RARA-AVIS: Re: McGee, Total Security, Dellaventura,

Kevin Smith (kvnsmith@total.net)
Sun, 16 Nov 1997 17:17:08 -0400 Yep, I remember Travis McGee, too, and I can't for the life of me
remember the names of any of the ordinary, non-series Joes in JDM's
books. But boy, do I remember some of those stories. The one about the
big car crash, and A Flash of Green, The Brass Cupcake, A Key To The
Suite, Cape Fear, etc., etc. Many of them feature characters who seem
like dry runs for McGee. He was a true master of the hard-boiled genre,
when he wanted to be.

An interesting tidbit: in later interviews he often talked about a final
McGee, entitled A Black Border for McGee, featuring Travis' death, to be
published after MacDonald's death. Unfortunately, it turns out that no
such book actually exists, according to his publishers. Mind you, the
last book did sort offer a bit of closure...

Sorry to hear about Total Security, John. It wasn't great, but it had
potential, and it was an entertaining Saturday night kinda show. I still
think the premise of an ensemble, Hill Street Blues-approach to a
detective agency is viable, but until Steve Bochho stops spinning his
wheels with NYPD Blue, and starts adopting Joe Gores' DKA stories, I
guess we'll have to wait. (Oh, and Joe could write the episodes-it would
be a perfect match of talents, I figure).

Speaking of cancellations, couldn't they have canned Dellaventura
instead? This vanity production seems to be in free fall. A few weeks
ago, Aiello actually closed the show with a song! (Though, come to think
of it, it was better than another installment of the Dellaventura
philosophy). I believe the last PI to sing was Dick Powell on the radio
as Richard Diamond, but at least Powell could sing.

Victoria, don't worry about fitting in. Most mystery readers are female,
and this sub-genre is probably no different. As for this group, I wonder
what the demographics are. Any ideas, William? (Good news about the
archives, by the way-I'm off to check 'em out).

Oh, and I agree with John when he says that anyone who actually writes
mysteries has no reason whatsoever to be intimidated by anyone in here.

Hmmm....has anyone seen Playing God? Is it any good? David Duchovny
plays a sorta Dr. Regular Joe, I think...

Well, see you guys soon....

Kevin Smith
#
# To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca.
# The web pages for the list are at http://www.vex.net/~buff/rara-avis/.