REVIEWED BY MICHAEL SHONK:


GREGORY MCDONALD Fletch

GREGORY MCDONALD – Confess, Fletch. Avon, paperback original, November 1976. Reprinted several times since, in both hardcover and soft. Reviewed in Kindle format.

   Fletch arrives in Boston in search of some missing paintings, only to find a naked murdered woman in his newly borrowed apartment. His attempt to find the paintings is complicated by two crazy, manipulative women, and Inspector Flynn who has a habit of showing up at the worst possible moment to ask Fletch if he is ready to confess to murder.

   Much like his characters, Gregory Mcdonald was fond of defying convention. When Mcdonald rejected releasing Confess, Fletch first in hardcover, and instead had it released as a paperback, many worried he was devaluing the mystery genre. His reported response was “I like to be read by people.”

   Confess, Fletch would win the 1977 Edgar award for Best Paperback Original. It would be the only time the first book of a series (Fletch) and its sequel won back-to-back Edgar awards.

GREGORY MCDONALD Fletch

   Most books in a series follow the characters in chronological order. Mcdonald ignored Fletch chronology. Confess, Fletch was the second book published in the series, but the sixth in Fletch time lime.

   Mcdonald’s fast, almost screenplay-like style, with its smart-ass humor and cynical characters was a perfect reflection of its time. Fletch existed in the time of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser and TV’s Jim Rockford, when characters were more the focus than the mystery and the twists more important than clues.

   The book’s greatest virtues are the characters of Irwin Maurice (aka Peter) Fletcher and Inspector Francis Xavier Flynn. With his laid back, irresponsible exterior hiding a strong moral center, Fletch was the stuff heroes were made of in that era. The brilliant, self-effacing sarcastic cop, Flynn was a delightful change from the average fictional cop.

   Mcdonald’s well deserved critically praised dialog with its natural shortness drives the pace of the story. Funny, real, misleading at times, Mcdonald often expects the reader to understand the true meaning hidden under what is said. This is especially true when Flynn and Fletch are together.

GREGORY MCDONALD Fletch

   Locations are described with just the minimum needed to set the scene and keep the story moving. Mcdonald avoids the details of mundane reality and speeds us along focused more on the characters than the mystery. Plot holes pass by like billboards on the freeway. Even should you notice them, you never care enough to slow down to consider them.

   Confess, Fletch was not meant to be a masterpiece of deduction, no trip to some exotic location, no dark noir, but instead it is a masterpiece of light mystery set in the world with characters you will never want to leave.

   A primary research source for this review was the website ThrillingDetective.com.