The Man Who Invented Florida (Hardcover)

Because it's barely about Doc Ford. Oh sure he appears here and there and sort of rescues the situation at the end. But the story is really about Doc's uncle and his Indian friend/co hort.

Which by the way, does make this the funniest in the Doc Ford series.

Having read every one of the 10 Doc Ford books as of end of 2003, here's my list of how they all rate, (drum roll, please):

(5 stars)
Captiva
Twelve Mile Limit
Shark River
The Heat Islands
Ten Thousand Islands
Sanibal Flats (the first in the series)

The following are the 4 stars in the series--great stories, but I wouldn't recommend them as a first read of the author:

Everglades
The Man Who Invented Florida
North of Havana
The Mangrove Coast

Another thing that bothered me was the basic plot. Without giving too much away, the story is about Doc's uncle supposedly finding the Fountain of Youth. That part was fine, and made sense once the story worked to its conclusion. But there was also this whole sub-plot going on with 3 men missing (presumed dead). That storyline just didn't seem to really go anywhere, although there were some good scenes with them. It just didn't seem to tie together all that well, in my opinion. Yes, I did like the way Tucker Gattrell was working all the angles in order to keep his property, and I liked the ultimate resolution. The 'hint' of a plot twist (where you realize you might not know the whole story after all) at the very end was also very nice. Probably my favorite part of the book, in fact. Oh, and I also liked how they continued to develop the Tomlinson character in this one, as well as the mention at the end that Jeth was still doing okay in South America.

Bottom line is that this was a decent story, but not quite up to par with something like 'The Heat Islands' that I read in about 6 hours. Now that was a great story.

But ultimately, if you're into the Doc Ford series, you definitely don't want to miss this one. Because even an average book by Randy Wayne White is far superior to much of the garbage being put out today. And even a few pages of Doc Ford is worth quite a bit. Just start with Sanibel Island and work your way toward this one. That way, by the time you get here, you'll already be in love with the characters and the settings.