Deadly Airboats

Macduff and Lucinda Brooks are on their flats boat in Pine Island Sound off Southwest Florida when they come upon an airboat driven into the mangroves on the edge of Black Key. A body is in the propeller cage, dismembered from being spun to death. The Brooks are drawn into the search for the killer by their curiosity, to the dismay of local authorities in Ft. Myers, who confuse curiosity with involvement.

As they have done since they met, Macduff and Lucinda move between St. Augustine, Florida, and Paradise Valley, Montana, spending their leisure time fly fishing. Returning from Montana, where Macduff has been guiding for the summer season, they learn that Guatemalan Juan Pablo Herzog, determined to find and kill Macduff but unsuccessful for a dozen years, has been elected President of his country. They also are drawn into a second airboat murder, this time close to their St. Augustine cottage. They must deal both with the two airboat murders and with Herzog’s continued attempt to discover that one-time Professor Maxwell Hunt of the University of Florida law college is now living as Montana fly fishing guide Macduff Brooks. Adding to the complexity of Macduff’s life is his determination not to have his wife Lucinda or his daughter Elsbeth drawn into Herzog’s vengeance.