L.A. Dead (A Stone Barrington Novel) - Softcover

Woods, Stuart

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451204115 ISBN 13: 9780451204110

Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2001

Synopsis

Former cop turned lawyer Stone Barrington investigates a Hollywood homicide in this “stylish whodunit” (Detroit News) in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.

Stone’s trip to Venice with a fiery Mafia princess is cut short by a frantic phone call from halfway around the world. A celebrity murder has Los Angeles in an uproar—and a former flame pining for Stone’s help in more ways than one. When he lands amid Hollywood’s sun and sin, Stone must plumb the depths of film society to find the killer, before a court trial rips away his last chance at a life he once desperately wanted...

About this title

Review:

Stuart Woods is a master of the glitzy, high-concept, suspense thriller, and Stone Barrington, hero of five previous mysteries, is the kind of private cop who glides gracefully between lavishly detailed dinners, private jets, fancy parties, sexy assignations in luxury hotels, and the occasional murder investigation. Occasionally he gets his hands dirty, but more often it's his sheets. L.A. Dead finds him in Venice, where he's about to marry the beautiful (but seriously crazy) daughter of a high-ranking Mafioso, whose other daughter happens to be married to Stone's best friend--an NYPD cop, naturally. The civil ceremony's over, but the church wedding is only hours away when Stone is called to L.A., where his former lover has just discovered her husband's dead body. The lover is Arrington (an oddity, given Stone's surname; did Woods just run out of imagination here?), the dead husband is a famous movie star, and everyone believes she killed him. Everyone except Stone, who's still in love with Arrington. He has a helluva time interviewing (and bedding) all the women in her circle, including the dead husband's private secretary, Arrington's best friend, her lawyer's mistress, and a number of Hollywood wives. Jackie Collins does the ladies better, but Stone manages to save the damsel in distress, get rid of his nutty near-wife without offending her father, and wrap up all the details except the most important one. No doubt he's saving that for the next book. In the meantime, Woods's many fans will snap this up and spend the interim wondering: if Stone marries the woman of his dreams, will that make her Arrington Barrington? --Jane Adams

From the Back Cover:

Cop-turned-lawyer-and-investigator Stone Barrington ventures out to the West Coast -- and out on a limb -- in this scintillating tale of romance and murder from the bestselling author of The Run and Worst Fears Realized.

No Stone Unturned...

Trouble finds Stone smack in the middle of a romantic Mediterranean holiday. His trip to Venice -- with the fiery Mafia princess Dolce -- is cut short by a frantic phone call from half a world away. A celebrity murder has Los Angeles in an uproar and mysteriously threatens a former flame, Arrington Calder. And once he arrives there, amid Hollywood's sun and sin, he must plumb the depths of film society to find the killer -- before a court trial rips away his last chance at a life he once desperately wanted....

About this edition

• Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0451204115
• ISBN 13: 9780451204110
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 464