The topic this week is my favorite mystery series (i.e., books featuring a continuing character). In many of these series the main character will also have a foil, a close friend or assistant, that gets involved in the caper at hand, providing the necessary support, with some complementary skill. The main characters in these series sometimes follow the more traditional professional detective or lawyer path (Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch and Robert Parker’s Spenser). Then you have the more “unofficial” investigators like John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee.
Though the title of this essay addresses the men in this particular sub-genre, series featuring female characters abound. Some of my favorites through the years have included Janet Evanovich’s hilarious amateur sleuth Stephanie Plum (numbers in the titles e.g., “One For The Money”) and Sue Grafton’s private eye Kinsey Milhone (Letters in the titles, e.g., “A if for Alibi”). [1]
Here are my favorite authors/characters in this mystery sub-genre.
John D. MacDonald/Travis McGee – This series’ titles all contain a color (e.g., “The Deep Blue Goodbye”). Travis lives in Fort Lauderdale[2] on his houseboat, The Busted Flush that he won in a marathon game of poker. He earns his living as a “salvage consultant”, who helps people get back something they have lost after all legal means have been exhausted. For this Travis keeps half of the recovery. He takes his retirement in installments (living off the most recent salvage job) and is a self-described beach bum. Still Travis isn’t smug about his freedom from the more traditional life. He knows it comes with a cost. He is ably assisted by his economist friend Meyer who lives nearby on his boat, The John Maynard Keynes. MacDonald’s writing rises above the pulp fiction he cut his teeth on and Travis’s adventures include lengthy asides where he waxes philosophic on life, Florida and other matters. MacDonald passed away in 1986 after publishing 21 books featuring Travis McGee. I own two complete sets of the series.
Robert B. Parker/Spenser – Where MacDonald’s writing can be expansive Parker’s is all about economy in this dialogue driven series about the Boston private investigator Spenser (no first name). Spenser is a wisecracking, renaissance man. He looks like a thug but he is well read and cooks like Julia Child. I remember reading one of Parker’s early novels and busting out laughing while riding on the NYC subway (no one noticed). Spenser’s companion in many of his cases is his friend Hawk, who he has known since his boxing days, who makes his living on the other side of the law doing freelance work for the Boston mob. The common themes running through this series and MacDonald’s are self-reliance and a certain code for living, specifically how a man acts and lives his life. Other recurring characters in the Spenser series (Police lieutenant Martin Quirk) also exemplify this code.
Michael Connelly/Harry Bosch – From the other side of the continuum comes Los Angeles homicide detective Harry Bosch. Harry is a grinder, working his murder book (the document that is constructed as the case proceeds) to unravel the threads of his latest mystery. Harry is a divorced, Viet Nam veteran, jazz aficionado, who lives in the Hollywood Hills. He can be humorless, and at times even a little self-righteous, but he also exemplifies this code of being his own man. His dedication to the solution is single-minded. As Harry likes to say, “Everyone matters or no one matters”.
Harlan Coban/Myron Bolitor – The very popular Coban writes many stand-alone books besides this series about the sports management business owner/sometimes sleuth Myron Bolitor. Myron is from Livingston, NJ, where his parents still live, and resides in New York City where he runs his business, MB Sports Reps, and gets involved in various mysteries. Myron was an all-American college basketball player who blew out his knee in one of his first pre-season games with the Boston Celtics. His assistant, Esperanza Diaz, a former woman’s wrestling legend, accompanies him on many of these adventures as does his college roommate, the spooky, borderline psychopathic, investment bank owner, Windsor “Win” Horne Lockwood III. Win, like Hawk in the Spenser series, is almost an anti-hero who brings an interesting ethical angle to the decisions that have to be made during the course of the investigation. But whereas Hawk reminds us of what Spenser could have become, the parallel between Myron and Win is subtler.
Chris Knopf/Sam Acquillo – This is one of my new favorites. Sam lives in South Hampton in his parents’ old summer cottage looking out over the Little Peconic Bay. He escaped to the Hamptons after the self-destruction of his corporate career and marriage. He lives there with his dog, “Eddie” Van Halen and his girlfriend Amanda who lives in the next cottage over. Sam earns his living doing woodworking projects for local contractors. His other primary activity is hanging with Eddie and Amanda, sipping copious amounts of vodka in his Adirondack chair looking at the water. Sam also finds his way into local mysteries, which usually wind up involving folks from the “other” Hamptons.
A new release in one of these series is like getting together with an old friend and finding out what they’ve been up to. This made the passing of MacDonald, and more recently Parker, particularly difficult. Combine this with Coban writing Myron Bolitor books less frequently the last few years and I am constantly on the lookout for new mystery series. The caper is obviously important but it is the richness of the characters and how they live their lives that makes these series special. I find myself re-reading books from these series, especially the Travis and Spenser books. I usually re-read at least one Travis book each summer. It’s almost time to check back with my old friend down in Bahia Mar.
ARTS ROUNDUP
Reading: As I just mentioned I’m always looking for new mystery series. “Saratoga Longshot” by Stephen Dobyns features Charlie Bradshaw who is a detective with the Saratoga Springs police department. In this first installment of the Saratoga series he is down in New York City trying to find the son of an old girlfriend. Charlie, in his early forties, has a quietly tenacious, everyman quality about him that grows on you. I’m giving the second book a try.
Listening: I recently read that Radiohead will be doing a deluxe three-album 20th year anniversary reissue of their 1997 “OK Computer” album. I was tempted but decided instead to just give the album a re-listen on Spotify. It definitely holds up well especially songs like “Karma Police” and “No Surprises”. The album is from a time when the band still played guitar-driven music.
Watching: I just checked out the Netflix series “Pinky Blinders” (now in its fourth season – I’m always late to these series). A lot of the shows on Netflix are a bit dark and this one is no exception. It takes places in the early twentieth century and follows a Birmingham, England gangster operation called Pinky Blinders. Sam Neill plays the detective trying to bring them down. It was interesting but not sure yet if it is a keeper.
[1] In the crossover category of women authors writing male characters there is also Kate Atkinson’s terrifically complex Jackson Brody series.
[2] Bahia Mar marina, slip F-18 to be exact.