Eye of the Gator — E.C. Ayres

Tampa Bay-area private investigator Tony Lowell is an underemployed Vietnam vet and inveterate sailor. He assists police detective Lena Bedrosian in solving the murder of a young African American employee of the state's environmental protection agency. Tony's quest for information takes him to the inland hamlets of Orange Blossoms and Manatee. While there, he questions the close-mouthed employees of a phosphate plant about a suspicious sinkhole and dodges the abusive boyfriend of a beautiful witness.