Akron Public Library

Travis McGees taking his retirement in installments while hes still young enough to enjoy it. But sooner or later, his money runs out and he has to work. This time McGees 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 does...

"Around four in the morning, Travis McGee is jarred awake by a breathless ghost from his past: an old flame who needs a place to stash a package full of cash. What's in it for McGee? Ten grand and no questions asked. Two weeks later, she's dead. Carolyn Milligan was only aboard McGee's boat for one night. She came to drop off a hundred grand for safekeeping. What Carrie really needed was someone to keep her safe. She said she'd be back in a month....

Hired to find the person who killed an ailing tycoon with his bare hands, Travis McGee must contend with the tycoon's disinherited artist son and his aging actress wife.

He's a self-described beach bum who won his houseboat in a card game. He's also a knight errant who's wary of credit cards, retirement benefits, political parties, mortgages, and television. He only works when his cash runs out and his rule is simple: he'll help you find whatever was taken from you, as long as he can keep half.

Some rare stamps, a generously endowed woman, and a syndicate killer serve to distract McGee from his beloved houseboat.