Rating: 
Summary: A Fast Read
Review: Stuart Wood's Orchid Blues is a fast read ... his chapters are short, making you want to read on & on. Having only read one of Sutart's books (Orchid Blues), I am definitely going to read more of them. You know there's violence; you know there's mystery; you know there's accuracy. I read it so fast, I didn't even look at the back to see how it ended! Now that's a good mystery! And no swearing ... I am now going to read Blood Orchid. And since Holly meets up with Stone, I will then go on to read the series of crime scenes he's involved in. Thank you, Stuart Woods.
Rating: 
Summary: Too many concurrent series?
Review: Stuart Woods first came to my attention in "Chiefs", the genesis of the Lee Family saga, that family's current generation now represented by President Will Lee, who inherited more than the names of his police chief grandfather and Georgia governor father ("Chiefs" was their story). Another currently-running series is the Stone Barrington series, whose hero--suave babe-magnet lawyer-investigator--was once a New York City Police detective. Although Barrington seems far too smooth to have ever been an NYPD cop. You see a guy whose name is two last names and you think "preppie". This story is volume two of the Holly Barker saga, the first book being "Orchid Beach", the latest being recent hardcover release "Blood Orchid". The premise of this series is hardly preposterous at all--a lady police chief of a small Florida town who served as an Army MP officer, Since she commanded an MP unit, she was probably a major. Her father is Hamilton "Ham" Barker, a retired career master sergeant who plays a mentor role. Don't knock it--it works in "Crossing Jordan". But all in all, Holly strikes me as the type of cop Patricia Cornwell would think up--capable and with enough presence to make her gender a non-issue. She's obviously well past having to prove herself "just because she's a girl". And, also as Cornwell would write about a lady cop, the emphasis is on putting criminals away like cops are supposed to do, not putting some sneering sexist oinkmeister in his place. Anyway, the story begins with tragedy: on her wedding day, Holly's husband-to-be stops at the bank and gets blown away in a holdup. In the course of the investigation, Holly has to deal with a Bureau agent who faces a dilemma--how does he crowd "the locals" out of this case when "the locals" are a good friend? Stone Barrington does a cameo in this story. Will Lee plays an "offstage" role--he's targeted in a Presidential assassination plot connected with the robbery Holly's fiance died in. Also in the course of the investigation, Holly and her father turn up a supposedly nonexistent town that's an emcampment for a group of local gun nuts who turn out to be The Elect. If you read "Grass Roots" this group figured in a plot against President Lee when he was still running for the Senate. If at first you don't succeed, yadda-yadda...But somehow, despite all the good foundational elements, some of them proven stuff from Woods' other work, despite the superb quality of Woods' other work--the story just doesn't get off the ground. I've got "Orchid Beach" on my wishlist--somehow that one got by me. Maybe that one and the new "Blood Orchid" will prove this book to be a temporary slump. Or maybe Woods shouldn't try to carry on too many concurrent series at once, I don't know.
Rating: 
Summary: ANOTHER RAPID FIRE PLOT CRAFTED BY STUART WOODS
Review: The second adventure of Police Chief Holly Barker and her erstwhile companion, Daisy, an unbelievable Doberman, is thoroughly entertaining. Holly isn't thinking work but wedding as she's about to tie the knot with her boyfriend, Jackson Oxenhandler. The path to the altar turns rocky when a crime occurs - a bank robbery in Orchid Beach, Florida, and a vicious one at that as the thieves take everything with them except for a dead body. Her investigation takes Holly and her father, Ham, a retired Army sergeant to a rather strange town, Lake Winachobee. Despite its name not much is placid in this little burg as it turns out to be a hotbed of white supremacists who are planning the assassination of an important leader. Stuart Woods has once again proffered a rapid fire plot and a stunning conclusion.
Rating:
Summary: ANOTHER RAPID FIRE PLOT CRAFTED BY STUART WOODS
Review: The second adventure of Police Chief Holly Barker and her erstwhile companion, Daisy, an unbelievable Doberman, is thoroughly entertaining. Holly isn't thinking work but wedding as she's about to tie the knot with her boyfriend, Jackson Oxenhandler. The path to the altar turns rocky when a crime occurs - a bank robbery in Orchid Beach, Florida, and a vicious one at that as the thieves take everything with them except for a dead body. Her investigation takes Holly and her father, Ham, a retired Army sergeant to a rather strange town, Lake Winachobee. Despite its name not much is placid in this little burg as it turns out to be a hotbed of white supremacists who are planning the assassination of an important leader. Stuart Woods has once again proffered a rapid fire plot and a stunning conclusion.
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