Emails With Sam Wiebe on Travis McGee and Dave Wakeland

I exchanged emails with Sam Wiebe concerning The Last Exile and Guns Across the River and his sleuth Dave Wakeland. The emails are below. It would be best to read the reviews before the emails. There are links to the reviews at the end of this post.

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Dear Sam,

It has been a few years since I wrote to you. On the Victoria Day Weekend, though it snowed two days I read The Last Exile. In the past couple of weeks I read Guns Across the River.

I attach a link to my review on the blog of The Last Exile and a copy of my review of Guns Across the River which I will be posting shortly.

As I read about Dave Wakeland acquiring a float home in the Sea Village at Granville Island I thought about Travis McGee in the series by John D. MacDonald.

Travis lives on the The Busted Flush, a pontoon houseboat, at a marina in Fort Lauderdale from the 1960’s to the 1980’s. Travis loves The Busted Flush.

The houseboat occasionally travels from the marina.

In past email exchanges you spoke of MacDonald and Robert B. Parker, the author of the Spenser series, being formative in your reading of crime fiction.

Reading Guns Across the River made me wonder if you were inspired by The Busted Flush in Dave getting a float home.

Both Travis and Dave get their water borne residences in unconventional ways.

Travis wins The Busted Flush in a poker game.

Dave gets his float home when its owners are murdered and outlaw motorcycle club leader, Terry Rhodes, appreciative of Dave’s efforts for the Exiles, arranges for Dave to get the multi-million dollar float home.

I have thought those float homes in real life at Granville Island would be amazing places to live but the practical side of me worries about maintenance. Travis is always fixing something on the houseboat. Do you know if float homes require a high level of maintenance?

I read on the Sea Village Marina website that:

The adults here are or have been employed in health care, telecommunications, construction, film, finance, consulting, sales and marketing and as artists. They include a tradesman, a professional Santa Claus, a Paddling Hall of Fame member, a contractor, two former toy company owners, a film director, and a Nobel Peace prize recipient. 

Dave should fit right in.

As I thought more about the two series I realized that I think of Dave as the Canadian nephew of Travis.

Each has a world weariness to their personalities. 

Both are philosophers with trenchant comments on the vagaries of life.

Each is a large physical man comfortable with physical confrontation.

They refuse to be intimidated even when discretion is well advised.

Both provoke reactions to advance investigations.

Neither is a young man. Dave is about to turn 40. Travis, a Korean war veteran, ages from his 30’s through to his 50’s during the series.

Love has been elusive for both of them. Travis never found a stable relationship. The odds are against Dave.

Thus I ask if Travis was in your mind as Dave became a character?

I had a touch of unease as I finished Guns Across the River on the future of Dave. Will there be more books featuring him? I hope there will be additional Wakeland adventures.

As usual, if you are able to respond and willing to have your response published I will include it in a post.

All the best.

Bill

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John D MacDonald is definitely an influence on me. The McGee series and his standalones mix brilliant character work and social criticism with a strong sense of place, namely Florida. MacDonald was my dad's favorite author, and I'm honoured by the comparison.

In another email to me Sam commented:

…. the houseboat was both a tip of the hat to Trav as well as a cool feature of Vancouver (when MacGyver filmed here, the character lived on a houseboat as well).

As to Wakeland's future, he's nothing if not resilient, and it's my hope to bring him back soon. I have a couple of good ideas for the next one, including sending him out of the country.  In the meantime I'm working on a standalone thriller, and my nonfiction book Shot in Vancouver, about the many films and TV shows filmed in BC, comes out this October. 

Best,

Sam

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Wiebe, Sam - (2015) - Last of the Independents and The Unhanged Arthur Award; (2016) - Invisible Dead and Sam Wiebe on His Sleuths; (2018) - Cut You Down and Sam Wiebe on Dave Wakeland; (2021) - Hell and Gone and A Vulnerable Tough Guy; (2023) - Sunset and Jericho; (2024) - Ocean Drive; (2026) - The Last Exile; (2026) Guns Across the River