Black Flies

Macduff has arrived alone at the Florida cottage as the book opens. He learns that about the time he left Montana for Florida, a Master Casting Instructor named Arthur Spence was found dead in the creek in Cascade Canyon at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. He was found under water and when pulled ashore had a black fly tied around his neck. The Wyoming Attorney General enters the picture, for ambitious political reasons he attempts to make Macduff the scapegoat in the death of Spence in Cascade Canyon, even though Macduff had left for Florida before the body was found. Lucinda arrives in Florida, after eighteen months of abduction, to surprise Macduff at Thanksgiving dinner.Macduff is curious about Spence but more concerned about his wife Lucinda, who had been abducted by her former spouse Robert Ellsworth-Kent. His body was found washed ashore at Abaco in the Bahamas and an unidentified woman’s body also was found on the beach. To Macduff’s relief it was not Lucinda, who he soon learns is in a Bahamas hospital. She suffers from months of hypnosis and he may not be able to see her for six months.To keep busy, Macduff goes to the annual meeting of an international fly casting organization in Crystal River, Florida. He wants to take a lesson from the principal guest instructor, Master Casting Instructor Rachel Hart. About the time Macduff leaves the next day after his lesson and dinner with Hart, tragedy strikes at the Crystal River lodging and another black fly is found around the victim’s neck.Macduff learns that a man named Covington had helped Ellsworth-Kent hide and keep Lucinda hypnotized and, with the help of Macduff’s CIA friend, Dan Wilson, plan tos deal with Covington.The Citrus County, Florida, chief investigator begins to investigate and suspects Macduff for the death of Hart at the program at Crystal River. The investigator wants Macduff to come to Citrus County for questioning.Lucinda and Macduff head to Montana in April, with Wyoming authorities seeking to arrest him. The couple avoid going to Wyoming, instead fish some of their favorite places and try to allow Lucinda to slowly recover from her abduction. But another tragedy awaits them up Mill Creek and a third black fly plays a role.Always curious about deaths that affect their lives, Lucinda reads about DNA phenotyping, which begins to have a central part in solving the Black Fly murders. As the plot unfolds, Lucinda and Macduff learn that their old nemesis, Juan Pablo Herzog, who had been serving as Guatemala’s president, has been thrown out of office and forced to flee the country.Macduff and Lucinda head to the Bahamas to confront Covington. They learn that their friend, Jackson Hole fishing guide John Kirby, has been taken to Cheyenne in handcuffs.Each of the black fly murders has disrupted Macduff’s and Lucinda’s lives, leading to an ending that involves an anomaly of DNA accuracy.