I suppose it’s unfair to spend so much time comparing an original novel to a Hollywood-ized movie treatment, but it’s just not possible for me to escape that here.

Just be aware that while the story does resemble that of the movie, the experience is totally different. The point here is this - I highly recommend reading Fletch if you’re into investigative fiction.

The former feels like a character from the grittier early ’70s, while the latter is clearly a product of the glittery mid-’80s. Chase’s Fletch is mostly a vehicle to deliver deadpan jokes and comebacks (“It’s all ball bearings nowadays!”). Mcdonald’s character has depth, interesting backstory, and an apparent - if not skewed - sense of morality. Really what separates book Fletch from movie Fletch is substance. Fletcher is still quick with a comeback, and the ending reveal of how he so effortlessly manipulated his bosses, his ex-wives, and their lawyers is both cruel and hilarious. It wasn’t a huge stretch to turn this material into an admittedly dry screwball comedy, after all. She dies at his place and he buries her in a sleeping bag on the beach.īut it’s not all dark. Fletch carries on a quasi-romantic relationship with a teenage runaway who is addicted to smack and has turned to prostitution for drug money. As you might be able to glean from some of the plot differences, Mcdonald’s novel is considerably darker than the movie. OK, now that that’s out of the way, let’s rap. Although nothing in the movie contradicts this outright, I assume it’s not the case. Novel Fletch is a former Marine and was awarded the Bronze Star.In the book, Fletch is close to a female teenage runaway who is addicted to heroin.Stanwyk in the book is carrying on an affair with a former employee of the aviation company he runs.Also, Sally has a young son from another man. In the book, Stanwyk’s parents live in Pennsylvania, as does Sally Cavanaugh.Fletch has mutliple ex-wives in the novel, but just one in the movie.Stanwyk still dies at the end, but only because he was mistaken for Fletch by the chief. In perhaps the biggest divergence, the Alan Stanwyk/drug-dealing police chief storylines are both present in the novel but are totally unrelated.Frank in the book goes beyond slightly bumbling into outright incompetent and an alcoholic.And in the book she is sleeping with Frank the editor. The Geena Davis movie role (Larry) is named Clara Snow in the book, and Fletch has a rather hostile relationship with her.Book Fletch is a blonde, not dark-haired like Chevy Chase.

Fletch novels