''Cinnamon Skin'' (1982) is the twentieth novel in the
Travis McGee series by
John D. MacDonald
John Dann MacDonald (July 24, 1916December 28, 1986) was an American writer of novels and short stories. He is known for his thrillers.
MacDonald was a prolific author of crime and suspense novels, many set in his adopted home of Florida. On ...
. Like a few other books in the series, McGee ends up traveling to
Mexico to solve a crime. His friend Meyer's niece is killed by a bomb on the ''John Maynard Keynes'', Meyer's houseboat, with two other people. As Meyer and McGee investigate the explosion, they discover her husband, Evan Lawrence, did not die, and instead had a dark and dangerous past.
In the meantime, McGee's relationship with Anne Renzetti, with whom he fell in love in the previous novel ''
Free Fall in Crimson'', unravels as she pursues a business opportunity in Hawaii.
Meyer names his new houseboat after
Thorstein Veblen.
The title of the book comes from a passage in Chapter 26.
[Page 274 of the first paperback release the First Ballantine Books Edition: July 1983] The passage reads as follows:
::"You smell like cinnamon and you have the right color. Cinnamon skin."
::"My God, McGee, can't you come up with something more original."
::"I thought it was."
::She laughed. "It's a song, you idiot.
Piel Canela: Cinnamon Skin. They sing it all over Mexico. ..."
Notes
References
*
*
1982 American novels
Travis McGee (novel series)
Harper & Row books
Novels set in Mexico
{{1980s-mystery-novel-stub