Gregory Mcdonald (February 15, 1937 – September 7, 2008) was an American writer best known for his mystery adventures featuring investigative reporter Irwin Maurice "Fletch" Fletcher.
While working as a high school teacher, he wrote and published his first novel, Running Scared (1964), a dramatic story of a college student's suicide.
[1] His first mystery novel, Fletch, published in 1974, introduced the titular character, an ex-Marine who becomes a wisecracking, womanizing California-based investigative reporter adept at undercover work.
In addition, Mcdonald wrote two mysteries set in Tennessee in the Skylar series and a number of non-series (and non-mystery) novels.
In the mid-1980s, he moved to Pulaski, Tennessee,[2] where he bought an antebellum farm and became involved in local politics, specifically anti-Klan work.