7/24/1915 Baby blue for the onesie

July 24, 1916.  This was the birthday of one of the most popular and prolific of American mystery writers, John D. MacDonald.  He is best remembered as the creator of "salvage expert" Travis McGee, but his other work included the novel The Executioners, filmed twice as Cape Fear.

The Mystery Writers of America named him a Grand Master in 1972. Or should we say they recognized him as one?

6/2/19?? Lew Archer's birthday

June 2, 19??.  Happy birthday to Lew Archer, the private eye hero of Ross Macdonald's well-loved novels. 

"The greatest P.I. series ever written? Probably." -Thrilling Detective

5/31/1985 Here's Fletch

May 31, 1985.  On this day the movie Fletch was released, based on the great novel by Gregory MacDonald.  Michael Ritchie directed from a script by Andrew Bergman.  Chevy Chase played a rough approximation of I.M. Fletcher.

It was a very popular movie (nominated for an Edgar no less), and I hated it.  This was largely because they gummed up a very clever plot by going for dumb cliches.  (I believe there was a rule in the 1980s that every businessman in a movie had to be a secret drug lord.)  Not the worst movie made from a good book, but definitely on my list thereof.

1/13/1964 The Chill settles in

January 13, 1964.  Ross Macdonald's eleventh novel about private eye Lew Archer was released on this day.  The Chill was about a disappearing bride and a half-remembered crime.". Like an oilslick on a fast travelled throughway," said Kirkus Reviews,  "this is shiny, treacherous stuff."

2/26/1974 The Dreadful Lemon Sky

February 26, 1974.  John D. MacDonald's The Dreadful Lemon Sky was published on this date.  It was his sixteenth novel about salvage consultant Travis McGee.  It was his second in hardcover.

Am I the only one who thinks he was getting a little desperate for color-involved titles at this point?  Give the man credit for courage, though: Using a title with the word "dreadful" and the word "lemon" is offering critics two temptations they would find it  hard to resist.

2/23/1966 Harper hits the screen

February 23, 1966.  One of the best-loved private eye movies opened today.  Harper was written by William Goldman, based on Ross Macdonald's The Moving Target.  His series character Lew Archer became Lew Harper, either because Paul Newman had had two hit movies with names beginning with H, or - more likely - because the producers didn't buy the rights to the whole series of novels.  Jack Smight directed.

It was a big hit - in spite of that terrible poster - and won the Edgar for Best Motion Picture.

12/13/1915 Ross Macdonald begins to develop his doom-filled past

December 13, 1915.  Kenneth Millar was born this day in Los Gatos, California.  He grew up in Ontario, but moved back to California.  Because his wife Margaret Millar became a successful novelist before he did, he experimented with several pseudonyms, settling on Ross Macdonald (much to the disgust of John D. MacDonald, who felt he was being ripped off).

Macdonald was best known for his novels about Lew Archer, a southern California private eye whose cases usually involved deep dark family secrets from which no one could ever escape.  He used clever references to fairy tales (Sleeping Beauty), psychology (The Galton Case), and so on to shape his plots.  Some people found his work overly emotional and others loved it.  One of the latter was the editor of the New York Times Book Review who assigned The Underground Man  to great novelist Eudora Welty. The resulting front page love song put him on the bestseller list from that point on.

The classic P.I. movie Harper was based on the first Archer novel, The Moving Target.

11/5/1900 Philip MacDonald is born

November 5, 1900.  Mystery writer Philip MacDonald was born on this day (and he should not be confused with mystery writers John D. MacDonald, Ross Macdonald, or Gregory MacDonald).  He wrote more than thirty novels, under several names, and wrote screenplays based on his own work and others. 

10/30/1973 Travis McGee gets into hardcover

October 30, 1973.  This date saw the publication of The Turquoise Lament, John D. MacDonald's fifteenth novel about "salvage expert" Travis McGee.  In the series it is perhaps most notable for being the first in hardcover after a decade in paperbacks.  For the record, the plot involves an old acquaintance of McGee's who thinks her husband is trying to kill her.

5/31/1985 Fletch is released

May 31, 1985.  On this day the movie Fletch was released, based on the great novel by Gregory MacDonald.  Michael Ritchie directed from a script by Andrew Bergman.  Chevy Chase played an approximation of I.M. Fletcher.

It was a very popular movie (nominated for an Edgar no less), and I hated it.  This was largely because they gummed up a very clever plot by going for dumb cliches.  (I believe there was a rule in the 1980s that every businessman in a movie had to be a secret drug lord.)  Not the worst movie made from a good book, but definitely on my list thereof.

4/12/1962 Cape Fear is released

April 12, 1962.  Cape Fear was released on this date.  J. Lee Thompson directed the suspense film which starred Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum.  James R. Webb wrote the script, based on a novel by John D. MacDonald.  A lawyer and his family are tormented by a man he sent to prison (and was anyone but Mitchum as equally fine at playing good guys and bad guys?)

3/12/1973 The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper unwrapped

March 12, 1973.  On this date the tenth Travis McGee novel by John D. MacDonald was published.  The salvage consultant is trying to help the daughter of a former lover, a woman who seems determined to die.  Kirkus Review said: "while the story seems overly complicated and diffused this time, no one can knock its flushed allure since McGee's powers to persuade or seduce seem more puissant than ever."  And how often have you been called puissant?

2/14/1971 Ross Macdonald gets a Valentine

February 14, 1971.  John Leonard, editor of the New York Times Book Review, was a big fan of Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer novels, so when
The Underground Man was due for publication he went all out.  He gave the book to another Archerphile to review: the distinguished novelist Eudora Welty.  Her glowing report wound up on the front page of the review on this date, and went on for five pages.  It got Macdonald's book onto the best seller list, and all his later books followed it there.  Macdonald and Welty  became friends and each dedicated a book to the other.