This is book 11 of the "Travis McGee" series.

This note contains spoilers for the book.

McGee reaches the 1970s in his 12th volume.

McGee and Meyer end up underwater in the ditch when a naked girl runs across the road ahead of them. Then a guy in a truck comes by and takes a shot at McGee. Then the Sheriff arrests them for murder. Then a deputy beats Meyer nearly to death.

Luckily, he finds a young man at the garage who loves old cars and can properly rescue Miss Agnes. And by the end, he's been made a deputy Sheriff. Meanwhile, a lot more people have died. This may be the top body count in a McGee novel. If you do ever meet him, don't go to bed with him; and don't sell life insurance to anybody who has.

All this turns out to be the end-game of an old armored car robbery. The money is finally recovered, and McGee even gets a legal recovery fee.