In The Mangrove Coast, the daughter of a dead war buddy calls Ford in distress. If you're ever really in trouble, his friend had written her, Ford's the one you can trust. Her mother's disappeared in South America without a trace, in the company of an unsavory companion, and her money's gone, too. Doc agrees to help, and finds himself in Colombia, then in Panama, on the trail of a man more genuinely evil than any he has ever encountered. There's more to it than that, though - a third man, whose shadowy presence brings death in its wake. For Doc, the mystery - and the danger - only deepen. In fact, solving the puzzle may turn out to be the most perilous thing of all.