Gregory Mcdonald

Gregory Mcdonald (February 15, 1937 – September 7, 2008) was an American mystery writer best known for his character Irwin Maurice Fletcher, an investigative reporter otherwise known as "Fletch." Fletch was later played by Chevy Chase in the movie of the same name. The Fletch series, consisting of nine novels, also spawned the 'Flynn' series, as well as the 'Son of Fletch' series.

Two of the Fletch books have earned Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America: "Fletch" was named Best First Novel in 1975, and "Confess, Fletch" won for Best Paperback Original in 1977. This is the only time a novel and its sequel won back-to-back Edgars.

In "Confess, Fletch," McDonald introduced another character, Inspector Francis Xavier Flynn, a brilliant but eccentric police detective who serves as a foil for Fletch. Flynn would go on to appear in four of his own spin-off novels: "Flynn," "The Buck Passes Flynn," "Flynn's In" and "Flynn's World."

In the novel "Son of Fletch" McDonald introduced the character of Jack Faoni, who is said to be the illegitimate son of Irwin Maurice Fletcher. As a result, Texas-born journalist Jay Embry, inspired by the works of McDonald, adopted the pen name of Jack Faoni.

He has also written two novels in the Skylar series, as well as a number of non-series (and non-mystery) novels.

Before writing the Fletch novels, Mcdonald was a journalist for the Boston Globe.

Mcdonald was born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. He died in Giles County, Tennessee in 2008.

Bibliography

Novels

*"Running Scared" (1964)
*"Fletch" (1974)
*"Confess, Fletch" (1976)
*"Flynn" (1977)
*"Fletch's Fortune" (1978)
*"Love Among the Mashed Potatoes" apa "Dear M.E." (1978)
*"Who Took Toby Rinaldi?" (US title)/"Snatched" (UK title) (1978)
*"The Buck Passes Flynn" (1981)
*"Fletch and the Widow Bradley" (1981)
*"Fletch's Moxie" (1982)
*"Fletch and the Man Who" (1983)
*"Flynn's In" (1984)
*"Carioca Fletch" (1984)
*"Safekeeping" (1985)
*"Fletch Won" (1985)
*"Fletch, Too" (1986)
*"A World Too Wide" (1987)
*"Exits and Entrances" (1988)
*"Merely Players" (1988)
*"The Brave" (1991)
*"Son of Fletch" (1993)
*"Fletch Reflected" (1994)
*"Skylar" (1995)
*"Skylar in Yankeeland" (1997)
*"Flynn's World" (1999 as e-book; 2003 on paper)also...
*"Wise Saws" (Unpublished)

Other

*"The Education of Gregory Mcdonald Sketches from the Sixties. Writings About America, 1966-1973" (1985)

External links

* [http://www.gilesnews.us/Stories/080909JournalistsLoseOneoftheirOwn.html Obituary notice.]
*imdb name|id=0567780|name=Gregory Mcdonald
* [http://www.gregorymcdonald.com/index.html Gregory Mcdonald Website]
*
*