History
Travis McGee, as readers of John D. MacDonald’s mysteries know, was the fictional character who lived aboard his 52 foot houseboat, the “Busted Flush” at slip F-18 at Bahia Mar marina, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
An adventurer, philosopher, and reluctant hero, Travis McGee worked as a “salvage consultant” doing unofficial favours for friends, retrieving stolen goods or finding missing people, but only when the cash in his hidden safe ran low.
John D. MacDonald was an American fiction writer whose mystery and science-fiction works were published in more than 70 books. He is best remembered for his series of 24 crime novels featuring the private investigator Travis McGee. MacDonald served in World War II in the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the CIA and started publishing novels in the 1950s.
The name Busted Flush comes from a poker game in which Travis won the boat from an unfortunate millionaire who only had four of the requisite five cards and tried to bluff Travis.
MacDonald died in 1986 after writing 78 books and countless short stories. He is still regarded as the father of Florida mystery authors which came about years ago in a time when the Sunshine State was a far cry from a literary focus. There are more than 40 mystery authors with ties to Florida today.
Paul Levine, author of a series of Miami-based private detective novels, pointed out that the boat-bum McGee character had been captured by television through Jim Rockford in "The Rockford Files" and Thomas Magnum in "Magnum, P.I."
"Rockford was Travis, except he lived in a trailer next to the beach in California," Levine said. "Magnum was Travis, except in Hawaii. He even shared Travis's initials - T.M.
"We all steal from John D.," Levine added with reluctant nods from the other authors present."