John D MacDonald Books

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John D. MacDonald was an American bestseller famously known for his entertaining thrillers, crime and suspense novel many of which were set in his adopted home in Florida. He was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania on July 24th, 1916 the son Savage Arms Corporation staff. Later his family moved to Utica, New York in 1926 where he was hired to work for the Utica Savage Arms.

Order of Travis McGee Series

# Read Title Published Details
1 The Deep Blue Good-By 1964 Description / Buy
2 Nightmare in Pink 1964 Description / Buy
3 A Purple Place for Dying 1964 Description / Buy
4 The Quick Red Fox 1964 Description / Buy
5 A Deadly Shade of Gold 1965 Description / Buy
6 Bright Orange for the Shroud 1965 Description / Buy
7 Darker Than Amber 1966 Description / Buy
8 One Fearful Yellow Eye 1966 Description / Buy
9 Pale Gray for Guilt 1968 Description / Buy
10 The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper 1968 Description / Buy
11 Dress Her in Indigo 1969 Description / Buy
12 The Long Lavender Look 1970 Description / Buy
13 A Tan and Sandy Silence 1971 Description / Buy
14 The Scarlet Ruse 1972 Description / Buy
15 The Turquoise Lament 1973 Description / Buy
16 The Dreadful Lemon Sky 1974 Description / Buy
17 The Empty Copper Sea 1978 Description / Buy
18 The Green Ripper 1979 Description / Buy
19 Free Fall in Crimson 1981 Description / Buy
20 Cinnamon Skin 1982 Description / Buy
21 The Lonely Silver Rain 1984 Description / Buy

Order of John D MacDonald Standalone Novels

# Read Title Published Details
1 The Brass Cupcake 1950 Description / Buy
2 Judge Me Not 1951 Description / Buy
3 Weep For Me 1951 Description / Buy
4 Wine of the Dreamers 1951 Description / Buy
5 Murder for the Bride 1951 Description / Buy
6 The Damned 1952 Description / Buy
7 Ballroom of the Skies 1952 Description / Buy
8 Planet of the Dreamers 1953 Description / Buy
9 Cancel All Our Vows 1953 Description / Buy
10 Neon Jungle 1953 Description / Buy
11 Dead Low Tide 1953 Description / Buy
12 Area of Suspicion 1954 Description / Buy
13 All These Condemned 1954 Description / Buy
14 Contrary Pleasure 1954 Description / Buy
15 A Bullet for Cinderella 1955 Description / Buy
16 On the Make 1955 Description / Buy
17 Cry Hard, Cry Fast 1955 Description / Buy
18 Border Town Girl / Five Star Fugitive / Linda 1956 Description / Buy
19 Murder in the Wind / Hurricane 1956 Description / Buy
20 April Evil 1956 Description / Buy
21 A Man of Affairs 1957 Description / Buy
22 Death Trap 1957 Description / Buy
23 The Empty Trap 1957 Description / Buy
24 The Deceivers 1958 Description / Buy
25 Clemmie 1958 Description / Buy
26 Soft Touch 1958 Description / Buy
27 Cape Fear / The Executioners 1958 Description / Buy
28 The Beach Girls 1959 Description / Buy
29 You Live Once / Kill Me 1959 Description / Buy
30 The Crossroads 1959 Description / Buy
31 Please Write for Details 1959 Description / Buy
32 The End of the Night 1960 Description / Buy
33 The Only Girl in the Game 1960 Description / Buy
34 Slam the Big Door 1960 Description / Buy
35 Where is Janice Gantry? 1961 Description / Buy
36 One Monday We Killed Them All 1961 Description / Buy
37 A Key to the Suite 1962 Description / Buy
38 On the Run (Short Story) 1962 Description / Buy
39 A Flash of Green 1962 Description / Buy
40 The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything 1962 Description / Buy
41 I Could Go on Singing 1963 Description / Buy
42 The Drowner 1963 Description / Buy
43 Deadly Welcome 1965 Description / Buy
44 The Last One Left 1967 Description / Buy
45 No Deadly Drug 1968 Description / Buy
46 The Price of Murder 1972 Description / Buy
47 Condominium 1977 Description / Buy
48 Two 1983 Description / Buy
49 One More Sunday 1984 Description / Buy
50 Barrier Island 1986 Description / Buy
51 Hurricane 2014 Description / Buy

Order of John D MacDonald Short Story Collections

# Read Title Published Details
1 The Good Old Stuff 1961 Description / Buy
2 End of the Tiger and Other Stories 1966 Description / Buy
3 Seven 1971 Description / Buy
4 Other Times, Other Worlds 1978 Description / Buy
5 More Good Old Stuff 1984 Description / Buy
6 Death Quotient and Other Stories (Short Story) 2010 Description / Buy

Order of Masters of Noir Series with

# Read Title Published Details
1 Masters of Noir (Short Story) ( By: ) 2010 Description / Buy

Order of John D. MacDonald Short Stories/Novellas

# Read Title Published Details
1 Murder Run-Around (Short Story) 2015 Description / Buy
2 In a Small Motel (Short Story) 2017 Description / Buy
3 What Christmas Did for Jerusha Grumble (Short Story) 2019 Description / Buy

John D. MacDonald Anthologies

# Read Title Published Details
1 Hard-Boiled Detectives 1953 Description / Buy
2 Worlds to Come: New Science Fiction Adventures 1967 Description / Buy
3 Tomorrow 1 | Science Fiction by the Masters 1971 Description / Buy
4 The Late Great Future 1976 Description / Buy
5 Dark Crimes 2 1993 Description / Buy
6 Florida Stories 1993 Description / Buy
7 Law and Order 1997 Description / Buy
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In 1934 John D. MacDonald was sent to Europe for several weeks, this adventurous journey sparked an interest in travel and photography. After completing high school, he joined Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania but unfortunately quit during his sophomore year. He worked at laborous jobs in New York for a short period before later joining Syracuse University where he met his wife, Dorothy Prentiss and got married to her in 1937. In 1939 he graduated from the Harvard University with a Masters degree in Business Administration. He later made use of his education in economics and business by incorporating detailed business swindles into the plotlines of his novels.

MacDonald’s writing career kicked off by sheer accident. In 1945 while still serving in the military, he wrote a short story and sent it to his wife. His wife submitted it to Esquire Magazine and got rejected. She then sent the same story to Story Magazine and got accepted for $25. After his discharge from the military, MacDonald spent up to four months writing short stories. Even though he received several rejections, he finally sold some to the Pulp Magazine and made $40. He then sold almost 500 short stories to western, sports, mystery, detective, adventure and sci-fi magazines.

MacDonald died at the age of 70 years in 1986 after developing complications that arose due to earlier heart bypass operation. The author wrote several series, anthologies, and short stories. Travis McGee series comprises of over 20 novels, The Deep Blue Good-by (1965) being the first book in the series. The series publication ended in 1985 when The Lonely Silver Rain was published.

JOHN D. MACDONALD AWARDS

The Green Ripper won the 1980 National Book Award for best mystery hardcover novel. Subsequently, in 1986, The Loney Silver Rain was nominated for the Antony Awards.

JOHN D. MACDONALD BOOKS INTO MOVIES

Several of MacDonald novels have been adapted into films. For example Cry Hard, Cry Fast was adapted as a two-part episode of the TV series Run for Your Life in 1967. The novel titled Linda was filmed two times, first during 1973 with Stella Stevens playing the title role and in 1993 with Virginia Madsen playing the lead role. A Flash of Green was adapted into a 1984 movie featuring Ed Harris.

The 1980 television miniseries Condominium was based on MacDonald novel and featured Barbara Eden and Dan Haggerty.

BEST JOHN D. MACDONALD BOOKS

These are two best books written by John D. MacDonald, The Green Ripper (1979) and The Loney Silver Rain.

The Green Ripper: The eighteenth book in Travis McGee series. Now seeking to get to know why his true love, Gretel Howard, (first introduced in The Empty Copper Sea,) was killed, Travis McGee goes undercover as a commercial fisherman by the name Tom McGraw. He is only thinking of only revenge and the only clue that he has pointed to a fortified California encampment. Infiltrating himself into the group, which possess some militaristic bent, McGee now fully embraces his darkest side. Without feeling it or even expecting, he taps into a “great John Wayne Day when he is finally forced to act to stop the monsters.

The Green Reaper is a fascinating read; it features a different tone and theme as well, unlike earlier novels which focused on small-scale evil.

The Lonely Silver Rain: The 21st book in Travis McGee series. In this book we find Travis McGee searching for a wealthy friend’s yacht which lands him in the epicenter of an international cocaine trade which makes him a target of some of the evilest villains he has ever met. While contemplating his mortality, he discovers the surprise behind the cat-shaped pipe cleaners that someone left at his door. Soon he must fight for his life and unravel the mysteries surrounding him.

If you love thriller novels, John D. MacDonald books will be an excellent addition to your book library.

When Does The Next John D. MacDonald book come out?

John D. MacDonald doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is What Christmas Did for Jerusha Grumble and was released on December, 19th 2019. It is the newest book in the John D. MacDonald Short Stories/Novellas.

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1 thought on “John D MacDonald”

  1. Well Duh – since JMacD died in 1986, anything written under his name after that year is probably not actually by JMacD himself. Beware the internet!

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