"RED RIGHT RETURN is a high-energy romp through the streets of Key West and the skyways of the Florida Straits. Cunningham's treasure-hunting, amphibian-flying hero, Buck Reilly, could be a reincarnation of Travis McGee with wings. RRR is the first in what will surely be a series of classic Florida adventure novels. Great fun, highly recommended." - Robert Gandt, author of Brick Maxwell series, screenwriter, Naval fighter pilot, historian, Floridian.”
The Buck Reilly series starts with Red Right Return…
Buck wants only three things out of life: A plane to fly, a treasure to find, and a beautiful woman to rescue.
He’ll get his chance at all three in John H. Cunningham’s new thriller, Red Right Return. Set against the stunning scenery and freaky fabulousness of the Florida Keys, Cunningham joins the ranks of Hiaasen, Leonard, White, MacDonald and Papa himself in a rich new series for thrill seekers everywhere.
But Buck Reilly is no ordinary hero. A product of his times and ours, too, he’s laying low and trying to fly under the radar in the aftermath of economic catastrophe, family tragedy, and a search for personal redemption that might well have Papa Hemingway turning in his grave. He’s a nice guy who‘s determined not to finish last, but as he faces down the dark forces of Santero priests, the underbelly of the Havana underworld and one pissed-off FBI agent, he sometimes wonders if he’ll get to finish at all.
Back in his bad old days on Wall Street, Buck ran e-Antiquity, plundering the world’s treasures, (and a few of his investors’ pockets) for some pretty handsome profit. He wasn’t a bad guy back then, he just didn’t know any better. But life turned ugly for this former Wall Street darling when the market crashed, the company cratered and the FBI investigated the bankruptcy. When his marriage ended, his business partner was convicted for hiding assets in his bankruptcy, and his parents were killed in a car crash outside of Geneva, Switzerland, Buck found out for certain that business wasn’t just business anymore.
These days, Buck’s a lot like the rest of us--trying to make ends meet and hoping for better times. He augments a stipend from his parents’ estate with The Last Resort Salvage and Charter company, flying a 1946 amphibious Grumman Widgeon, hunting for sunken treasure and taking on an occasional passenger, no questions asked.
Red Right Return is the first in a series of novels that will take Buck on many adventures, in tropical, beach, and coastal settings that will appeal to readers because they are popular vacation destinations. Sooner or later, Buck works his way through all the old Grumman amphibious aircraft, starting with the Widgeon, and moving on to the Goose, Mallard, and later the Albatross, along with a few other oddball aircraft, with each marking a new adventure.
In Red Right Return, events unfold with the speed and punch of a Tarentino film script when Buck drops a beautiful one-way charter at a boat in the Dry Tortugas. When the girl goes missing, Buck is hired by her father to get her back, placing him smack in the middle of a case that involves kidnapping, smuggling, missionaries, sunken treasure, bloody birds and boozy nights in the search for one missing girl. Buck’s own cover is blown when his investigative antics land him in a Havana jail and he’s accused of being a spy. The news makes CNN, the FBI gets involved, and the whole situation threatens to blow the lid off 40 years of uneasy detente between the US and Cuba.
In Buck Reilly, John has created a new sort of hero. Part quirky Parrothead PI, part Indiana Jones, with just a touch of My Name is Earl, he’s a man sure to gain traction in the imagination of adventure lovers everywhere. After all, aren’t the imperfect and reluctant heroes in search of personal redemption the ones we feel most attuned to?
Buck Reilly resonates with all readers as we can all see parts of ourselves in him, or qualities we either love, admire or sometimes wish we could avoid. He’s one of us, and once you’ve viewed the world through his eyes, your own vision won’t be the same.
Green to Go, the second in the series, will follow soon after, where Buck finds himself in even greater trouble than he had in Red Right Return.