L. A. Dead

✍ Scribed by Woods, Stuart

• Book ID: 109754975
• Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 179 KB
• Series: Stone Barrington 6
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN-13: 9781101100134
• ASIN: B002EBDOPG

✦ 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.

Stones 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 uproarand a former flame pining for Stones help in more ways than one.When he lands amid Hollywoods 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...

**

Amazon.com 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 Publishers Weekly

This latest installment in Woods's Stone Barrington thriller series finds the lawyer/sleuth from New York back in Los Angeles on a murder case in which everyone, even the accused, lazes along, enjoying life in sunny Southern California. In his sixth outing (following 1999's Worst Fears Realized), Barrington is surrounded by his usual cast of friends, acquaintances and casual sex partners. The biggest change here is that his ex-lover, Arrington Calder, stands accused of murdering her husband, movie star and renowned man-about-town Vance Calder, found dead of a gunshot wound in the couple's Bel Air mansion. Upon hearing the news, Barrington, in Italy for his imminent wedding to the lovely but unpredictable Dolce Bianchi, rushes to L.A. to take over Arrington's defense. Not much of substance happens next; there's plenty of rambunctious sex, lots of light banter, a few tiffs and a minimal bit of sleuthing. Barrington checks out who left the size-12 shoe imprint near the murder scene and does his best to avoid Dolce, who took exception to her fianc 's sudden departure from the nuptials and is now stalking him. The whole case ends abruptly and with little suspense, and everyone goes along his or her merry way. Woods's desultory plottingDit is never made entirely clear who really killed Vance CalderDand chatty dialogue may not suit hardcore thriller or mystery readers, but Barrington's fans will likely welcome the detective's newest California-chic adventure. Mystery Guild main selection; BOMC and Literary Guild featured selections. (Oct.)

ES Index : 6
Sort on Author : Woods, Stuart
Max Index : 42
All Identifiers : amazon:B002EBDOPG
Test Compare Series : gt
Formats : EPUB
Number of Formats : 1
Number of Words in Auth: 2
Has Cover : Yes
Test Text Series Index: Barrington
Single Author : Stuart Woods
Original Source : Mirc New Files Cleanup
Sorted Author by LN, FN: Woods, Stuart
Title Length : 009
Title Parm D : L.A. Dead
Title Parm F : L.A. Dead
Num of Aut : 1
Title Parm B : (
Record ID : 8709
Enter New Series (Calced): .Stone Barrington.Thriller.6..
ES Name : Stone Barrington
Template Work Area : Barrington
Uncomma Author : Stuart Woods
ES Genre : Thriller
Calc New Series : ....
Compare Author : eq
Title Parm A : L.A. Dead