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. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
The first of the author's novels to feature police detective Stone Barrington, this 1991 thriller finds him in the wrong place at the wrong time and witnessing an accident that turns his life inside out. His investigation leads into some serious weirdness of both the criminal and sexual kind. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
When a famous news anchor dives off a skyscraper right in front of an off-duty detective, a police drama is bound to follow. Stone Barrington won't rest until he finds the answers, no matter where his search leads. Robert Lawrence delivers a "Dragnet-style" interpretation of the formulaic crime story. His characterization of Stone Barrington often blurs with that of his partner, Dino Bacetti, but neither detective's straightforward personality suffers much from the slips. Lawrence gives more flavor to the secondary players, a psychotic mortician, a nymphomaniac office administrator, a gay journalist, and an egocentric TV anchor. Too bad the plot doesn't offer more of a challenge. R.P.L. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Kirkus Reviews
Silky-smooth cop-thriller, Woods's first since Chiefs (1981)- -only this one's set not in the author's usual deep South (Palindrome, 1990; Grass Roots, 1989, etc.), but in N.Y.C., where Stone Barrington, lawyer-turned-cop, must solve the case of a skydiving celebrity. It's a case because veteran-skydiver/TV-news-star Sasha Nijinsky wasn't wearing a parachute when she dove from her 12th- story penthouse as Stone, passing by, watched in horror. Was she pushed? Stone wants to ask her but can't--not because she's dead, although everyone but Stone assumes she is (he thinks her skydiving skills may have kept her alive), but because she's missing: the ambulance that picked her up crashed, and when the smoked cleared, Nijinsky was gone. The police brass want Stone to find her or her body fast--and whoever might have pushed her. Stone combs the city (drawn in high glitz as the action veers from Elaine's to the Four Seasons to the U.N. Plaza) and digs out three likely culprits: snooty Barron Harkness, whose TV-anchorship Nijinsky coveted (and whose sexy assistant, Cary Hilliard, soon shares Stone's bed); creepy Herbert Van Fleet, an upscale necrophiliac undertaker who'd written thousands of love letters to Nijinsky; and stoical Hank Morgan, a lesbian makeup artist who was carrying on with the missing star. When evidence points to Morgan, the brass, hungry to close the case, railroad her arrest--leading to her suicide and, because of his expected protest, to Stone's dismissal from the force. Embittered, Stone hires on with a top law firm, only to work on a case that shows him the dark side of sexy Cary--but not nearly as dark as what awaits him when he gets a written invitation from Nijinsky to join her in Van Fleet's secret chamber of horrors.... Stylish suspense among the gray-flannel/black-velvet set, with a winsome hero and agreeable dollops of sex, gore, and demented mayhem: Woods's best since Under the Lake. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Atlanta Constitution
"Suspenseful and surprising."


Los Angeles Daily News
"Hollywood slick and fast-moving."


Book Description
It Was Just Luck Everyone is always telling Stone Barrington that he's too smart to be a cop, but it's pure luck that places him on the streets in the dead of night, just in time to witness the horrifying incident that turns his life inside out. Suddenly he is on the front page of every New York newspaper, and his life is hopelessly entwined in the increasingly shocking life (and perhaps death) of Sasha Nijinsky, the country's hottest and most beautiful television anchorwoman. No matter where he turns, the case is waiting for him, haunting his nights and turning his days into a living hell. Stone finds himself caught in a perilous web of unspeakable crimes, dangerous friends, and sexual depravity that has throughout it one common thread: Sasha.


Download Description
E-book Extra: 'We Are Very Different People": Stuart Woods on Stone Barrington. In the dead of night, Stone Barrington witnesses a horrifying crime. Now he's entwined in the shocking life (and perhaps death) of Sasha Nijinsky, the country's hottest television anchorwoman. Only one thing can stop the unspeakable crimes, dangerous friends, and sexual depravity that Stone uncovers: Sasha.


About the Author
Stuart Woods was born in Manchester, Georgia, a small town in the American South.He was educated in the local schools and at the University of Georgia, where he graduated with a BA degree in 1959.He served in the United States Air Force, in which he says he "...flew a truck," as an enlisted man during the Berlin Wall crisis of 1961-62. He devoted his early adult years to a career in advertising , as an award-winning writer for agencies in New York and London.It was while living in London in 1973 that he decided to pursue an ambition held since childhood, to write fiction.he moved to a flat in the stable yard of a castle in south County Galway, Ireland, and while working two days a week for a Dublin ad agency to support himself, began work on a novel.Shortly after beginning, he discovered sailing and , as he puts it, "Everything went to hell."The novel was put temporarily aside while he spent all his time, "...racing an eleven foot plywood dinghy against small children, losing regularly." In the autumn of 1974, a friend invited him to help ferry a small yacht up the west coast of Ireland, and the bug bit even harder.Shortly thereafter, his grandfather died, leaving him "...just enough money to get into debt for a boat," and he immediately decided to go to the 1976 Observer Single-handed Transatlantic Race (OSTAR).He moved to a gamekeeper's cottage on a river above Cork Harbour and had a boat built at a nearby boatyard.He studied navigation and sailed on other people's boats every chance he got, then, after completing a 1300-mile qualifying voyage from the Azores to Ireland, he persuaded the Race Committee to accept him as an Irish entry. He completed the race in good form, taking forty-five days, and in 1977 his memoir of the Irish period, Blue Water, Green Skipperwas published in London and New York.While sporadically working on the novel, he completed another book, A Romantic's Guide to the Country Inns of Britain and Ireland,published in 1979.Chiefs, Woods' long-awaited novel, was published in 1981 to wide critical and popular acclaim, garnering excellent reviews and winning the Edgar Allan Poe Award.Chiefs was filmed for television as a six-hour drama starring Charlton Heston.Following his success with that novel, Woods published a string of fiction that established him as one of the most popular writers in the world.Orchid Beach is Stuart Woods' eighteenth novel.His previous books, Run Before the Wind (1983), Deep Lie (1986), Under the Lake (1987), White Cargo (1988), Grass Roots (1989), Palindrome and New York Dead (1989), Santa Fe Rules (1991), L.A. Times (1992), Dead Eyes (1993), Heat (1994), Imperfect Strangers and Choke (1995), Dirt (1996),Dead in the Water (1997) and Swimming to Catalina(1998) have been translated into Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Serbo-Croatian, Czech, Japanese, and Hebrew and there are millions of copies of his books in print around the world. Several of Stuart Woods' novels have been optioned for feature films and television movies. Stuart Woods lives on the the Treasure Coast of Florida and Litchfield County, Connectict.He still flies his own plane, and sails.

ANNOTATION

"(A) Hollywood slick and fast-moving" (Los Angeles Daily News) mystery from the bestselling author of Palindrome. After witnessing a horrifying incident, NYPD cop Stone Barrington finds himself hopelessly entwined in the increasingly shocking life--and death--of the country's hottest and most beautiful TV anchorwoman.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

It Was Just Luck

Everyone is always telling Stone Barrington that he's too smart to be a cop, but it's pure luck that places him on the streets in the dead of night, just in time to witness the horrifying incident that turns his life inside out.

Suddenly he is on the front page of every New York newspaper, and his life is hopelessly entwined in the increasingly shocking life (and perhaps death) of Sasha Nijinsky, the country's hottest and most beautiful television anchorwoman.

No matter where he turns, the case is waiting for him, haunting his nights and turning his days into a living hell. Stone finds himself caught in a perilous web of unspeakable crimes, dangerous friends, and sexual depravity that has throughout it one common thread: Sasha.

Author Biography: Stuart Woods was born in Manchester, Georgia, a small town in the American South. He was educated in the local schools and at the University of Georgia, where he graduated with a BA degree in 1959. He served in the United States Air Force, in which he says he "...flew a truck," as an enlisted man during the Berlin Wall crisis of 1961-62.

He devoted his early adult years to a career in advertising , as an award-winning writer for agencies in New York and London. It was while living in London in 1973 that he decided to pursue an ambition held since childhood, to write fiction. he moved to a flat in the stable yard of a castle in south County Galway, Ireland, and while working two days a week for a Dublin ad agency to support himself, began work on a novel. Shortly after beginning, he discovered sailing and , as he puts it, "Everything went to hell." The novel was put temporarily asidewhile he spent all his time, "...racing an eleven foot plywood dinghy against small children, losing regularly."

In the autumn of 1974, a friend invited him to help ferry a small yacht up the west coast of Ireland, and the bug bit even harder. Shortly thereafter, his grandfather died, leaving him "...just enough money to get into debt for a boat," and he immediately decided to go to the 1976 Observer Single-handed Transatlantic Race (OSTAR). He moved to a gamekeeper's cottage on a river above Cork Harbour and had a boat built at a nearby boatyard. He studied navigation and sailed on other people's boats every chance he got, then, after completing a 1300-mile qualifying voyage from the Azores to Ireland, he persuaded the Race Committee to accept him as an Irish entry.

He completed the race in good form, taking forty-five days, and in 1977 his memoir of the Irish period, Blue Water, Green Skipper was published in London and New York. While sporadically working on the novel, he completed another book, A Romantic's Guide to the Country Inns of Britain and Ireland, published in 1979.

Chiefs, Woods' long-awaited novel, was published in 1981 to wide critical and popular acclaim, garnering excellent reviews and winning the Edgar Allan Poe Award. Chiefs was filmed for television as a six-hour drama starring Charlton Heston. Following his success with that novel, Woods published a string of fiction that established him as one of the most popular writers in the world.

Orchid Beach is Stuart Woods' eighteenth novel. His previous books, Run Before the Wind (1983), Deep Lie (1986), Under the Lake (1987), White Cargo (1988), Grass Roots (1989), Palindrome and New York Dead (1989), Santa Fe Rules (1991), L.A. Times (1992), Dead Eyes (1993), Heat (1994), Imperfect Strangers and Choke (1995), Dirt (1996), Dead in the Water (1997) and Swimming to Catalina (1998) have been translated into Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Serbo-Croatian, Czech, Japanese, and Hebrew and there are millions of copies of his books in print around the world. Several of Stuart Woods' novels have been optioned for feature films and television movies.

Stuart Woods lives on the the Treasure Coast of Florida and Litchfield County, Connectict. He still flies his own plane, and sails.

SYNOPSIS

E-book Extra: ￯﾿ﾽWe Are Very Different People￯﾿ﾽ: Stuart Woods on Stone Barrington.

In the dead of night, Stone Barrington witnesses a horrifying crime. Now he's entwined in the shocking life (and perhaps death) of Sasha Nijinsky, the country's hottest television anchorwoman.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

Flashy, name-dropping policeman Stone Barrington just happens to be passing by when celebrity Sasha Nijinsky dives from her 12-story New York penthouse and lands alive in fresh dirt. When the ambulance in which she is being rushed to the hospital collides with another vehicle, Sasha disappears. Barrington is obsessed: Is she alive? Who wanted her dead? Suspects abound in this cop drama/thriller. Was it Barron Harkness, her coanchor; Herbert Van Fleet, the undertaker who wrote her many letters; or Hank Morgan, the lesbian makeup artist who admits to being her lover? While searching for answers, Barrington has a sizzling affair with Harkness's assistant, Cary Hilliard. Things are not as they seem, and the end brings more than one surprise. Woods has many books to his credit including Edgar Allen Poe Award winner Chiefs, Palindrome, and White Cargo. Efrem Zimbalist Jr. does an excellent job with the narration. Recommended for all public libraries.--Patsy E. Gray, Huntsville P.L., AL Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

AudioFile

When a famous news anchor dives off a skyscraper right in front of an off-duty detective, a police drama is bound to follow. Stone Barrington won't rest until he finds the answers, no matter where his search leads. Robert Lawrence delivers a "Dragnet-style" interpretation of the formulaic crime story. His characterization of Stone Barrington often blurs with that of his partner, Dino Bacetti, but neither detective's straightforward personality suffers much from the slips. Lawrence gives more flavor to the secondary players, a psychotic mortician, a nymphomaniac office administrator, a gay journalist, and an egocentric TV anchor. Too bad the plot doesn't offer more of a challenge. R.P.L. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

Silky-smooth cop-thriller, Woods's first since Chiefs (1981)—only this one's set not in the author's usual deep South (Palindrome, 1990; Grass Roots, 1989, etc.), but in N.Y.C., where Stone Barrington, lawyer-turned-cop, must solve the case of a skydiving celebrity. It's a case because veteran-skydiver/TV-news-star Sasha Nijinsky wasn't wearing a parachute when she dove from her 12th- story penthouse as Stone, passing by, watched in horror. Was she pushed? Stone wants to ask her but can't—not because she's dead, although everyone but Stone assumes she is (he thinks her skydiving skills may have kept her alive), but because she's missing: the ambulance that picked her up crashed, and when the smoked cleared, Nijinsky was gone. The police brass want Stone to find her or her body fast—and whoever might have pushed her. Stone combs the city (drawn in high glitz as the action veers from Elaine's to the Four Seasons to the U.N. Plaza) and digs out three likely culprits: snooty Barron Harkness, whose TV-anchorship Nijinsky coveted (and whose sexy assistant, Cary Hilliard, soon shares Stone's bed); creepy Herbert Van Fleet, an upscale necrophiliac undertaker who'd written thousands of love letters to Nijinsky; and stoical Hank Morgan, a lesbian makeup artist who was carrying on with the missing star. When evidence points to Morgan, the brass, hungry to close the case, railroad her arrest—leading to her suicide and, because of his expected protest, to Stone's dismissal from the force. Embittered, Stone hires on with a top law firm, only to work on a case that shows him the dark side of sexy Cary—but not nearly as dark as what awaits him when he gets a writteninvitation from Nijinsky to join her in Van Fleet's secret chamber of horrors.... Stylish suspense among the gray-flannel/black-velvet set, with a winsome hero and agreeable dollops of sex, gore, and demented mayhem: Woods's best since Under the Lake.