It only takes one word to get Travis McGee to leave the sunny deck of his houseboat in Ft. Lauderdale for the gray cold of Chicago. The word is help, and it's uttered by Glory Geis, an old girlfriend of McGee's and the pretty young widow of world-renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Fortner Geis. The trouble is, the good doctor converted his considerable estate into cash before he died. But where he stashed it, no one knows.

"John D. MacDonald was the great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller."--Stephen King

Although everyone from the IRS to Dr. Geis's greedy grown children suspects that Glory is hiding the lost fortune, she hasn't a clue as to its whereabouts. To prove her innocence, she must find the money and the culprits who stole it. Enter McGee, for one of the most challenging salvages of his career.

How do you extort $600,000 from a dying man? Someone must have done it very quietly and skillfully. While untangling the mess of Dr. Geis's last days, McGee makes a startling discovery: Some folks would love nothing better than to bring down the whole family--by any means necessary. But McGee is starting to actually like a few members of the Geis clan--and he vows to bring the guilty to justice.

Features a new Introduction by Lee Child