Jack The Beanstalk Author:Ed McBain August in West Florida, a little bit of hell on earth. Jack McKinney, looking barely old enough to hsave, stood in the swelter of Matthew Hope's Calusa County law office, spilling out a wide-eyed tale about wanting to buy a snap-bean farm. And he had the down payment to prove it. Four thousand in cash. Now Jack's dead, stabbed 14 times, and ... more »36 thousand's missing in cash. Matthew's questions are turning up some long-buried pasts, a second dead body, and some beautiful suspects. Like Sunny, Jack's sister, a surfer boy's fantasy, a delicious girl with some unsavory secrets. Or Veronica, a grown man's dream, a tough and lovely cattle rancher who's strangely unmoved by her son's death. Florida's getting hotter by deadly degrees, as Matthew bets it all against a scared killer with nothing left to lose...« less
One of the early Matthew Hopes, a real estate case that turns into multiple murders. Ranching must have been lucrative in Central Florida in the 80s. A well developed mystery relying on logic, not technical evidence.