The Empty Copper Sea
From a beloved master of crime fiction, The Empty Copper Sea is one of many classic novels featuring Travis McGee, the hard-boiled detective who lives on a houseboat.
Asking for help is something a proud man like Van Harder would never do. So when he shows up at the Busted Flush, Travis McGee knows that he must be the man’s last resort. What Harder wants salvaged is his reputation. After a long career as a seaman, he was piloting a boat the night his employer fell overboard. Harder is certain he’s been set up, but to help him, McGee must prove that a dead man is actually alive.
The fateful ride started with Harder at the helm of Hubbard Lawless’s luxury cruiser. It ends with him coming to, fuzzy and disoriented, and Hub lost to the water. Now everyone is saying that Harder got drunk, passed out, and is negligent in his boss’s death. The thing is, Van’s not a drinker . . . at least, not anymore.
Who would want to frame the good captain, and to what end? Dead or alive, Lawless is worth a lot of money. People are always eager to get a piece of that action—including some, as McGee soon finds, who are willing to take a piece out of anyone who gets in their way.
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John D. MacDonald
John D. MacDonald is the author of 21 Travis McGee thrillers, Cape Fear, and countless other novels and short stories. His works have been translated into numerous languages, with his sales in the tens of millions. Named the grandmaster of the Mystery Writers of America, he also won the American Book Award (now known as the National Book Award) in 1980, earned an MBA, and served in the army. MacDonald, a native of New York, lived much of his life in McGee's homestate of Florida with his wife and son, before passing away in 1986.
Travis McGee
Travis McGee consists of twenty-one books. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.

