The Travis McGee Novels of John D. MacDonald

John D. MacDonald's series of novels about Travis McGee, a Florida based "salvage consultant" who recovers others' property for a fee of 50%, departed from the hard boiled tradition of crime fiction in a number of ways - McGee was neither a cop nor a private detective, was gregarious and actually quite likable, and usually wound up in hot water through no fault of his own. Abetted by the unusual(at the time) Florida locale and by MacDonald's skill as a writer, the McGee series was spectacularly successful and lasted for 21 books and 20 years, ending only with the author's death in 1986. Carl Hiassen, James W. Hall, and Tim Dorsey have all acknowledged their debts to MacDonald and McGee.