"John D. MacDonald was the great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller." --Stephen King

Travis McGee is looking forward to a "slob summer," spending his days as far away from danger as possible. But trouble has a way of finding him, no matter where he hides. An old friend, conned out of his life savings by his ex-wife, has tracked him down and is desperate for help. To get the money back and earn his usual fee, McGee will have to penetrate the Everglades--and the mind of a violently twisted grifter.

"John D. MacDonald was a writer way ahead of his time, and his Travis McGee books are as entertaining, insightful, and suspenseful today as the moment I first read them." --John Saul

McGee has never seen a man so changed by one year of life. Arthur Wilkinson had been an amiable and decent young man looking to invest some of his considerable inheritance in a marina enterprise. Then a pretty blonde named Wilma Ferner showed up. She was soon Mrs. Wilkinson, and it only took her a year to leave Arthur bankrupt and broken.

But what starts out as a simple job turns into a dangerous situation when McGee comes face-to-face with a quick-thinking and quicker-fisted foe in the Florida swamps. Now Arthur's fortune isn't the only thing on the line: this job may mean McGee's life.

"To diggers a thousand years from now, the works of John D. MacDonald would be a treasure on the order of the tomb of Tutankhamen." --Kurt Vonnegut