"He had done a big favor for her husband, then for the lady herself. Now she's 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 young troubled mind?"--P. [4] of cover.

"Travis McGee's old football buddy Tush Bannon is resisting pressure to sell off his floundering motel and marina to a group of influential movers and shakers. Then he's found dead. For a big man, Tush was a pussycat: devoted to his wife and three kids and always optimistic about his business--even when things were at their worst. So even though his death is ruled a suicide, McGee suspects murder . . . and a vile conspiracy"--P. [4] of cover.

Travis McGee is unnerved when he receives an unexpected guest-real estate developer Harry Broll, who is convinced that McGee is hiding his missing wife. Angry and jealous, Harry gets off a shot before McGee can wrestle his gun away. The thing is, McGee hastn't seen of heard from Mary Broll in three years, and it isn't like her to keep troubles to herself-if she's alive to tell them.

"She's the opposite of a damsel in distress: a famous movie star, very beautiful, very much in control of her life. She's just made one little mistake and now she needs Travis McGee to set it right. The money is good and Travis's funds are in need of replenishing. But that's not the only reason he takes the case. There is the movie star's assistant--efficient and reserved, with a sadness underneath that makes McGee feel he'd brave any danger to help...

Travis McGee's 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. Mona is in love with a poor, young college professor and married to a wealthy man whom she is convinced is stealing from her trust fund. So she...

"An off-duty Coast Guardsman is fishing with his family when he calls in some suspicious behavior from a nearby boat. It's a snazzy craft, slick and outfitted with extra horsepower, and is zipping along until it slows to pick up a surfaced diver... a diver who was apparently alone, without his own boat, in the middle of the ocean. None of it makes sense unless there's something hinky going on, and his hunch is proved right when all three Guardsmen...