Several years ago, reading a different McGee book, I winced at the casual sexism and chauvinistic attitude. And it's still there but for some reason it bothers me less now; perhaps it's easier for me to accept it as being of the time. MacDonald was an amazing storyteller, he had a great gift for setting a scene and letting his characters tell the story. He used Travis McGee a lot to vent about environmental damage in Florida...he'd have much to vent about now. I think Travis and Meyer have somewhat distinctive voices, but all his other characters tend to sound a bit alike. I was trying to decide if someone totally unfamiliar with the series could start here; I think so. I remember my first McGee novel was The Scarlet Ruse, which came out just before this one in 1973, and I wasn't lost (it was a tad adult for me at the time, but my parents weren't looking). And there's no cell phones, no web - any investigating is done with in person visits, fake business cards, letters and phone calls.

In this novel, a newly married woman, long-time friends with McGee, calls from Hawaii for help - she thinks she's either going crazy or her husband is trying to kill her. McGee takes a quick look and finds no reason for alarm, tells her she's just having second thoughts about the marriage - maybe it wasn't the right thing to do. But back in Florida, he starts to have some doubts, and soon realizes he was very wrong. But the couple is now far out at sea, there's nothing to be done until their next port of call. He's fretting to his friend Meyer, and Meyer isn't very comforting:

"She could be face down right now, off a lovely atoll, drifting down and down into that incredible turquoise blue, with Howie squatting and watching her sink, his only lament a vague disappointment at having to give up something of about the same pleasure quotient as a chocolate bar."

Can't you just see that? MacDonald sure knew how to put a picture in your head. Good book.

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