John D. MacDonald's first four Travis McGee novels were all released in 1964. This was the first, introducing Fort Lauderdale salvage artist McGee, his houseboat the "Busted Flush", and "Miss Alice", his old Rolls-Royce turned pickup truck. Making her first appearance is the choreographer, Chookie, who will reappear from time to time later in the series. The plot: to recover the plundered inheritance of backwoods-woman Cathy Kerr, Travis must trace a trail from Texas to Manhattan (where he gets a crash course in the methods of bootlegging gemstones) to find out how his client's father's fortune was acquired, before he can determine how to separate it from Cathy's traducer, Junior Allen.