In 1985 while in college, I was very much into the McGee
novels. I read an interview with MacDonald where he confirmed
that the unfinished manuscript did exist, so that he would
"have leverage on his publisher." He said that whenever his
publisher would talk about reducing his royalties, he would
begin discussing the final novel and then his publisher would
reverse his position on royalties. At the time, MacDonald
actually said that the working title for the final McGee was
Symphony in Black. Hope this helps.
Pat Lee
--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Nathan Cain"
<IndieCrime@...> wrote:
>
> I was doing a little research and I came across an
article on The
> Green Ripper published in Time Magazine. It begins
like this:
>
> Locked inside a beige file cabinet in Sarasota,
Fla., is an
unfinished
> manuscript entitled A Black Border for McGee. May it
never be
> published. The book, as its name suggests, would
write finis to
Travis
> McGee, the perdurable, persnickety shamus whose
demise, white-haired
> Author John Dann MacDonald once vowed, would occur
after his tenth
> color-coded* starring role. "I keep the MS.," says
the author, "as
> leverage on my publisher." The latest McGee, The
Green Ripper, is
the
> 18th in the Travis saga, and the best.
>
> Here's the link to the full article:
>
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,916954,00.html
>
> It would appear that John D. MacDonald is confirming
the existence
of
> the rumored final Travis McGee novel. Has the
existence of this
> manuscript, completed or not, ever been confirmed?
Was MacDonald
> having some fun, or did he actually write a novel
where McGee dies?
> Has anyone on the list done any research on this, or
know of anyone
> who has?
>
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