I enjoyed Travis McGee until I was about thirty or so. Then I started wishing he would just grow up already.
I looked up The Deep Blue Goodbye on Google and found a Wikipedia page with this quote:
“As a chronicler of the cultural Zeitgeist, MacDonald has been compared favorably with Charles Dickens.”
So there you go. 
Both that and A Tan And Sandy Silence are pretty good and representative of the series.
I see that The Deep Blue Goodbye is going to be made into a movie, to supposedly come out next year. McGee fans should be wary of this development, as the few attempts to capitalize on the series have never resulted in a decent movie. Part of the problem is finding someone to play a believable McGee. If they pick Leonardo Dicaprio, forget about it.
Yeah. And get a job in a cubicle. And pick up some heart-healthy Dijon Salmon at Trader Joe’s on his way home to the housing development, sticking to 7 mph over the limit in his Prius.
Oh, wait, that’s MY life…
Okay, that’s it. I’m going to get new business cards printed, with “Salvage Consultant” on them. <–(Like T. McGee)
And btw, what actor WOULD be a good Travis? James Dean? Steve McQueen? Early Harrison Ford? Could even* they* match my mental image? Probably not...
(If "TPTB" would cast Keanu as John Constantine, I am afraid of a Leonardo, or another too-pretty, too-young lightweight...)I know it seems a little like the flavor of the week, but how about Jon Hamm? Something about his portrayal of Don Draper (particularly in the episode with the Korean conflict flashback) reminds me of McGee.
Yeah, I’m trying to imagine him bulked up a bit… and baked by years of too much sun and dames and seeing too much of the seamy side.
Wow, I’ve never written *noir *before…
I’m a huge Travis fan. One of the classic crime fiction series. McGee is a worthy successor to Lew Archer. He has the same solipsism/self-deprecation thing going, but he’s not so damn dour. He enjoys life way more than Lew ever did.
The datedness of the series is a real draw for me. One of the things serial genre fiction can deliver much better than literary fiction, when well-written of course, is a sense of place. Macdonald not only creates a wonderful sense of what old Florida was like, before being devastated by development, but he also presents 60s America in all its messy moral and social growth spurt. It’s great stuff.
I’ve enjoyed the Travis McGee novels for many years.
I note in the OP that you’re looking for more detective stories, I would recommend the Harry Bosch series of novels by Michael Connelly. There are 12-13 of them, starting in 1992. They’re pretty decent.
Big fan of Travis McGee here - as well as Scudder, Dortmunder, and Rhodenbarr.
I very much enjoyed reading the McGee (and Scudder) books in order. On at least a couple of occasions characters turn up or do things in the later books that somewhat give away things in the earlier ones.
A series I just recently started - and am quite geeked about - is Lee Child’s Jack Reacher books. Man, if you think Travis McGee is a stud, I can’t imagine what would hapen if he tangled with Jack! 
I’d get one of the earlier ones. Toward the end I think he was just wrapping them out.
Ohh. And be sure to read one of the books that has a color in the title.
I would nominate Tom Selleck for the role. Should be almost perfect.
Lord, no.
Steve MCQueen, were he alive and younger.
I’d read them in order because of Meyer, but it’s not terribly important.
McGee isn’t Superman, he makes mistakes, when he get shot it hurts. And while coincidence occurs, sometimes it is for the worst.
Enjoy.
Another ghastly thought about casting Travis McGee - is Edward Norton still available, after his tour de force in “Red Dragon”?
Now there was a triumph of horrendous miscasting. The Will Graham character was supposed to be a tormented genius who had seen the abyss. Norton gives the impression of never even going over a pothole.
Where are they going to find a believable 6’5 actor who looks like he’s been “there and back”? More likely it’ll be some shrimp who has to take on a villain like Danny DeVito to maintain the proper size ratio.
Meyer is easier. We just climb into Sherman’s Wayback Machine and go snatch Theodore Bikel in his prime (or a little past his prime, to guarantee the proper heft). Theo will still have to pass a key screen test - eating a cracker garnished with Meyer’s Superior Cocktail Dip* without leaping four feet into the air.
*as I remember, this consisted of dry Chinese mustard moistened to the proper consistency with Tabasco sauce.