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Hannah Smith returns in the stunning new adventure in the New York Times–bestselling series by the author of the Doc Ford novels.
A fishing guide and part-time investigator, Hannah Smith is a tall, strong Florida woman descended from many generations of the same. But the problem before her now is much older even than that.
Five hundred years ago, Spanish conquistadors planted the first orange seeds in Florida, but now the whole industry is in trouble. The trees are dying at the root, weakened by infestation and genetic manipulation, and the only solution might be somehow, somewhere, to find samples of the original root stock. No one is better equipped to traverse the swamps and murky backcountry of Florida than Hannah, but once word leaks out of her quest, the trouble begins. “There are people who will kill to find a direct descendant of those first seeds,” a biologist warns her—and it looks like his words may be all too prophetic.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Early in bestseller White's suspenseful fourth Hannah Smith novel (after 2014's Haunted), the Florida fishing guide has to deal with the death of 80-year-old Harney Chatham, a former Florida lieutenant governor, in the arms (and bed) of her mother, Loretta. Smith reluctantly agrees to help the governor's chauffeur, Reggie, move Chatham's body to a more respectable place to die, the Chatham estate. Her involvement puts Smith at odds with Chatham's widow, Lonnie, and introduces her to Chatham's handsome grove manager, Kermit Bigalow, whose comments on the blight ravaging Florida's oranges propel Smith on a high-stakes hunt for an ancient orange tree, whose fruit might be disease resistant, in a remote, tangled mangrove area called Choking Creek. There she encounters the giant pythons that are decimating Florida's native animals, as well as lethal human snakes trying to beat her to the prize tree. White smoothly infuses an intriguing plot with timely environmental issues. Author tour.
