­­Ironically, I was introduced to my favorite author not through a library or bookshop, but rather at a restaurant.

On a 2012 visit to Florida’s Sanibel Island, my wife and I wandered into Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille, named for a series of thrillers by Florida-based writer Randy Wayne White. There, in addition to a terrific meal, I bought a signed copy of White’s new book, and that did it. I was hooked.

White’s Marion “Doc” Ford is a marine biologist on Sanibel, a lovely, low-key tourist mecca just off Fort Myers on the Gulf Coast. Though Ford prefers puttering around in his lab and boating among many nearby islands, his background as a retired NSA agent suits him well for the mysteries, kidnappings, killings and other cases he’s been stumbling into since Doc’s debut in 1990.

The 26 Ford books offer peerless summer reading for beaches, pool-sides and airport layovers. Expertly plotted and meticulously researched, White’s novels blend nail-biting action with bracing evocation of life on Sanibel, one-third of which is a wildlife refuge.

A sort of thinking man’s action novel, your typical Ford tale filters events through Marion’s knowledgeable no-nonsense approach to science and crime. He’s a man’s man, and he doesn’t suffer fools. Yet, White also touches on mysticism and the supernatural via Ford’s best friend, Tomlinson–an overgrown hippie with a predilection for mind-altering substances, Zen Buddhism and attractive women.

Amid twisty plots and stirring details on Gulf Coast ecology, White distills remarkable wisdom. A few samples:

“Guilt is the curse of those who care.”

“I do not believe in large-scale conspiracy theories. If I ever meet more than three or four people who can actually keep a secret, then maybe I’ll reconsider.”

“There are hundreds of gated communities in Florida. Gate or no gate, few are communities. Developers bulldoze an oversized patch of scrub, truck in sod and palms to damper the stink of bruised earth, then mask their domino trap with a woodsy name–Cedar Lakes, Cypress Vista, Oak Hills–and presto! instant habitat for people in search of instant lives.”

“The only real death we suffer is the things left undone.”

Top-notch Fords include: “Twelve-Mile Limit,” “Ten Thousand Islands,” “Dead Silence” and the dazzling, un-put-downable “Black Widow”. As you can probably tell, these gritty adventures aren’t for kids.

Fortunately, White recently launched “Sharks Incorporated,” a young-adult series featuring teen protagonists, with Doc as a minor character. I haven’t read the latest (“Crocs,” March 2022), but the first two are atmospheric and suspenseful — classic White toned down for youngsters.

In addition to Ford and “Sharks Inc.”, the author’s oeuvre includes four novels about Doc’s friend Hannah Smith, eight nonfiction works (including such evocatively titled anthologies as “Bat-Fishing in the Rain Forest”), and several early thrillers written under the pen-names Carl Ramm and Randy Stryker.

Born in Ohio in 1950, White skipped college to work as a Florida newspaper reporter and tackle-fishing guide. He launched his book career as Ramm and Stryker, penning 18 novels in only four years (the first emerged from his typewriter in a mere nine days).

With a bibliography spanning nearly 60 titles, White also continues part-ownership of the Doc Ford restaurants, now at four different Gulf Coast locations.