The Travis McGee novels are among the finest works of fiction ever penned by an American author. Jonathan Kellerman

He had done a big favor for her husband, then for the lady herself. Now shes dead, and Travis McGee finds that Helena Pearson Trescott had one last request of him: to find out why her beautiful daughter Maureen keeps trying to kill herself. But what can a devil-may-care beach bum do for a troubled young mind?

McGee makes his way to the prosperous town of Fort Courtney, Florida, where he realizes pretty quickly that somethings just not right. Not only has Maureens doctor killed herself, but a string of murders and suicides are piling upand no one seems to have any answers.

Just when it seems that things cant get any stranger, McGee becomes the lead suspect in the murder of a local nurse. As if Maureen didnt have enough problems, the man on a mission to save her will have to save himself firstbefore time runs out.

John D. MacDonald is the all-time master of the American mystery novel. John Saul

I envy the generation of readers just discovering Travis McGee, and count myself among the many readers savoring his adventures again. Sue Grafton