Gregory Mcdonald: Confess, Fletch (USA 2018)

From the Publisher:
"Formalism matters in the mystery novel. Breaking rules and flying in the face of convention can have its rewards, but most avid readers of crime will tell you that nothing satisfies like that tale that falls within the well-marked boundaries of its genre. Confess, Fletch, Gregory McDonald's second novel featuring the intrepid wiseass Irwin Maurice Fletcher, is a mystery that takes its cues from the golden age of detective fiction: it features a naked corpse in a locked room, a disparate list of morally challenged suspects, and even introduces an eccentric police detective, an enormous Irish cop with a penchant for chamomile tea and Bach. That he balances these elements within the framework of a Fletch novel shows how good McDonald, who died earlier this year, was when he on the top of his game. Among McDonald's books, Confess, Fletch is second only to its predecessor Fletch, and fans of traditional mysteries might easily find it to be the best." -- Pop Matters

Now a major motion picture starring Jon Hamm as Fletch!

Offering up brisk, tightly written plots and a stellar cast of characters both new and old, Confess, Fletch finds our incorrigible protagonist back in deep waters once again.

Fletch, now newly engaged and happily living out his days in Italy, finds himself embroiled in yet another scandal. His soon-to-be father-in-law has been kidnapped and is now presumed dead, and the priceless collection of rare art that belongs to his fiancée's family has been stolen.

Ever the investigative reporter, he receives a tip about the missing art that lands him in Boston, where he walks right into a murder scene in his apartment. What clearly looks like a setup to the unfazed Fletch looks quite different to the detective assigned to the case, Mr. Francis Xavier Flynn. But even if the case is seemingly cut-and-dry, Flynn is reluctant to arrest the only suspect that stands before him.

Now under the detective's watchful eye, Fletch must try to clear his name and search for the missing paintings, all while his gorgeous future mother-in-law works to persuade him for help the best way she knows how -- seduction.

Gregory Mcdonald: Confess, Fletch. Blackstone Publishing, ISBN: 9781538541937 (August, 2018), 270 p., $15.99.

Gregory Mcdonald: Confess, Fletch (USA 2002)

From the Publisher:
Confess, Fletch
The flight from Rome had been pleasant enough, even if the business he was on wasn't exactly. His Italian fiancé's father had been kidnapped and presumably murdered, and Fletch is on the trail of a stolen art collection that is her only patrimony. But when he arrives in his apartment to find a dead body, things start to get complicated.

Confess, Fletch
Inspector Flynn found him a little glib for someone who seemed to be the only likely suspect in a pretty clear case of homicide. He wasn't exactly uncooperative, but it wasn't like he was entirely forthcoming either. And Flynn wasn't entirely convinced that the nineteenth-century Western artist Edgar Arthur Tharp really occupied most of Fletch's thoughts.

Confess, Fletch
With the police on his tail and a few other things to do beside prove his own innocence, Fletch makes himself at home in Boston, renting a van, painting it black, and breaking into a private art gallery. That is when he's not “entertaining” his future mother-in-law and visiting with the good Inspector Flynn and his family.

Gregory Mcdonald: Confess, Fletch. Vintage Books, ISBN: 0375713484 (March, 2002), 192 p., $12.00.

Gregory Mcdonald: Confess, Fletch (UK 1979)

From the Publisher:
"Mister Fletcher, you say you fly into a strange city, go to an apartment you're borrowing, and first night there you find a gorgeous naked girl you've never seen before in your life murdered on the living room rug?"
"Yes," said Fletch.
Inspector Flynn leaned forward in his chair.
"Do I take it you're not going to confess immediately to this crime?"

Gregory Mcdonald
author of the
Edgar Award-winning
FLETCH

You're cool Fletch. You're witty, sophisticated and completely irresistible. Your new assignment is to track down a multimillion-dollar art heist.
CONFESS, FLETCH

But there's this lovely dead blonde in your apartment, and all the evidence points to only one person...
CONFESS, FLETCH

And you don't think you did it. The police think otherwise, so you'd better find the murderer yourself, or else...
CONFESS, FLETCH

Gregory Mcdonald: Confess, Fletch. Hamlyn, ISBN: 0600320219 (May, 1979), 205 p., 90p.

Gregory Mcdonald: Confess, Fletch (UK 1977)

From the Publisher:
Fletch, hero of Fletch, is "pretty terrific: brilliant, perverse, resourceful, ruthless, wickedly mischievous and always intriguing" (Oxford Times); and his debut was hailed as a "tour de force of sardonic humour" (Birmingham Post), "inventive, fast-moving, witty and wise" (Sunday Telegraph), "an original... highly recommended" (Sunday Times). "This fizzy teaser won America's Edgar Allan Poe award; you can see why," H. R. F. Keating said in The Times.

Fletch's amoral ending suggested that, alas, we might have seen the last of its hero. But not a bit of it: now he bounces back, as outrageous as ever. He is living in Italy, on his illgotten wealth, and engaged to a Count's daughter, and he returns to the States to investigate the theft of the Count's priceless collection of paintings. One or two of the lost paintings are appearing in the catalogues of a very reputable Boston art dealer, and it's to Boston that Fletch flies.

He leaves his luggage in his borrowed apartment, goes out for a meal, and when he returns, there's a murdered girl in the living-room. He phones the police (this is the novel's opening page), and Inspector Flynn arrives on the scene. Flynn is the book's magnificent bonus. A highly unconventional policeman (with a top-secret Intelligence background), he is the perfect foil to Fletch. In scene after scene they delicately spar, the honours sometimes going to the one, sometimes to the other. Meanwhile, Fletch's private activities grow stranger and stranger: why, for instance, has he bought a small van, illegally changed its number plates, and covered it with graffiti?

The answers are ingenious, the denouement is astonishing, and Flynn and Fletch are the friendliest of adversaries to the last page. Flynn is soon to be given a novel to himself, as he richly deserves; but meanwhile, here's another superb thriller, inventive, fast-paced, teasingly light-hearted.

With this book Gregory Mcdonald wins his second Edgar Allan Poe Award for the Best Mystery Novel of its year (1976) published in the U.S.A. His previous novel, Fletch, also won an Edgar. Gregory Mcdonald thus becomes the first author to win the award with both a novel and its sequel.

Gregory Mcdonald: Confess, Fletch. A Sequel to "Fletch". Gollancz, ISBN: 0575023465 (September, 1977), 205 p., £4.25.

Gregory Mcdonald: Confess, Fletch (USA 1976)

From the Publisher:
"Mister Fletcher, you say you fly into a strange city, go to an apartment you're borrowing, and first night there you find a gorgeous naked girl you've never seen before in your life murdered on the livingroom rug?"
"Yes," said Fletch.
Inspector Flynn leaned forward in his chair.
"Do I take it you're not going to confess immediately to this crime?"

CONFESS, FLETCH
Irwin Fletcher, a.k.a. Peter Fletcher or whatever name might prove convenient. Back from Europe with another promise of marriage, a mysterious death, and a fortune in lost paintings behind him.

CONFESS, FLETCH
What appears to be a simple apartment swap turns into a web of intrigue when Fletch finds the flat over-decorated with a beautiful corpse.

CONFESS, FLETCH
All the evidence points out that only one person could have committed the crime, and Fletch doesn't think he did it. The police think differently, though, and if Fletch won't confess, he'll need to find the murderer, himself.

"CONFESS, FLETCH
is both tough and tender, beautifully paced and often very funny. I did enjoy it." -- DOROTHY SALISBURY DAVIS

Gregory Mcdonald: Confess, Fletch. The New Suspense Blockbuster by the Author of Fletch. Avon Books #30882, ISBN: 0380008149 (November, 1976), 205 p., $1.75.