't wait to start number five.

This has been one of my personal favorites of the McGee series. Travis is hired by a very famous movie star who is being blackmailed due to some photos that show her, in the old-fashioned phrase, in compromising positions. (With more than one guy). The novel was written before you could send pictures on cell phones. McGee must track down the members of the wild party and find out which one is the blackmailer. It's a very good plot as McGee studiously eliminates suspects. And finds some have died and some, possibly, murdered.
McGee's love interest in this novel is the movie star's secretary who accompanies him on his travels. The reason given for this doesn't really hold up but, hey, she's essential to the plot.
It was another firstrate Travis McGee novel.

Maybe it is too soon to judge fairly after reading only the first 4 of this 21-book series, but so far it seems that MacDonald is just repeating the same book. Oh, he inserts a new mystery in each, but the case to be solved is almost incidental; instead MacDonald's focus is on Travis McGee, his detective, who in all the books so far goes through all the same motions with very similar characters. He is always propositioned by more than one beautiful and seductive female but falls for the girl who is damaged or troubled in some way and salvages her through his compassionate lovemaking. Somehow, though, each romance falls through at the end, so that he can commence a new one with the next book. In his first-person telling of the story, he always manages to include a rant or two or three about the sad state of American society and culture and always emphasizes his status as an outsider who goes his own way. The first of the series, 'The Deep Blue Good-Bye,' was actually very interesting, but the next three seem to be hastily written copies, and that gets a little annoying.

The plot of this one concerns a famous sex-symbol actress who is being blackmailed with photos taken of a full-on, four-day sex orgy, most of which illogically takes place outside on a terrace. In another rather illogical move, the actress sends her repressed and compulsively efficient female private assistant along with Trav as he attempts to track down the identity of the blackmailer. Guess who he falls into bed with.

This is not the kind of mystery that drops clues and red herrings. In fact, the main villain unexpectedly first enters the action in the last 25 pages of the book.

When I reviewed #3 in this series, I mentioned that I was disturbed by the apparent acceptance as normal and even admirable of a husband's paddling of his wife's behind when she misbehaved. MacDonald disturbed me again in this one, by his condemnation and ridicule of lesbianism. At one point he comments on the sad fates of those who were involved in the orgy: one is permanently mentally damaged, several have died violently, and one has (GASP) turned lesbian. Maybe this was the predominant attitude in 1964, but it still grates.

In looking at the copyright date of this novel, I see that the first four Travis McGee novels were all published in 1964. No wonder they all seem the same; he didn't have time to accomplish much. Maybe I will try one more of the series, but if it is the same I will stop.

One thing that fans of John D. MacDonald know: any Travis McGee book will be a treasure! And in "The Quick Red Fox," the author hasn't let us down. In this installment of the 21-episode series, McGee finds himself in Hollywood, helping out some friends and trying to solve the murder of Lysa Dean, a super starlet sex symbol, some very unseedy characters, and lots of blackmail!
As the "Sunday Telegraph" wrote, "...MacDonald stirs in a touch of Oedipus trouble, a touch of alcoholism, and a touch of lesbianism, and gives his engaging private investigator, Travis McGee, some straightforward enjoyment as well." In this no-holds barred book, the reader's view of humanity is not white-washed (MacDonald never does this) and the greed, lust, jealousy of humanity's detritus are never more vividly depicted.
That is not to say, however, that there aren't bright spots in the book. For one, McGee, whom Time magazine calls a "knight in tarnished armor," does not disappoint us. Sometimes, it appears as if he's the only level-headed, sane person in the story. MacDonald's first-person accounting of the McGee stories never get in the way and as one follows the series' progression, one is able to see the goodness that McGee personifies.
The first book in this series is titled "The Deep Blue Good-by" and ends with "The Lonely Silver Rain," pubished shortly before MacDonald died. Each of the McGee books is characterized by having a color in the title, not that Travis needs any help being colorful. He seems able to do that on his own!

“Fox” is one of the early Travis McGee tales – #4 of 21; and we found it typical but sufficiently entertaining. Our hero is hired by a Hollywood star to recover blackmail photos of her participating in a 4-day orgy featuring lots of drinking and lots of sex, going “both ways”, no doubt a racier theme when published in 1964 than perhaps now. {The mention of Travis’ new toys of Acoustic Research speakers, and Fisher and Scott stereo components, was mildly nostalgic – we ourselves had much the same back in the early 60’s when stereo sound was not yet all that common!} To McGee’s surprise, the woman assigns her personal secretary Dana to be his mandatory sidekick – and perhaps their developing relationship (cool for about 2/3 of the book) was as interesting as the mystery.

The plot basically revolved around identifying all the participants in the affair, and sort of ruling them in or out early on. When things seem to settle on a prime suspect, a chance to party with the principles (with Dana in tow) leads to a somewhat unexpected outcome – one that some readers were not totally happy about. Some also were disappointed with Dana and “Trav” at the end. But all in all, a pleasant enough read, even if somewhat predictable – so, as expected!

I love mystery novels and old fashioned hard boiled detective novels are a passion. Travis McGee definitely delivers. Dashing yet with scruples Travis takes on cases where his fee is half of the value of whatever he is hired to get back plus expenses. When the client is an actress those expenses can certainly pile up.

In a time without cell phones or computers detectives had it a lot harder, now days it seems anyone can be a detective. This is a fast paced thrill ride with a great cast of characters. I can't wait to read another, and another....

I looked forward to reading this because it is near the top of everyone's list of best Travis McGee novels. I wasn't disappointed. I loved the writing and enjoyed the plot. It probably couldn't be published today with some politically incorrect scenes.So here is your trigger warning-- to everyone else-- enjoy!

Once again, John D. MacDonald delivers a tour de force read. Travis McGee himself is an amazing character who you grow to love even though he's sometimes harsh, bullying and an all around real human being--or as much as one can be created from words on paper. As I follow the lead of Stephen King, Dean Kountz and read the complete works of Mr. MacDonald, my awe at his powers grow with each book. In a few short pages, he delivers an amazing literary performance.

....Can't go wrong with Travis McGee. I started reading them in the 70's and sadly, he was gone by mid-80s. I've read each one several times and even though they are kind of dated now, still amazing writing and character

.If somewhat formulaic, John D. MacDonald's gift of prose spiked with social insight and plots that take hold make his work well worth reading. Lee Child's strong recommendation should be enough for his own large audience to take note and check out some of MacDonald's books for themselves

Travis McGee is looking for blackmailers for a superstar actress. With her personal secretary at his side, Mcgee is combing the country for suspects who attended a sex party with the sex symbol that produced pictures of all the participants. Trouble is, all of the other suspects show up in hospitals or dead. Travis is left with a trail involving an original blackmailer and a copycat blackmailer. The last chapter which focuses on Trav, the secretary and the actress is probably one of the most satisfying single chapters in the McGee saga.

As with virtually all of his works, MacDonald has Travis speak out against and in favor of various cultural realities (these will occupy much of my reviews on this page). The following two segments occur close to each other, as Travis and Dana home in on one of the suspects in Southern California. This first hits home with virtually anyone of the freedom persuasion:

"...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." -- 96

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Brian Wright
Copyright 2009

With each book, I see more similarities between the characters created by Ian Fleming, John D. MacDonald, and Lee Child. They are brutal men with a deep sense of compassion for weaker people, especially women. They love the wrong women and their relationships ultimately fail. And yet, they do not lose their perspective.

John D. MacDonald is on the Mt. Rushmore of Thriller writers; prescient and pithy but not graphic. I've loved every book. The endings are always difficult; but that is why one looks forward to the next book in the series.

It's still a fairly good read, lively, suspenseful, generally worthwhile. But there are two major flaws that bring its rating down considerably. One is that the main romantic interest is NOT the "damsel in distress"; that position is occupied by a thoroughly unsympathetic character, one who McGee is manipulated by in ways that we rarely see. The other is that, while it isn't uncommon for some aspect of this series to seem rather outdated these days, generally, the main character's attitudes seem remarkably reasonable if a bit old-fashioned; in one scene in this book, he is demonstrated to be completely clueless and utterly unsympathetic towards lesbians. While I wouldn't have been surprised or offended had he proved somewhat clueless and condescending, his attitude in that scene (and clearly, that of the author) were neolithic and downright hostile enough to really grate on my nerves. Really ruined what otherwise would have been a pretty fair to middling book.

John MacDonald, a prolific mystery/terror novelist, created the Travis McGee series. The Quick Red Fox is one of the earlier ones, and the story is rather tacky. What is important about the Travis McGee series is that there is much philosophy about life which rings very true today, even though MacDonald died in 1996.