 --- It was a blackmail set-up as old as the hills.McGee - waterfront gypsy - did not want to touch the deal with a ten-foot pole.Except there was another woman involved, a lovely, longing, tender woman whose life was slowly draining away into disaster..."

The title phrase, "The Quick Red Fox" is mentioned at two places in the book referred to Lysa Dean, the movie star that Travis McGee is employed to.