In the latest nonstop adventure from #1 New York Times bestselling author Stuart Woods, Stone Barrington must defend a woman whose business—and life—are under threat.Stone Barrington is enjoying a round of golf in Key West when the game is violently interrupted—and it seems as if the target of the disturbance may have been one of his playing companions, the brilliant businesswoman behind a software startup on the cutting edge of technology. Soon, it becomes clear that this incident is only the first thrust in a deadly scheme to push the beautiful young woman out of the way and put her company's valuable secrets up for grabs. From the sun-soaked Florida shores to an idyllic English country retreat, Stone embarks on a quest to protect his lovely new companion while searching for the mastermind behind the plot against her. But he may find that her enemy is far more resourceful—and dangerous—than he could have anticipated.

**Stone Barrington discovers that all the botox in Bel-Air can’t keep its biggest power players from cracking under pressure in this New York Times bestseller. ****Stone is no stranger to Bel-Air—and to the beautiful and wealthy widow who needs his help to become even wealthier. At stake is the sale of her investment in Hollywood's world-famous Centurion Studios. But when Stone arrives in Bel-Air to finalize the sale, he discovers that one of L.A.'s most rapacious power brokers has Centurion in his sights. Now, Stone must play a surprisingly complex and high-stakes game, the kind only the truly rich and dangerously ambitious can win—and survive. **

"Palm Beach is the most glamorous scene of the crime yet for cop-turned-investigator Stone Barrington, who becomes reacquainted with a case he thought was buried years ago-and must settle romantic entanglements that haunt him still.... Fair-weather friend. Luxuriating in Palm beach's winter warmth, Stone is stunned to recognize someone he thought was dead. Former client Allison Manning is alive and well-and suddenly very rich. Now she needs Stone's help in squaring a charge of insurance fraud that's been hanging over her head for years-and in getting rid of a recently acquired stalker. Suspects abound, including an elusive writer, an enigmatic businessman, and Allison's devious former husband. Only Stone can thwart the sly and greedy plan to steal the millions of dollars at stake-and the crafty killer behind it...."--BOOK COVER.

Stone Barrington enters the cutthroat fray of politics in the stunning thriller from the New York Times–bestselling author. Stone Barrington has traveled to Los Angeles for the Democratic National Convention and finds that the political scene has been shaken up. First Lady Katherine Rule Lee is running for the party nomination, a loyal senator has died and left her seat vacant, and the Secret Service has received a credible threat toward Kate. It will take all of Stone’s discretion and powers of persuasion to help arrange things for a desirable outcome. . . . **

From Publishers Weekly Having ditched her Orchid Beach, Fla., police chief post, returning supersleuth Holly Barker opts for a CIA career in Woods's by-the-numbers thriller, the fourth in the Barker series (Blood Orchid). Barely through basic training at a highly regimented CIA "training farm," Barker's class is suddenly enlisted to track down calculating killer (and opera buff) Teddy Fay (first seen in Woods's Capital Crimes). An ex-CIA agent himself, Fay uses insider information to continue assassinating international political figures who also happen to be enemies of the U.S. Barker stakes out the Metropolitan Opera House, and narrowly misses Teddy in disguise in several contrived set pieces. The narrative accelerates from a somewhat sluggish first half when CIA operatives' solid deliberation moves Barker ever closer to nabbing the elusive Fay-who, by the way, lives mere blocks away from her. But Fay dupes the CIA again, with the help of a Santa Claus costume, and assassinates a Saudi prince before vanishing. Woods's latest lacks the urgent plotting and bracing thrills needed to make it truly memorable, and though Barker is a tough, formidable protagonist, the question remains why she, after absconding with over $5.5 million in untraceable drug money, bothers to clock in at all. Only Barker's dog, Daisy the Doberman, knows for sure.

From Publishers Weekly Woods's latest (after Palindrome) is a slick thriller set in Manhattan's Upper East Side, the stomping ground of Stone Barrington, a well-bred but unpretentious detective who, in a city of several million people, always ends up in the right place at the right time. Late one evening, as Stone trudges home from Elaine's Restaurant, popular TV newscaster Sasha Nijinsky plummets 12 stories from her terrace and lands on a heap of dirt 20 yards away from him-remarkably, still alive. Stone fails to apprehend the person who flees Sasha's penthouse and, after the ambulance carrying her collides with a fire truck, Sasha herself disappears. Despite the fact that no corpse is in evidence, the baffled NYPD eagerly pins a murder rap on Sasha's distraught lesbian lover. Stone refuses to accept his colleagues' pat solution and even maintains that Sasha might have survived thanks to skydiving training and her billowing, parachute-like robe. Bed-hopping TV newspeople, a sexy blonde judge sporting a red dress beneath her robes, a serial killer targeting cabbies and a creepy med-school dropout turned mortician who idolizes Sasha romp through this calculatedly melodramatic crime story all the way to its grisly B-movie finale. 75,000 first printing; $125,000 ad/promo; author tour.

In the latest action-packed adventure from #1 New York Times–bestselling author Stuart Woods, Stone Barrington learns that privacy is hard to come by when you're one of the rich and mighty.As an eligible bachelor, man-about-town, and mover in the highest social echelons, Stone Barrington has always been the subject of interest and gossip. But when he's unwittingly thrust into the limelight, he finds himself scrambling to take cover. Before too long Stone's fending off pesky nuisances left and right, and making personal arrangements so surreptitiously it would take a covert operative to unearth them. Unfortunately, Stone soon discovers that these efforts only increase the persistence of the most troublesome pests . . . and when he runs afoul of a particularly tenacious lady, he'll be struggling to protect not just his reputation, but his life.

A respected senator from Georgia, Will Lee has aspirations of more.But a cruel stroke of fate thrusts him onto the national stage well before he expects, and long before he's ready, for a national campaign.The road to the White House, however, will be more treacherous -- and deadly -- than Will and his intelligent, strikingly beautiful wife, Kate, an associate director in the Central Intelligence Agency, can imagine.A courageous and principled man, Will soon learns he has more than one opponent who wants him out of the race. Thrust into the spotlight as never before, he's become the target of clandestine enemies from the past who will use all their money and influence to stop him -- dead. Now Will isn't just running for president -- he's running for his life.

"Shrewd, sexy"* lawyer Stone Barrington stars in these three fast-paced novels from a New York Times bestselling author who knows how to mix "danger and humor into a racy concoction" (*Publishers Weekly).Lucid IntervalsStrategic MovesBel-Air Dead

Product Description“Charismatic” (Booklist) cop-turned-lawyer Stone Barrington tracks down trouble from glitzy Palm Beach to gritty New York in these six novels from the New York Times bestselling author whose hero is “a guilty pleasure [and] an addiction that’s harder to kick than heroin” (Contra Costa Times). L.A. Dead Cold Paradise The Short Forever Dirty Work Reckless Abandon Two Dollar Bill