Fletch Won is the eighth book in the Fletch

Fletch (novel)

Fletch is a 1974 mystery novel by Gregory Mcdonald, the first in a series featuring the character Irwin Maurice Fletcher.-Plot introduction:...

 series of mystery/comedy novels written by Gregory Mcdonald

Gregory Mcdonald

Gregory Mcdonald was an American mystery writer best known for his character Irwin Maurice Fletcher, an investigative reporter otherwise known as "Fletch." Fletch was later played by Chevy Chase in the movie of the same name...

, and was published in 1985. The story is set before the first seven books in the series, and follows the early days of the title character's journalism

Journalism

Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...

 career. Fletch scores his first big interview, only to have the subject turn up dead in the newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

's parking lot. He investigates, beginning his dual profession of journalist and investigator

Detective

A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...

.

A film adaptation of the novel has been in development for some time with a number of different persons attached.

Plot summary

During what is effectively a prequel, Fletch has only been at the News-Tribune as a junior reporter for a short time and Frank (his editor) is losing respect for his new employee. Frank moves Fletch to a different section of the newspaper more than once, but Fletch continues to cause trouble. When Fletch is to run the story of local lawyer Donald Habeck, who requests an interview in order to announce that he is giving 5 million dollars to a local museum, the lawyer turns up dead in the News-Tribune parking lot.

Unsurprisingly Frank takes Fletch off the story and gives it to an experienced reporter who has been with the paper for years. Fletch is now charged with investigating a whorehouse—which he does. However, he is not about to give up on the Habeck story, the circumstances of which seem mighty suspicious, especially when Fletch starts to suspect that the legal firm Habeck worked for is one of the most crooked firms around.

Characters

• I. M. Fletcher (Fletch) – protagonist
• Frank Jaffe – Fletch's editor at the paper
• Donald Habeck – a lawyer, killed in the newspaper parking lot.

Release details

• 1985, USA, Warner Books (ISBN 0-446-51325-3), Pub date ? ? 1985, hardback (First edition)
• 1985, USA, Gollancz (ISBN 0-575-03726-1), Pub date ? ? 1985, hardback
• 1988, USA, Outlet (ISBN 0-517-64797-4), Pub date ? April 1988, hardback
• 1989, USA, Warner Books (ISBN 0-446-34095-2), Pub date 31 December 1989, paperback
• 1993, USA, Thorndike Press (ISBN 0-89621-677-2), Pub date ? December 1993, hardback (Large Print edition)
• 2002, USA, Vintage Books (ISBN 0-375-71352-2), Pub date ? July 2002, paperback