"John D. MacDonald created a staggering quantity of wonderful books, each rich with characterization, suspense, and an almost intoxicating sense of place." -- Jonathan Kellerman

Travis McGee is taking his retirement in installments while he's still young enough to enjoy it. But sooner or later, his money runs out and he has to work. This time McGee's lured out West to a strangely secretive meeting with a woman in trouble, in a place whose beauty hides some ugly, dangerous secrets.

"There's only one thing as good as reading a John D. MacDonald novel: reading it again." -- John Saul

Mona is in love with a poor young college professor and married to a wealthy man who she is convinced is stealing from her trust fund. So she does what any self-respecting girl would do: she hires someone to steal her money back so she can run away with the love of her life.

McGee isn't sure he wants to help out until he sees Mona getting shot and killed out on the cliffs near her cabin. Now he's a lead suspect in a plot to help her escape, and to clear his name he needs to get to the bottom of things. But the murders just keep mounting, and for McGee, even working with Mona's husband doesn't seem to help matters. Will he be able to uncover the complex plot in time to save his own skin?

"One of the great sagas in American fiction." -- Robert B. Parker