Books: Fletch and the Widow Bradley (1981)

"When Fletch finds a wallet with $25,000 in cash inside, he doesn’t realize it’s the last piece of good luck he’s going to see for a while. Because when he calls in to the News-Tribune, he discovers a story he’s written is causing quite a sensation, and not the good kind. He might just be out of a job permanently. If Tom Bradley, the chairman of Wagnall-Phipps and one of Fletch’s principal sources, and not incidentally, the source of his paper’s embarrassment, is dead, who’s been signing his name to company documents, and why doesn’t the company treasurer seem to know? If he’s alive, how come his widow, Enid, has Tom’s ashes on the mantel? Fletch may have more questions than answers on his hands, but he knows he’s a pretty good reporter, and if he’s going to get his reputation back, not to mention his job, he’s going to have to get to the bottom of more than one mystery."

While Fletch and the Widow Bradley is Gregory McDonald’s fourth book in the series, it’s actually the third book in its chronological order. Here Fletch is around 24, young, divorced (wife Linda, whom does not jam with wife Barbara from books 8 & 9, which are set before the original 1974 novel) and one assumes the author knows you'll be clever enough to figure this out. It is a fun book, in many ways, and while I did not pick-up a few signs of where this book was headed (as certain reviews pointed out), I think it’s a pretty brilliant twist for a book released in 1981 (it, strangely, very prescient to what is happening in the world today). The entire book is full of twists and turns, and that great Fletch wit and dialog. I’ve read McDonald grew more conservative as he aged, but I find that surprising here as this book is so progressive. And again, it was written in 1981!

 

Books: Fletch, Too By Gregory McDonald (1986)

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"After a few delays and without the benefit of a rehearsal, it looks like Fletch is finally getting hitched. It’s a small affair, just a few friends, the bride’s parents, the groom’s mother, and, just maybe, his father. Except Fletch’s father is supposed to be dead. But somebody delivered the letter, signed Fletch (senior) and containing an invitation (and a pair of plane tickets) to visit the old man in Nairobi for the honeymoon. Never mind Fletch and his bride were planning a ski trip to Colorado.No sooner does the couple land in Africa (togged out for skiing!), then the search for Fletch’s father begins. There’s a murder at the airport, reports of the old man’s incarceration, and the hospitality (and evasiveness) offered by pop’s best friend, who flies them across the continent, just a step or two behind (or maybe ahead of) the old rascal."

Picking up a few days after Fletch Won, this ninth and final volume in the Fletch series (two spin-off novels would follow, but McDonald himself felt these were not part of the original series), but third in chronological order.  Quirky, often funny, but not superficial, the book reads more like a travelogue than a true mystery. It also, seemly, has Fletch at a crossroads, but considering this book was published twelve years after the original, though taking place chronologically before it, I’ll be curious to see if McDonald references these “early” adventures when I come to those books released first.  Other words, how consistent will the books released in the 1980’s jibe with the ones in the 1970s? Will it be like Westlake, who just ignored the passage of time? Anyways, Fletch, Too is a more leisurely paced novel, focusing more on Fletch’s relationship with Carr (and the plight of Nairobi and its people) than his dad –who they always seemly just miss. It does end strong but for those looking for excitement, you’re not going to get it here.   

Books: Fletch Won By Gregory McDonald (1985)

 Gregory McDonald was a teacher before becoming a journalist for the Boston Globe in 1966. Though he published his first novel in 1964, it wasn’t until the 1970s that he really began his writing career. He quit the Globe in 1973 and in 1974 published Fletch, the first of nine novels revolving around ex-marine and journalist I.M. Fletcher. In 1985, Fletch was adapted into a movie with Chevy Chase playing the irreverent investigative reporter. Chase would reprise his role in the 1989 sequel Fletch Lives (an original story, though). In Confess, Fletch, Mcdonald also introduced his second signature protagonist, Inspector Francis Xavier Flynn, a brilliant but eccentric Boston Police homicide detective who served as a foil for Fletch. Flynn would go on to appear in four of his own spin-off novels. Also, McDonald attempted to spin-off Fletch with a series focusing on his illegitimate son Jack (Jack’s Story and Jack and The Perfect Mirror), but his publisher threatened to renege on contracts if McDonald did not agree to use the ironical name "Fletch" in the titles. While those two books feature Fletch, he is not the main character. In the mid-1980s, he moved to Tennessee. There, he bought an antebellum farm and became involved in local politics. He died at his home from prostate cancer in September of 2008.

While Fletch Won (a double meaning pun that took me too long to figure out) is the 8^th novel in the series, it effectively serves as a prequel, where Fletch has only been at the News-Tribune as a junior reporter for a short time and Frank (his editor) is losing respect for his new employee. Frank moves Fletch to a different section of the newspaper more than once, but Fletch continues to cause trouble. When Fletch is to run the story of local lawyer Donald Habeck, who requests an interview in order to announce that he is giving 5 million dollars to a local museum, the lawyer turns up dead in the News-Tribune parking lot. Unsurprisingly Frank takes Fletch off the story and gives it to an experienced reporter who has been with the paper for years. Fletch is now charged with investigating a whorehouse—which he does. However, he is not about to give up on the Habeck story, the circumstances of which seem mighty suspicious, especially when Fletch starts to suspect that the legal firm Habeck worked for is one of the most crooked firms around.

This book, along with a lot of McDonald’s works, is comprised mostly of dialogue for the characterization, drama, wit, and even action. As a self-described post-cinematic writer, he believed that readers have been exposed to so many images through movies so he found long, descriptive passages are unnecessary to set scenes, so while this fast and clean narrative style was ahead of its time, he’s still contemporary to the era. There are some funny passages here, some deep wit, with obvious underlying social commentary (comparing a law practice with an escort service can be beneficial) peppered among the sharp jokes and sardonic dialogue. 

As noted, Fletch Won is a prequel, set sometime before the first book, and released in 1985. He continued this theme with Fletch, Too a year later. However, in 1981 he wrote Fletch and the Widow Bradley, which is also set before the first book, but after Fletch Won and Fletch, Too. Also, 1984's Carioca Fletch is set between the first book and the second book, 1976s Fletch, Confess. However, McDonald never went out of his way to tell his readers that the series was not being published in chronological order -he apparently felt his fans would figure all of this by themselves. 

While I did read the first Fletch book back in 1985 (and I think the first Flynn book), I decided to revisit the series and read them in chronological order instead of published order.