Book Review: Fletch and the Man Who

Book Review: Fletch and the Man Who by Gregory McDonald

It’s still early in the presidential primary process, but Governor Caxton Wheeler’s campaign has already hit a road bump. His long-time press representative had to be let go due to a feud with Mrs. Wheeler. A fresh new face has to be found to deal with the scoop-thirsty reporters in the press bus. Governor Wheeler’s son Walsh Caxton remembers that he knows a reporter from outside politics that might be willing to help out. Irwin Maurice Fletcher, I.M. Fletcher professionally, and “Fletch” to his friends and many enemies, served under Walsh in ‘Nam and didn’t wind up hating him.

Fletch is barely in the door of the hotel the campaign is in tonight when the next bump happens. A naked woman jumps from the roof above the suite where the governor is staying. The pattern of wounds suggest maybe she was pushed instead, and maybe it wasn’t from the roof, but the executive suite’s balcony. Part of Fletch’s job will be making sure the press understands that the woman’s death had nothing to do with the campaign.

This is not helped by Fletch recognizing one of the press corps, Fredericka Arbuthnot. They trade barbs, but Freddie is one of the reporters Fletch kind of respects. On the other hand, her beat is crime, so why is Freddie attached to the campaign press detail?

Turns out no one bothered to tell Fletch that this isn’t the first woman to turn up dead in a hotel the campaign was also in. The cops didn’t think it was related, but Freddie smelled a story. There’s a lot of people following the campaign around; press, volunteers, staffers…and the governor’s family. If one of them is a serial killer, it’s news!

Fletch isn’t entirely convinced the murders are connected to each other or the campaign, but he can spin the truth better if he knows what the truth is, so he starts investigating while also doing his bit for the Wheeler White House bid. Is there really a killer, and if so, can Fletch find them before they kill again?

This is the sixth Fletch book, and the first I’ve actually read. Fletch is a fun protagonist, snarky and cynical enough to understand that political campaigns are as much stage production as they are a legitimate enterprise, but idealistic enough that he’d like to elect a president who will actually do good for America. He may keep a cool exterior, but sincerely cares about people, sometimes too much for his own good.

Caxton Wheeler doesn’t seem to be based on any specific politician. His party is never mentioned, nor specific positions on real-life issues (he finds a good issue during the course of the book that cleverly evades mapping onto a real-world political position.) He doesn’t seem to be a monster (barring maybe being a serial killer) but he’s no great man either, and has a few secrets.

There are a number of secrets floating around to keep Fletch guessing as to what’s important and what’s just secrets. The Soviet reporter, for example. Is he really just spending all his nights watching pay per view porn? Mrs. Wheeler is tall, very strong, and has a nasty temper–is she taking it out on random women? The governor’s chauffeur killed a man once, did you know?

There’s a tense chapter towards the end where Fletch finally puts all the pieces together and must get through a packed final rally before death strikes again.

Content note: Gendered slurs come up several times, including by Fletch, and are never called out. Abortion is mentioned a couple of times, mostly as an issue some voters care about, but once in a crass joke. It’s suggested that some of the women volunteers following the campaign are doing so to get laid. Fletch attempts to woo Freddie at a time when this would be a conflict of interest on both their parts.

The relative lightness of the treatment and the avoidance of specific political issues mean this book doesn’t make it into the tense political thriller category, but there’s certainly enough political truth here to satisfy the casual reader. This book does not require you to have read the previous volumes to be understood, so if you want to skip straight to it, that’d be okay.

Recommended to fans of snarky reporters.

And there’s a Fletch movie starring Chevy Chase!