A Tan and Sandy Silence

In A Tan and Sandy Silence, one of many books by acclaimed crime novelist John D. MacDonald featuring Travis McGee, a hard-boiled investigator who lives on a houseboat, some trouble comes McGee's way. After a man visits McGee—the real estate developer Harry Broll, who believes he is sheltering his missing wife—and fires a shot before McGee can grab his pistol away, McGee becomes uneasy. McGee hasn't seen or heard from Mary Broll in three years; the last time she called Jenkins, the operator at the houseboat's galley phone, it took her three days to say anything to him other than "please hold on. " The fact that she isn't talking bothers McGee; so does the fact that she's been missing for several days. Driven by his need to demonstrate that he's still in top form, he resolves to clear Broll's name and find Mary at the same time.