Gregory Mcdonald(February 15, 1937 – September 7, 2008) was an American writer best known for his mystery adventures featuring investigative reporter Irwin Maurice "Fletch" Fletcher.
Gregory Mcdonald | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 15, 1937 Shrewsbury, Massachusetts,U.S. |
| Died | September 7, 2008(aged 71) Giles County, Tennessee,U.S. |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Genre | Mystery,Comedy |
| Notable works | Fletch(series) Flynn(series) |
| Website | |
| www | |
Two of the Fletch books earnedEdgar Awardsfrom theMystery Writers of America:Fletchwas named Best First Novel in 1975, andConfess, Fletchwon for Best Paperback Original in 1977. This is the only time a novel and its sequel won back-to-back Edgars. Mcdonald would go on to write seven more novels in theFletchseries, as well as spinoffs and other standalone novels. The original book became a 1985movie of the same namestarringChevy Chase.
Career
editMcdonald was born inShrewsbury, Massachusettsand attended Harvard. While working as a high school teacher, he wrote and published his first novel,Running Scared(1964), a dramatic story of a college student's suicide. His credential as a published novelist helped him get a job as a journalist for theBoston Globein the late 1960s.[1]
His first mystery novel,Fletch,published in 1974, introduced the titular character, an ex-Marine who becomes a wisecracking, womanizing California-based investigative reporter adept at undercover work. In the second Fletch novel,Confess, Fletch(1976), Mcdonald introduced his second signature protagonist, Inspector Francis Xavier Flynn, a brilliant but eccentric Boston Police homicide detective, who would go on to appear in four of his ownspin-offnovels. The Fletch series also spawned theSon of Fletchseries, in which Mcdonald introduced the character of Jack Faoni, the illegitimate son of Irwin Maurice Fletcher. In addition, Mcdonald wrote two mysteries set in Tennessee in theSkylarseries and a number of non-series (and non-mystery) novels.
Most of Mcdonald's mysteries mixed doses of humor and satire alongside the adventure and whodunit plots. Three of the later Fletch novels,Fletch and the Widow Bradley,Fletch WonandFletch Toowere prequels set in a period in which Fletch was still a struggling young journalist, rather than the wealthy adventurer/troubleshooter he became after the events ofFletch.
Adaptations
editA 1972 British film co-written and directed byDavid Hemmingswas adapted from Mcdonald's first novel,Running Scared.
In 1985, the first novel in the Fletch series was adapted into a movie withChevy Chaseplaying the irreverent investigative reporter. Although Mcdonald had never seen Chevy Chase perform in anything substantial, he readily agreed to the casting of the actor in the role, and had nothing but praise for his performance. Chase would reprise his role in the 1989 sequelFletch Lives(based on the Fletch character, but not adapted from any Mcdonald novel). There were no further Fletch films until the series was rebooted years after Mcdonald's death withConfess, Fletch(2022) starringJon Hamm.
His 1991 neo-western novelThe Bravewas adapted into an unsuccessful1997 filmdirected by and starringJohnny Depp.
Personal life
editIn the mid-1980s, he moved toPulaski, Tennessee,[2]where he bought an antebellum farm and became involved in local politics, specifically anti-Klan work. (Pulaski was the birthplace of the KKK.)[1]
He died at his home from prostate cancer in 2008. Aside from his wife, Cheryle Higgins, whom he married in 2001, Mcdonald was survived by a sister, two children, three stepsons and grandchildren. His first marriage ended in divorce.[2]
Bibliography
editIrwin Maurice "Fletch" Fletcher series
edit- Fletch(1974)
- Confess, Fletch(1976)
- Fletch's Fortune(1978)
- Fletch and the Widow Bradley(1981)
- Fletch's Moxie(1982)
- Fletch and the Man Who(1983)
- Carioca Fletch(1984)
- Fletch Won(1985)
- Fletch, Too(1986)
Son of Fletch series
edit- Son of Fletch(1993)
- Fletch Reflected(1994)
Francis Xavier Flynn series
edit- Flynn(1977)
- The Buck Passes Flynn(1981)
- Flynn's In(1984)
- Flynn's World(1999 as e-book; 2003 on paper)
Skylar series
edit- Skylar(1995)
- Skylar in Yankeeland(1997)
Standalone novels
edit- Running Scared(1964)
- Love Among the Mashed PotatoesakaDear M.E.(1978)
- Who Took Toby Rinaldi?(US title)/Snatched(UK title) (1980)
- Safekeeping(1985)
- A World Too Wide(1987)
- Exits and Entrances(1988)
- Merely Players(1988)
- The Brave(1991)
- Wise Saws(unpublished)
Other
edit- The Education of Gregory Mcdonald: Sketches from the Sixties. Writings About America, 1966-1973(1985)
- Souvenirs of a Blown World: Sketches from the Sixties: Writings About America, 1966-1973,Seven Stories Press,2009; collection of his writings for theBoston Globe
Film adaptations
edit- Running Scared(1972) starringRobert PowellandGayle Hunnicutt
- Fletch(1985) starringChevy Chase
- Fletch Lives(1989) starring Chevy Chase (original screenplay by Leon Capetanos based on the Mcdonald character)
- The Brave(1997) starringJohnny DeppandMarlon Brando
- Confess, Fletch(2022) starringJon Hamm
References
edit- ^abCarlson, Michael (October 5, 2008)."Obituary: Gregory McDonald".The Guardian.RetrievedJuly 7,2017.
- ^abFox, Margalit (September 12, 2008)."Gregory Mcdonald, Novelist, Dies at 71".The New York Times.RetrievedJuly 7,2017.