Again McGee switched hardcover publishers for this last novel of the series; it was first published by Knopf. The copper-skinned beauty of the previous book is gone; another bird flown somewhere to be part of her own adventure. Trav seems to be up to his neck in the usual bad guys; murderers, rapists, drug profiteers, real-estate dev- no, wait, there's an honorable real-estate developer in this one...there's one in every state, I bet...he wants McGee to find out who stole his yacht. When it turns up, it's full of bodies...dead ones. McGee gets another price on his head and fights his way out, as usual.
The old gang at Bahia Mar is breaking up; the Alabama Tiger's nonstop party is over, his boat bought and sold. Travis, a Korean War vet, is feeling his age. McGee didn't die after this last novel...that couldn't happen...but his creator did, the year after it was published. There's a surprise at the end...I have no idea what it is...that, along with the general good-bye-to-all-that theme, hints MacD knew this might be the last McGee adventure.
There's a plaque at the Bahia Mar marina where the Busted Flush once lay at anchor. Travis McGee has moved on to some other marina, some other time, but he's still around. The rain is as lonely as ever out there at the end of the dock, where the horizon of human tenderness meets the endless face of evil. Count on it.