Deep Blue Good-by

The first book of the Travis McGee series. Touched by Cathy Kerr, a simple back-woods woman who has been robbed of everything but her dignity, Travis agrees to try to recover her plundered inheritance. But first he needs to find out how her father managed to hustle his way into big money while flight-crewing around the Far East during WWII. And how the stash got smuggled in, where it was hidden, and how to get it back from the predator who tracked it down. This quest takes Travis off on a prowl among the Texas gaudy noveau riche, and also to Manhattan where he gets a crash course in the business of smuggling and fencing gemstones. (description courtesy of The Travis McGee Series by John D. MacDonald, home.earthlink.net/~rufener)