See all titles by Elmore Leonard

The setting is Palm Beach County, Florida, where someone places a live ten-foot alligator in the backyard of the bigoted redneck judge Bob Gibbs--known to all as Maximum Bob--and his wife, Leanne, a former Weeki Wachee mermaid.

Not long after that, shots are fired into the judge's house. It doesn't take much figuring to conclude that someone's out to get him and that the malefactor isn't going to stop at the second try. There's a long list of suspects: Dale Crowe Junior, who just got an outrageous sentence for a minor crime; his uncle Elvin, a killer on parole, raring to go again; Dr. Tommy Vasco, a drugged-out former medical doctor; his equally bizarre friend Hector; and Dicky Campau, who makes a living poaching alligators. And there are others...