Cinnamon Skin is the twentieth novel in the Travis McGee

Travis McGee

Travis McGee is a fictional character, created by prolific American mystery writer John D. MacDonald. Unlike most detectives in crime fiction, McGee is neither a police officer nor a licensed private investigator; instead, he is a self-described "salvage consultant" who recovers others' property...

 series by John D. MacDonald

John D. MacDonald

John Dann MacDonald was an American crime and suspense novelist and short story writer.MacDonald was a prolific author of crime and suspense novels, many of them set in his adopted home of Florida...

. Like a few other books in the series, McGee ends up traveling to Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

to solve a crime.

The title of the book comes from a passage in Chapter 26 page 274 of the first paperback release the First Ballantine Books Edition: July 1983. The passage reads as follows:

"You smell like cinnamon and you have the right color. Cinnamon skin."

"My God, McGee, can't you come up with something more original."

"I thought it was."

She laughed. "It's a song, you idiot. Piel Canela: Cinnamon Skin. They sing it all over Mexico. ..."