A Deadly Shade of Gold

A Deadly Shade of Gold is one of the most sprawling of John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee books, as McGee's investigation of an old friend's murder takes him on a cross-continent trip from New York City to Beverly Hills with a stop in Mexico along the way. The book is about twice as long as a typical McGee novel, which gives MacDonald a chance to stretch out his character development (I especially liked Nora, one of MacDonald's strongest ever female characters) and to include a larger amount of cultural commentary. Some of the story's threads may not fully hold together but this is another very well written crime novel.