Five hundred years ago, when Ponce de Leon landed on the shores of Florida, 27 million acres of virgin timber--chiefly longleaf, slash pine and large areas of cypress, loblolly pine, sand pine, palms, and oaks--covered the land that constitutes the state today. Of the 15 million acres now forested, 12 million are privately held. This lively, 500-year history of Florida's forests begins before the Spaniards colonized the state, when Native American tribes felled trees to build shelters and canoes, carve ritual masks and weapons, and make firewood. These tribes revered Florida's...

"Several million dollars of that Russian gold is in a numbered account in the Banque du Shebab-Syrie. I know the name of the man who controls that account, as well as untold millions more in numbered accounts in Switzerland. That man is here in the United States. I know how he got in, the name he's using, and what he is trying to do." First published in 1959.

Duncan Maclain is in Tampa with his wife, Sybella, and his partner, Spud Savage and his wife, Rena, to visit with old friends and investigate a murder. It has been seven years since his old friend, Ronald Dayland, Sr. had been murdered. The killer had never been brought to justice and his wife has remarried...to Jack Manning. Baynard Kendrick has been largely forgotten, but he was a founding member of the Mystery Writers of America. He worked with the blind for years, and created the blind private investigator, Captain Duncan Maclain, to prove that blind folks weren't completely helpless,...