The Man Who Invented Florida

A former intelligence agent now living in Florida, Marion "Doc" Martin, along with his hippie sidekick, Thomlinson, must clear his uncle of kidnapping and murder charges stemming from his discovery of the Fountain of Youth.

In the third Doc Ford adventure, White again seamlessly splices an offbeat west coast of Florida locale with even more offbeat inhabitants. Principal among them is Doc Ford, who operates a small biological-supply business from a lab in his stilt-supported house. Lately, Doc has tried to control his telescope viewing of a tanned, red-haired woman who skinny-dips off an offshore sailboat and to limit his beer intake to four a day. While trying to be patient with his hippie pal Thomlinson, who drops by to expound on many topics, Doc reluctantly gets involved with his Uncle Tucker, who lives up the coast in Mango. Tuck has discovered a well of healing water on his land that he claims is responsible for his old gelded horse's newly grown testicles. Smuggled into a local rest home, the water has dramatically revived the moribund sex life of his Native American buddy Joseph Egret. Tuck's trouble is his somewhat uncertain ownership of the land. While he importunes Doc for help, the local news focuses on the disappearance into the mangrove swamps of two government investigators and a much loathed TV fisherman. Like fellow Floridian Carl Hiaasen, White ( The Heat Islands ) is adept at weaving ecological concerns into an oddball narrative with no loss of steam. The fate of the three missing men, even by bizarre Florida crime fiction standards, is inspired.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

By the time Agent Angela Walker calls on Marion ``Doc'' Ford (Sanibel Flats, 1990; The Heat Islands, 1991) to ask about his irascible uncle Tucker Gatrell--who has a long history of violence, instability, and orneriness--three men have already vanished in nearby Everglades National Park. But even though he's a suspect, Tuck isn't giving the disappearances a second thought; he's too busy--now that his horse Roscoe has turned up a fountain of youth on land he'd transferred to a holding corporation to avoid real-estate taxes-- trying to get the parcel back and keeping the government from grabbing it. The ensuing shenanigans--beginning when Tuck's old Calusa Indian crony Joseph Egret escapes from his nursing home and rustles a championship jumper and concluding with a wild legal triple-cross--add up to the shaggiest mystery you've ever read. Thoroughly antic, brazenly over the top. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Series veterans Marion "Doc" Ford and hippie friend Tomlinson ( Sanibel Flats , St. Martin's, 1990) become tangentially involved in the case of three men who go missing near Dinkin's Bay. The "victims" seem to have nothing in common except bad luck; their portion of a broader story melds with a mostly amusing plot dealing with the proposed government expansion of the Everglades National Park. White offers an eclectic vision of Florida with his laid-back prose but pays close attention to various "characters," especially Marion's braggart uncle. Upbeat, literate, fascinating, and clever: manna for deeper readers.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Doc Ford operates a small Florida marine supply business, but his passion is marine research. Ford's uncle, Tucker Gatrell, an old Florida cowboy who at various times has been a guide, a poacher, a rumrunner, and a gun dealer, thinks he's found the fountain of youth in a small sulfurous spring on his property--or what used to be his property until he sold it to the state for a national park addition. Tucker's partner is Joseph Egret, a Native American who escaped from a nursing home after a few doses of Tucker's alleged magic elixir. The two old-timers want Ford's help in analyzing and eventually marketing the potion. Ford tries to wash his hands of the pair but gets sucked in when three prominent Floridians disappear in the area and Tucker becomes a suspect. The mystery aspects of White's tale--though expertly developed and perfectly engaging--pale next to the extraordinary characters and pointedly humorous dialogue. Maybe it's the presence of the Chief Broom-like Joseph Egret, but this unusual and very entertaining novel may remind readers of One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. Tucker Gatrell and Randall Patrick McMurphy are certainly kindred spirits. Wes Lukowsky