John D MacDonald

Any movie with Lysa Dean's names in it was a box-office smash. And any compromising photographs of the famous actress were bound to be big money-earners for anyone disposed to blackmail. And somebody obviously was that way inclined - Travis McGee just had to find out who. There were two difficulties: the notes accompanying the photos seemed to be products of a particularly sick, twisted mind; and the other people in the pictures started turning up...

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.

"Nineteen of [King's] most unsettling short pieces: bizarre tales of dark doings and unthinkable acts from the twilight regions where horror and madness take on eerie, unearthly forms, where noises in the walls and shadows by the bed are always signs of something dreadful on the prowl"--Dust flap.

"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....

Corporate intrigue prevails at major industrial convention where jobs are at stake and hatchetmen, hookers, cheating husbands, and ambitious wives all have their day--but not everyone comes out a winner.