Title:
Blood Orchid
Author:
Stuart
Woods
Genre:
Fiction / Mystery / Detective
Format:
CD, 8 CDs, 10 Hours, Unabridged
Narrator: Dick Hill & Susie
Breck
Pub
Date:
June 2004
Description:
Blood Orchid is the
third adventure of one of Stuart Woods's most engaging characters, Chief of
Police Holly Barker. This time out, Holly is trying to get her life back
together after the shattering loss of her fiance. With the help of her wily
Doberman, Daisy, and her father, Ham, she throws herself back into the job with
a vengeance. At a local restaurant, Holly and Ham meet a gentleman new to the
area, rich and dapper developer Ed Shrine, who has found an evocative name for
both his favorite flower and his latest real estate venture: the "Blood
Orchid."
But before Holly can settle into her routine
again, bullets crash into the home of a friend and a floater is found bobbing in
the Intercoastal Waterway. Holly connects these events to the
death-by-sniper-fire of two Miami businessmen and a man evading questions at a
Federal agency - but she can't imagine how these violent occurrences could be
related to her own quiet, unspoiled town of Orchid Beach. Joining forces with a
handsome FBI agent, she tracks the clues straight to their source, only to find
a scam more lucrative and more dangerous than any this idyllic town - or Holly -
has ever seen.
Reviews:
In Woods's 24th
novel-his third in the Holly Barker series (after Orchid Blues)-the prolific
bestselling novelist revisits savvy, sexy ex-MP officer (and her dog, Daisy),
now police chief of the small Florida east coast town of Orchid Beach. As the
fast-paced but fluffy and rather predictable thriller begins, two out of three
Miami bidders for a glitzy, gated residential complex with golf course are shot
and killed. The third bidder, orchid fancier Ed Shine, a former New York real
estate mogul and new resident of Orchid Beach, narrowly escapes the same fate.
Shine renames his newly acquired property Blood Orchid, after an exotic hybrid
blossom he has developed-a name that seems gruesomely prophetic when it turns
out that the Miami mob may be involved with the property. Meanwhile, Barker,
investigating the case and trying to discover who is bugging her beach house,
spots the intruder's van from the plane of her flying instructor, Ginny (who is
also her dad Ham's new bedmate). The two women make an emergency landing on the
beach and scare the perp away, but his body is soon found floating in the Indian
River. The trail leads to a shifty Cuban locksmith in Fort Lauderdale and the
late intruder's fiance‚. Enter a Miami restaurateur with mob ties, and corpses
pile up as the plot thickens. Woods writes strong action scenes, but his usual
flair for tight, creative plotting is sadly missed here. Copyright 2002 Reed
Business Information,
Inc. - Publishers
Weekly
Always a pleasure to
read. - Denver
Post
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