The Lonely Silver Rain (1985) by John MacDonald

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

The Lonely Silver Rain (1985)

by John MacDonald

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Florida: 13/21

   Florida is a strong chapter in the 1,001 Novels: A Library of America project, led by the detective/police procedural titles.  The Lonely Silver Rain is a fine example of the genre, the last book in his Travis McGee- boat bum and private investigator for all things South Florida. If you look at the associated map, you will see that almost half of the Florida titles are concentrated on a swath of coastline that runs from Fort Lauderdale in the North down to the immigrant heavy suburbs south of Miami.   I often find myself musing that the noir/crime caper book is the best use of the 1,001 Novels project because the always specifically address a place in the United States.   The requirements of the genre mean that the characters move around in the landscape- few books from these titles involve characters who spend the whole book in a square mile of geographical area. 

  The plot in The Lonely Silver Rain starts with a stolen yacht and embroils McGee in a plot with cocaine smugglers, money launderers and undercover DEA Agents.  Fun stuff. I'd be down to read/listen to more John MacDonald in the same way reading an Elmore Leonard book makes me want to read other Elmore Leonard books.