#bright orange for the shroud

Travis McGee #6

by John D. MacDonald

Travis McGee had planned a lazy summer, but an acquaintance stumbled onto his houseboat, The Busted Flush, more dead than alive, and McGee was obligated to care for him and then persuaded to help the man regain his life savings from the group of con artists who had wiped him out.

The first chapter creates the atmosphere and the next couple of chapters detail the scheme by which Arthur had been conned out of his money, using a blonde sexpot as bait. And then we get into the heart of the matter: the means by which Trav will execute revenge, con the cons, and retrieve the money, half of which he will keep—a sort of finder’s fee.

MacDonald is a master storyteller.