I’m still a little upset about the delay of Shutter Island, but have high hopes for DiCaprio’s newest novel adaption, John D. Macdonald’s The Deep Blue Goodbye. According to Variety, the project is one of three that former News Corp COO Peter Chernin is working on through his new production company with 20th Century Fox. The other two are Man and Wife, an action-thriller about a hitman acting as an everyday husband and Queen and Country, an adaptation of Greg Rucka’s comic series about a woman being hunted after carrying out a high profile assassination.

The biggest of the batch is definitely The Deep Blue Goodbye. DiCaprio will play the book’s main character, Travis McGee, a ‘beach bum’ who lives on his 52-foot houseboat in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He calls himself a salvage consultant. He’s not a licensed investigator but is employed by people who have been taken advantage of and wrongly lost their property. McGee gets back their valuables and charges his client half of the item’s worth. The Deep Blue Goodbye is the first of a 21-volume series about McGee.

The Deep Blue Goodbye really sounds like it could be a winner. Although I haven’t read the book, a little research into the series reveals a colorful character with an intriguing story. DiCaprio led me to read Dennis Lehane’s Shutter Island, which I’m currently thoroughly enjoying, and now has tempted me to make The Deep Blue Goodbye next on my list.