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A review by topdragon
A Purple Place for Dying by John D. MacDonald
4.0
This is the third novel in the original Travis McGee trilogy, all of which were originally published in 1964. Once again McGee is lured out of Florida and his beloved houseboat, “The Busted Flush”. He travels to Arizona, I believe (it’s not specifically mentioned in the book) to consider accepting a job from a young lady who believes her older husband is plundering her trust fund set up for her by her wealthy father. At first, McGee doesn’t like the way the job is shaping up but soon after meeting his potential client, she is blown away by an unknown sniper. While McGee has no financial reason to stick around and solve the murder, his sense of honor leads him to do so anyway. His PI license isn’t valid in this state so his efforts to both work with and work around the local sheriff are some of the best moments in the book.
The story turns into a fairly straight forward murder whodunit although with some unexpected twists and the obligatory red herrings. Like many readers, I tended to like this third book a little better than the first two in the series and in fact, most critics point to this novel as the lynch pin book wherein the character of Travis McGee finds his stride that will carry him through the rest of the 21 book series. I plan to continue my read of the whole thing, spaced evenly over the next several years.
The story turns into a fairly straight forward murder whodunit although with some unexpected twists and the obligatory red herrings. Like many readers, I tended to like this third book a little better than the first two in the series and in fact, most critics point to this novel as the lynch pin book wherein the character of Travis McGee finds his stride that will carry him through the rest of the 21 book series. I plan to continue my read of the whole thing, spaced evenly over the next several years.