Of all the great Florida mystery writers, none has the consistent literary heft of James W. Hall, who has produced more than a dozen superb examples of the crime novel as fine art.

It is common to compare every Florida mystery writer with the great John D. MacDonald – a comparison that too often denigrates the excellence of the old master. Elmore Leonard deserves to be mentioned in the same breath, though most of his books are set elsewhere. So, too, on rare occasion does Charles Willeford, though many of his paperback novels are either too pulpy or too outre to be taken seriously.

Carl Hiaasen is funnier than any of them, and so is Dave Barry, but most of these novels have plots so light that, if they were food, would make a church wafer feel like a Krispy Kreme buffet.

When I received Mr. Hall’s new novel, “Forests of the Night” (St. Martins, $24.95, 341 pages), I was disappointed that it was not about his series protagonist, Thorn. A good man, brave and true, if a little cranky (okay, extremely cranky), Thorn is one of today’s most noteworthy examples of crime-fighting heroes – though he would be the last to describe himself that way.

The author has acknowledged that Thorn closely resembles John D.’s most famous creation, Travis McGee, which is a good thing. I mean, it’s good that he both realizes it and admits it, and good that he has used such a high-water mark in the history of mystery fiction as his model.

But it is homage, not theft, since Thorn is unique and has many characteristics of his creator. Ross Macdonald once said of his private eye, “I’m not Archer, but Archer is me.” It seems likely that Mr. Hall would say the same of Thorn.

Having had the pleasure of reading this stunning new novel, however, I see I was wrong to regret the absence of Thorn. One of the negatives of reading series novels is that one can be pretty sure that, no matter how dire the situation, it is reasonable to assume that the hero will emerge – perhaps bloody, perhaps defeated, but alive and ready, in the next book, to swing into action. In the stand-alone novel we can never be sure of who will survive and who is doomed, and that lack of certainty adds suspense.

“Forests of the Night” (with a title inspired by one of England’s greatest poets, William Blake) has its origins in a true historical event. In the 1830s, Cherokee Indians were rounded up and moved from their mountain homes to the arid plains of Oklahoma. Those who resisted were killed.

One of those who died was a simple man named Tsali (pronounced Solly) who, when his wife was injured by an ignorant white soldier, retaliated, not unreasonably, by putting his sharpened ax into the soldier’s skull. Tsali was given a choice: He could continue to hide, or he could turn himself in to be executed by a firing squad, in exchange for which all the Cherokee in the region would be allowed to stay in their homes.

Tsali surrendered, and hundreds stayed in the mountains of North Carolina, where their descendants still live. Mr. Hall uses this act of courage as a metaphor for the responses of others in today’s dangerous world – simple, ordinary people who respond with similar selflessness and bravery when confronted with evil.

Charlotte Monroe is a policewoman who it would be a pleasure to meet again. She has a rare gift of being able to tell, almost infallibly, when someone is telling a lie. This is so useful in a law enforcement officer that the FBI desperately tries to recruit her.

Regrettably, Monroe is married to an extremely effective defense lawyer, who is able to free most of his clients – a source of frustration for her colleagues. Their daughter, Gracey, has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, a source of frustration for just about everybody.

One evening, Charlotte comes home from work to find her husband and daughter talking with a young, mysterious Cherokee who happens to be no. 8 on the FBI’s Most Wanted List. She calls it in, a SWAT team is deployed, but Gracey helps him escape.

Thomas Dark Cloud Panther is wanted for blowing up five banks and killing eight people, and by all appearances has some very bad intentions for the Monroe family. When ominous notes are written in Cherokee, and a blowgun is used in one murder and an ax in another, all clues point to the suspicious young man.

This being a mystery novel – one written by one of the masters of the form – all is not as it seems. There is darkness and violence ahead. And if you read mysteries to try to figure it out before the author wants you to, forget it. You won’t.

If you read mysteries because you believe, as I do, that the best ones are distinguished literature, this is the book for you. There is so much fast paced action and heart-pumping suspense in “Forests of the Night” that, even if you spent so much time under a hot sun that you have turned lobster red, as the novel races to its breathtaking conclusion, you will have white knuckles.

Mr. Penzler is the proprietor of the Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan and the series editor of the annual “Best American Mystery Stories.” He can be reached at openzler@nysun.com.