Pale Gray for Guilt (Travis McGee Mysteries)

Book Description

With an introduction by CARL HIAASEN

JOHN D. MacDONALD

"...the great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller."
--STEPHEN KING

"...a master storyteller, a masterful suspense writer."
--MARY HIGGINS CLARK

"...a dominant influence on writers crafting the continuing series character."
--SUE GRAFTON

"...my favorite novelist of all time."
--DEAN KOONTZ

"...the consummate pro, a master storyteller and witty observer."
--JONATHAN KELLERMAN

"...remains one of my idols."
--DONALD WESTLAKE

THE TRAVIS McGEE SERIES

"...one of the great sagas in American fiction."
--ROBERT B. PARKER

"...what a joy that these timeless and treasured novels are available again."
--ED McBAIN

Customer Reviews:

The great MacDonald.......2004-07-12

While I still find "Flash of Green" to be my favorite MacDonald book, there's something so appealing about the Travis McGee series that keeps me coming back to them. And "Pale Gray for Guilt" has such an engaging opening sequence of events, and such an array of fascinating characters, that you cannot put this mystery down. I just hope that MacDonald continues to gain in popularity, as I feel he is horribly overlooked.

don't mess with travis.......2003-01-15

...and whatever you do, read this one before reading "The Lonely Silver Rain". "Pale Gray" is vintage McGee, and a very fascinating exploration of the Big Con. There must be something more entertaining than these books, but I can't imagine what it would be.

Conning the Con Men.......2002-03-23

Tush Bannon, friend of Travis, a good and gentle man is killed horrifically by an anvil crushing his face and chest. First declared suicide-admittedly a peculiar way to do the deed--- later changed to murder. Tush owned a small marina whose acreage was a valuable parcel to the big bad business interests, and he was being squeezed out. He left a shocked and bereft wife and three young sons. Gallant Knight Travis rides to the rescue.

"Pale Gray for Guilt" was the 8th novel in the Travis McGee series, and I judge it as medium-good McGee. Published in 1968, it has an excellent contemporary flavor about it that captures the late `60s very well. The major flaw in the novel is the extraordinarily complicated sting set up by Meyer and Travis as revenge for Tush's demise. The big businessmen are set up to take a financial bath, and there are pages and pages devoted to capital gains, covering margins, selling short, etc. This has the effect of confining John Wayne to Wall St., not a happy or even very interesting state of affairs. However, Travis does get to expound, and wow his usual lusty women. (this one named Puss Killian-would such a name even be allowed today?) MacDonald allows Travis his special brand of sentimentality, "-went into the master bedroom and slipped out of the robe and into the giant bed and wished I wasn't too old to cry myself to sleep." No other tough private eye would ever be permited to think that way in print.

By the time this book was written, MacDonald had found his groove, though it was too bad he had to foist his interest in the stock market on Travis who, as we all well know, cares nothing about such things. It never happened again.

An intricate con game played for revenge........2002-02-26

John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series was one of the first truly successful "hard boiled detective" genre series to make it big at the mass market level of sales. Written mostly in the 1960's and early 1970's the books could come across as somewhat dated time period pieces except that MacDonald was a suspense writer of the highest order whose gritty, hard edged characters come to life on the page just as readily today as they did back when written.

In point of fact, these really aren't "detective" books at all; they are generally better classified as suspense novels. However, the formula utilized in the books, as well as the realistic, hard hitting writing style they displayed, set the stage for many a fictional detective series to follow.

McGee advertises himself as a "salvage" specialist. He's more a high-end repo man. If you've lost something of extraordinary value that you do not want the police involved in recovering, he'll do it for you-for 50% of the fair market value of the lost valuables. Once he's made a big score he reverts to being a beach Bum in ft. Lauderdale Florida where he lives on the beach in a houseboat won in a card game.

The Travis McGee novels break down basically into two types of story either (A) a "recovery" tale and (B) a revenge tale. The former is the far more common format.

Pale Gray for Guilt is one of the latter. Tush Bannon, one of Travis' old high school buddies, is killed by developers who want his land for a project, Travis swears revenge. Along with his sidekick, Dr. Meyer, a nationally known economist and fellow beach bum, McGee sets in motion a complicated and dangerous scam to entrap and bankrupt the killers.

On the whole I like the recovery novels better than the revenge novels, but this is one of the better of the latter sort. The plan is ingenious, the characters, as usual, well developed and the con victim so loathsome one is fully engaged in the effort to get the SOB.

This is probably not the best book to start out with McGee but, once hooked, this will make a very pleasant read.

A final note: MavDonald wrote many novels other than the McGee series-however, all McGee novels have a color in the title. If you're browsing for McGee, just select any novel with a color in the title, and there Travis will be.

Very poor McGee.......2001-07-23

I'm sorry, but I completely disagree with the other reviewers. I found this book to be shockingly bad. While other McGee books sparkle with Travis' commentaries on social trends and peripheral characters, and possess intricate plots, this book was a straightforward revenge story, with McGee and his sidekick Meyer confidently and flawlessly triumphing over the evildoers. There is no suspense, and the book is written in a rather haughty style, glorifying the abilities and righteousness of McGee. I was nauseated by the final third, just trying to finish it up, shaking my head at the lack of suspense and the wooden tone. I think one has to have a simplistic devotion to the series and/or character to see this installment as among the best of the series, because it comes off as sort of a love letter from MacDonald to McGee. Try "Long Lavender Look" for a McGee with all this series has to offer, and don't read this one until you're thoroughly immersed in the series.

Average customer rating:

Pale Gray for Guilt
John D. Macdonald
Manufacturer: Fawcett Gold
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: 0231018932

Average customer rating:

Pale Gray for Guilt
John D. MacDonald
Manufacturer: Fawcett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Similar Items:

ASIN: B000GYC1ES

PALE GRAY FOR GUILT a Travis McGee Mystery

Average customer rating:

PALE GRAY FOR GUILT a Travis McGee Mystery
JOHN D. MACDONALD
Manufacturer: Lippincott
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000K0JT2U

4 PBs by John D. MacDonald, Travis McGee: Deep Blue Good-By, Nightmare in Pink, Pale Gray for Guilt, Turquoise Lament (Travis McGee)

Average customer rating:

4 PBs by John D. MacDonald, Travis McGee: Deep Blue Good-By, Nightmare in Pink, Pale Gray for Guilt, Turquoise Lament (Travis McGee)
John D. MacDonald
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VTYMGS

Product Description

Paperbacks

5 Titles in Travis Mcgee Series - The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper - Dress Her in Indigo - Pale Gray for Guilt - Free Fall in Crimson - The Dreadful Lemon Sky

Average customer rating:

5 Titles in Travis Mcgee Series - The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper - Dress Her in Indigo - Pale Gray for Guilt - Free Fall in Crimson - The Dreadful Lemon Sky
John D. MacDonald
Manufacturer: various
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000QCMIRK

Product Description

Multiple books shipped as one item. Save on Shipping/Handling charges.

Average customer rating:

Pale Gray for Guilt
John D. MacDonald
Manufacturer: Fawcett Gold Medal
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000P0XEI0

Average customer rating:

Pale Gray for Guilt
John D. MacDonald
Manufacturer: Fawcett Gold Medal Book
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: 0449138178

Average customer rating:

Pale Gray for Guilt
John D. Macdonald
Manufacturer: Fawcett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000V92PXK

Average customer rating:

Pale Gray for Guilt
John D. MacDonald
Manufacturer: Fawcett Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000Q3OIPY

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Average customer rating:

Turtledove is a genius!
Great further development of the series
Great Introduction To Turtledove
An excellent transition between the two great wars.
Unreadable

American Empire: Blood & Iron
Harry Turtledove
Manufacturer: Del Rey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Alternate History | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0345405668
Release Date: 2002-06-25

Book Description

AMERICAN EMPIRE: BOOK ONE

Twice in the last century, brutal war erupted between the United States and the Confederacy. Then, after a generation of relative peace, The Great War exploded worldwide. As the conflict engulfed Europe, the C.S.A. backed the Allies, while the U.S. found its own ally in Imperial Germany. The Confederate States, France, and England all fell. Russia self-destructed, and the Japanese, seeing that the cause was lost, retired to fight another day.

The Great War has ended, and an uneasy peace reigns around most of the world. But nowhere is the peace more fragile than on the continent of North America, where bitter enemies share a single landmass and two long, bloody borders.

In the North, proud Canadian nationalists try to resist the colonial power of the United States. In the South, the once-mighty Confederate States have been pounded into poverty and merciless inflation. U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt refuses to return to pre-war borders. The scars of the past will not soon be healed. The time is right for madmen, demagogues, and terrorists.

At this crucial moment in history, with Socialists rising to power in the U.S. under the leadership of presidential candidate Upton Sinclair, a dangerous fanatic is on the rise in the Confederacy, preaching a message of hate. And in Canada another man--a simple farmer--has a nefarious plan: to assassinate the greatest U.S. war hero, General George Armstrong Custer.

With tension on the seas high, and an army of Marxist Negroes lurking in the swamplands of the Deep South, more than enough people are eager to return the world to war. Harry Turtledove sends his sprawling cast of men and women--wielding their own faiths, persuasions, and private demons--into the troubled times between the wars.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Turtledove is a genius!.......2007-07-20

I had never really paid much attention to the world of Alternate Histories, but when I first began readying Harry Turtledoves work, I became hooked. This story, showing the lives of those of the the north and south, all affected by the Great War, goes in debt into what America and its people would have been like had things gone a little different during the Civil War. I recommend it to anyone with a taste for the what if!

Great further development of the series.......2005-11-12

This is the first book in Turtledove's American Empire series that continues the alternate history began in his book How Few Remain and continued in the Great War trilogy.

Unlike the previous books, this one doesn't surround an actual war. World War I has just ended as this book begins. If you're looking for a story that has lots of action this book isn't for you. However, Turtledove does succeed in further developing his characters from the previous books very well, and introducing a few more that I'm sure will appear in future books as the older characters "die". In contrast to the other books in this mega series, I'd recommend that a reader not begin their reading of this series with this book. There's a lot of references about past events that occured in the other books which new readers won't get, even though Turtledove does try to initiate new readers with the first chapter.
Also, new readers of this series looking for true "alternate history" which takes certain historical events and departs from them at a specific point will have a very hard time locating anything specific that will endear them to Turtledove's style of alternate history. A major portion of this book deals with the CSA's problems after the Great War with inflation and the complete worthlessness of the Confederate currancy. These problems give rise to a militant Freedom Party in the CSA. This obviously doesn't have any historical basis because the CSA never existed beyond 1865. Turtledeove in this book forces the reader to have a knowledge of the events in Germany in the 1920s and early 1930s and thus know that these events DID occur in Germany and result in the Nazi party winning seats in the German Reichstag and Adolf Hitler being given power.

One other nice aspect of this book is that I think Turtledove does a great job of detailing in a fictionalized way what living after the Great War must have been like for veterans and also those who'd lost a loved one. One of his characters in particular has lost his leg and in the book we see how he's forced to get along with a wooden leg after the war, and the bitterness this event still has in him. Another character has bitterness towards the USA because he got shot and captured so he was forced to spend weeks in a USA hospital.

I didn't really say "that can't happen" at all in this book, which is the mark of a very good alternate history writer. He doesn't go out on many limbs, especially if the reader has the background from the previous books. The only thing I would have liked more of is use of actual historical characters. Once Teddy Roosevelt and George Armstrong Custer leave the pages of the book, all we're left with are Turtledove's fictionalized characters, with US "President" Upton Sinclair getting an occasional reference. Because of the lack of real people used in the book, I occasionally had to try to remember exactly what year in the book it was. A reference to somebody who did live and hold political office or was an athlete in 1919-1926 would have been helpful to put a good hold on the timeline.

Overall a very solid work for Turtledove in this great continuation of the series. The only other nit I would pick is that my paperback copy had a few obvious typos which the editors should have caught long before the paperback version went to press.

Great Introduction To Turtledove.......2005-10-29

This was my first experience with Harry Turtledove and I am without question hooked! Turtledove crafts a realistic alternative to our modern history, showing how easily events could of been drastically different. The author's characters and plotlines are very believable and draw the reader in.

The growing pains and struggles that both American countries endure are fascinating. The U.S.A. is undergoing a wave of socialism right after a war won by Democrat Teddy Roosevelt. Upton Sinclair and Flora Hamburger's rise remind how left politics leaned in those days. Cinnatus Driver and his family's travels to Iowa mirror the first settler's travels to the great plains, with obvious added differences.

In the C.S.A inflation is gorging the once proud South. The scourge of paper money weakens their economy immensely (sound familar) and politically they are without direction. Jake Featherston and his Freedom Party give intense conflict in this book and makes you want to read the next installment. The desperateness of Roger Kimball magnifies the strife the South endured after their loss in Great War, which maybe mirrors how the Confederacy felt after losing the Civil War.

For me, the most intriguing parts involved Canada and their United States occupation. Arthur McGregor is a chilling character who resembles many famous and infamous characters in history. The result of his showdown with Gen. Custer is surprising and shocking.

The characters in this book are multi-dimensional and genuine. All emotions are explored and presented. The book itself stands on it's own, but makes you want more from the "American Empire" saga.

The only beef I have with this work is that some of the dialogue sequences go on too much and just seem like filler. Still, this is one of the better fiction books I've read in awhile.

An excellent transition between the two great wars........2005-10-07

I am going to review the American Empire series: Blood and Iron, The Center Cannot Hold and The Victorious Opposition in one review. It is pointless to read the books individually, as they are really one novel broken up into three parts for convenience. The American Empire series covers the period betwen the Great War (the WWI parallel between the North and South) and the Second World War. While not as exciting as the other parts of the overall alternative history series, mainly due to the absence of any major combat, the series does an admirable job of further developing the characters from the Great War series as they struggle through the Great Depression. In American Empire, Turtledove brings us much closer to each of the families involved in his history and their individual successes and tragedies. Paralleling the Weimar Republic in 1930s Germany, the Confederate States suffer through crushing economic failure and finally turn to the Freedom Party for new leadership. Jake Featherson, leader of the Freedom Party emerges as the Hitler character with his complete takeover of the Confederate government and insane designs on its citizens that oppose him. This subplot is the most compelling part of the series. Whereas in 2005 we have to wonder how a man like Hitler could become chancellor of Germany and twist his citizens to his radical designs, Turtledove shows how it can be done easily as long as you have the support of the police and enough backers willing to do violence on the opposition. Meanwhile, the United States are under the governance of the Socialists, who are loathe to take the threat from the South seriously. Of course, this leads to the Second Great War, which is launched just as the series ends.

Unreadable.......2005-08-05

I've read a minimum of several hundred books in my lifetime and I'm sure I could count on one hand the ones I couldn't finish. This book was one of those few. It's not a story so much as a seemingly endless series of 'scenes' in what appears to be a chronology of sorts. The problem is that there is absolutely no continuity or narrative thread. Nothing tying the characters or plot together (at least not in the approximately one-third of the book I slogged through). My other major objection is Mr. Turtledove's copious use of a particular racial epithet commonly called "the 'N' word." I don't generally object to the use of such language if it advances plot or character development, but Mr. Turtledove sprinkles this word around with such abandon that I have to wonder if he has some underlying motive. This book might make the bestseller list in the Hillbilly Weekly Standard but I found it to be a pointless bore.

Average customer rating:

American Empire: Blood & Iron
Harry Turtledove
Manufacturer: Del Rey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OP9OHG

Average customer rating:

Blood and Iron (American Empire)
Harry Turtledove
Manufacturer: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

War | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

3 Titles By Harry Turtledove American Empire Series (1-3) : 1. Blood and Iron 2. The Center Cannot Hold 3. Victorious Opposition

Average customer rating:

3 Titles By Harry Turtledove American Empire Series (1-3) : 1. Blood and Iron 2. The Center Cannot Hold 3. Victorious Opposition
Harry Turtledove
Manufacturer: Del Rey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000WCNEV8

Product Description

multiple books ship as one item. save on shipping/handling charges.

Average customer rating:

AMERICAN EMPIRE: BLOOD & IRON
HARRY TURTLEDOVE
Manufacturer: Del Rey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000J3GFY8

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books