McGee’s Little Black Book

Let’s Face It–The Dude Got Around…

Salvage consultant, beach bum, tarnished knight errant…and slut! It’s no secret that John D. MacDonald‘s Travis McGee got around. But someone actually took the time to sit down and compile a list.

According to Jay Pearsall, in his delightful book, Mystery & Crime: The New York Public Library Book of Answers, in the twenty-one McGee books “there is reference (or strong evidence of) ol’ dawg Travis sleeping with around fifty-three women — plus a few ‘ladies.'”

Here they are…

• Lolly (Travis’ first sexual experience, at sixteen, was with this “loud chubby”)
• Susan
• Missy
• Theresa
• Lois Atkinson
• Molly Bea Archer
• Cathy Kerr
• Joanie
• Nina Gibson
• Isobel Webb
• Mary “Skeeter” Keith
• Dana Holtzer
• Niki
• “Junebug” Proctor
• Betty O’Donnell Borlika
• Nora Gardino
• Felicia Novaro
• Constance Melgar
• Vidge
• Merrimay Lane
• Heidi Geis Trumbill
• Gloria “Glory” Doyle
• Jean “Puss” Killian
  This one’s of special interest, because she supposedly had a child by Travis, who shows up in The Lonely Silver Rain, the last McGee novel. And then there’s the strange case of Jean Pearson…
• Helena Pearson
• Penelope Woertz
• Mary Catherine
• Janice Holton
• Mary Lo Ching
• Maria Amparo Celestina Rodriguez De La Vega
• Lady Rebecca Diven-Harrison
• Elena Del Vega
• Betsy Kapp
• Mary Dillon
• Jillian Brent-Archer
• Teddie
• Jeannie Dolan
• Mary Alice McDermott
• Linda Lewellen Brindle
• Marian Lewandowski
• R.N. Cindy Birdsong
• Billy Jean Bailey
• Sister Stella
• Gretel Tuckerman Howard
• Lady Vivian Stanley-Tucker
• Annie Renzetti (the hotel manager in Cinnamon Skin)

AS WELL, TRAVIS MENTIONS, BUT DOESN’T NAME:

• an heiress in Las Vegas
• Sir Thomas’ wife
• a stewardess
• a school teacher
• two tourist ladies
• an Avon lady
• a hostess at Beef’n’It

Respectfully swiped by Kevin Burton Smith from Jay Pearsall’s awesome Mystery & Crime: The New York Public Library Book of Answers, with a few additions, incluing a couple from Travis fan Dan McKeown.