A Florida charter-boat skipper finds a stranded blonde, a gun, and a suitcase full of money-and from that moment on, every choice can get him killed. Mickey Whalen makes his living on the water, running a charter boat through the Florida Keys and staying clear of trouble when he can. Then he discovers a beautiful woman alone on a deserted island, with a pistol close at hand and enough cash to make any man ask the wrong questions. She needs help. She may be lying. And the people looking for her are the kind who do not leave witnesses behind. Ed Lacy's Blonde Bait is a swift, sun-baked piece of late-1950s paperback crime fiction, shifting the hard-boiled world away from dark alleys and cheap hotel rooms into bright water, island heat, greed, pursuit, and sexual danger. The setup is pure noir: a working man, a woman in trouble, money that does not belong to either of them, and a decision that turns ordinary caution into a matter of survival. First published in 1959, Blonde Bait belongs with the sharp, fast-moving paperback originals that kept American crime fiction lean, dangerous, and commercially alive after the classic pulp era. It is well suited to readers of vintage noir, hard-boiled crime, Florida crime fiction, fugitive suspense, and mid-century American paperback thrillers.