Mon 1 Feb 2021
A Mystery Review by Barry Gardner: GREGORY MCDONALD – Skylar.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[7] Comments
GREGORY MCDONALD – Skylar. Skyler Whitfield #1. William Morrow & Co., hardcover, 1995. Avon, paperback, 1997.
I’m one of the relatively few people who never was particularly fond of the “Fletch†books, though I thought a later one, Son of Fletch, was pretty good. Mcdonald’s writing always struck me as okay, even better than that sometimes; I just didn’t care much for “Fletch.†Mcdonald thought he was a whole lot cuter than I did.
Skylar Whitfield is a young man who seems determined to underachieve. His placid existence is disrupted one summer when a northern cousin who is the paragon of every virtue Skylar seems to lack comes to visit, and then a young lady widely regarded as Skylar’s is brutally murdered. Not everybody believes Skylar did it, but the law does, and he has to prove he didn’t by finding out who did.
If that doesn’t sound like much of a plot to hang a novel on, well, it isn’t. I swear, sometimes it seems to me that there’s not a writer new or old (and by implication not an editor, either) who gives the slightest damn about plot credibility, Come up with a cute character, write some readable prose, and to hell with whether it all makes sense or not – and that exactly describes Skylar. The character is reasonably interesting if a bit superficially done, Mcdonald does his usual decent brand of prose, and the plot is absolutely, totally, unequivocally stupid.
Unbelievable. In-fucking-credible. I’ve always been a character – rather than a plot-driven reader, but Jesus, there are limits. Well, there are with me, anyway; evidently there aren’t with a lot of people. Pass this gobbler up.
Bibliographic Update: There was but one additional entry in the series, that being Skylar in Yankeeland (1997)
February 1st, 2021 at 9:17 pm
I have to agree generally with this. For me, much as I liked Fletch and Flynn (his other series character) I can’t say Mcdonald struck me as terribly clever plot wise which is something of a need when writing mystery and suspense.
I wish his considerable skill at style and writing and above all characterization had been tied to more original and capable plotting.
He published a few new ones not so long ago, and again I wished that voice was better tied to plot skills.
February 1st, 2021 at 9:24 pm
I always felt that Mcdonald’s goal in writing was in terms of comedic effect, not in in-depth detective work or crime solving. And comedy mysteries can either hit you the right way or miss you altogether. I enjoyed the ones I read, but I faded away from his work rather quickly.
February 2nd, 2021 at 9:08 am
I agree with all the comments. The snappy dialogue always seemed the point and the best part of his books. When it worked, it was fun. Otherwise, not so much.
February 2nd, 2021 at 2:02 pm
I tried the first Fletch book and didn’t finish it. Needless to say I didn’t try any more by Mcdonald.
February 2nd, 2021 at 7:24 pm
I actually enjoyed the first Fletch book quite a bit, if I remember correctly a rich guy was going to be killed and Fletch was to be the patsy/dead guy. Only read another one or two, and the dialogue was the best part of the stories.
The first Fletch was a hardcover (I think) and the next several were pbo’s, for what it is worth.
February 2nd, 2021 at 11:37 pm
I’ve just changed all references to McDonald to Mcdonald, including the comments. I hope I’m not wrong about this.
February 3rd, 2021 at 7:56 am
No, I believe Mcdonald is correct.
We saw him speak as Guest of Honor at a Bouchercon years ago, and he was very entertaining.