Description:

EDITORIAL REVIEW: ** Stone Barrington is back in this thrilling new page-turner from the perennially entertaining *New York Times*-bestselling author. ** Stone Barrington is back in New York, and after a rather harrowing sojourn in Key West, he's looking to stay closer to home and work on some simple divorce and custody cases for Woodman & Weld. But when he crosses paths with a fetching Broadway actress-and sometime lip model- Stone gets a little more deeply involved with business than he'd expected. When his new lady love turns out to be a lady with a shady past, Stone and downtown cop Dino Bacchetti realize that her beauty may have an unusually high price. . . .

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. At the start of bestseller Woods's entertaining 17th Stone Barrington novel (after Loitering with Intent), the handsome New York lawyer smoothly picks up Carrie Cox, an aspiring actress who's recently moved from Georgia to New York City, at Elaine's, his favorite Manhattan restaurant. As usual, every beautiful woman Barrington encounters pursues him, including Carrie, art gallery assistant Rita Gammage, U.S. attorney Tiffany Baldwin, and mentally unstable Dolce Bianci, to whom he was once briefly married. In spite of all the female attentions, Barrington manages to shield Carrie from her ex-husband, protect young heiress Hildy Parsons from a con artist/drug dealer, and plot to take down Ponzi scammer Sig Larsen. Too crafty to let Barrington sail unscathed through encounters with women or criminals, Woods devises plenty of snarls to provoke laughs and keep the action interesting in a series that excels at playing out male fantasies. (Jan.)
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From

Woods’ lawyer and private investigator Stone Barrington has never wanted for female company, but even he concedes he has too much on his plate in this latest outing: three lovers and three would-be companions, including his unbalanced ex-wife, Dolce. Stone is taken with beautiful actress Carrie Cox the moment he sets eyes on her at Elaine’s, and he agrees to help her secure the lead in a Broadway play and fend off the lascivious director. Carrie’s problems don’t end there, but Stone turns to a case of his own. A wealthy gallery owner wants Stone to find a way to separate his daughter from her disreputable artist boyfriend, Derek. When Stone learns that Derek is not only a swindler but also a drug dealer, he is drawn into an elaborate police sting operation, and into bed with an undercover officer and her girlfriend. Even Stone agrees his bedroom antics are a little over the top this time around, lamenting, “I used to enjoy sex,” but now there are “too many demands being made.” Readers looking for a fun, breezy page-turner will not be disappointed, and longtime fans of the series will have their curiosity piqued by Dolce’s return. --Kristine Huntley