A Stone Barrington Novel
About this ebook series
The first novel in the thrilling Stone Barrington Series by #1 New York Times Bestselling author Stuart Woods
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’s 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.
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’s 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.
As a single mom and deputy coroner of Sorenson, Wisconsin, Mattie Winston is used to her life being a juggling act. But now that she’s moved in with Detective Steve Hurley and his teenaged daughter, and has started planning their wedding, her home life is looking more like a three-ring circus. At least her workload at the Medical Examiner’s office is lightened by the new hire Hal Dawson. But before Hal can even cash his first paycheck, he’s murdered on a fishing trip with his girlfriend, who’s gone missing. To keep her life from going completely under, Mattie will have to dive deep for clues. But a killer is just as determined to keep the truth from ever surfacing . . .
Praise for Annelise Ryan and her Mattie Winston series
“The forensic details will interest Patricia Cornwell readers . . .while the often slapstick humor and the blossoming romance between Mattie and Hurley will draw Evanovich fans.”—Booklist
“Sassy, sexy, and suspenseful.”—Carolyn Hart
“Has it all: suspense, laughter, a spicy dash of romance.”—Tess Gerritsen
“Another winning mystery!”—Leann Sweeney
In a town where the sharks drive Bentleys and no one can be trusted, Stone soon discovers he's drowning in a sea of empty clues that takes him from Bel Air to Malibu to Rodeo Drive. Running out of time and leads, he needs to keep his head above water and find Arrington fast, or end up swimming with the fishes himself.
Trying to find a brilliant killer in a sea of old faces is difficult enough without Stone's former love, Arrington, now Mrs. Vance Calder, resurfacing too—especially when she sets off her own fireworks coming nose to nose with his latest flame, a Mafia princess as beautiful as she is dangerous.
Caught on a thrill ride of a case that tests him as none has ever done before, Stone races to find a twisted madman with a taste for blood vengeance, with only a prayer to find him before Stone's worst fears are realized.
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...
Luxuriating in Palm Beach's winter warmth, Stone is stunned to recognize someone he thought was dead. Former client Allison Manning is alive and well—and suddenly very rich. Now she needs Stone's help in squaring a charge of insurance fraud that's been hanging over her head for years—and in getting rid of a recently acquired stalker. Suspects abound, including an elusive writer, an enigmatic businessman, and Allison's devious former husband. Only Stone can thwart the sly and greedy plan to steal the millions of dollars at stake—and the crafty killer behind it...
In London to locate the niece of his enigmatic client, Stone Barrington soon finds himself out of his territory and out of his depth. Baffled as he is by the behavior of his quarry, Stone’s life is further complicated by two—possibly three—murders and the affectionate attentions of two former lovers. And when the intelligence services of three countries become involved, he can only hang on for the wild ride...
Hired to prove infidelity in an heiress’s marriage, Stone Barrington goes undercover. But the work turns dirty—and catastrophic—when the errant husband is found dead and the other woman disappears without a trace. Now, Stone must clear his own good name and find a killer hiding among the glitterati of New York’s high society.
Stone Barrington is, once again, right at home in New York City. But this time he’s joined by the tenacious Holly Barker—the lady police chief of Orchid Island, Florida. She’s come to Manhattan hot on the trail of a fugitive from her jurisdiction. And Stone is, well, glad to see her, right up until the moment when her presence creates a great danger to both of them—and to their surprise, she becomes the pursued instead of the pursuer...
Not long after Stone and his ex-partner Dino make the acquaintance of Billy Bob—a smooth-talkin’ Texan packing a wad of rare two-dollar bills—someone takes a shot at them. Against his better judgment, Stone offers Billy Bob a safe haven for the night but almost immediately regrets it. The slippery out-of-towner has gone missing and someone has been found dead—in Stone’s town house no less. Now, Stone is now stuck between a stunning federal prosecutor and a love from his past, a con man with more aliases than hairs on his head, and a murder investigation that could ruin them all.
Stone Barrington hasn’t heard from his cousin, Dick Stone, in years. Then, an otherwise pleasant meal at Elaine’s is interrupted by the CIA with news of Dick’s death—apparently by his own hand. It seems that Dick Stone, a quiet family man who doubled as a CIA agent, methodically executed his wife, daughter, and then himself...or did he? Appointed executor of Dick’s will, Stone must settle the estate and—with the help of his ex-partner Dino and friend Holly Barker—piece together the elusive facts of his cousin’s life and death as a CIA operative. At every step, Stone knows he is being watched by Dick’s family—and one of them just may be the killer.
It started out as just another late night at Elaine’s, but it ended with Stone on the horns of a dilemma. Forced to represent a sleazy but clueless con man, Stone finds that what could have been a throwaway case instead leads right to Carmine Datilla, a powerful mob boss with a notoriously bad temper and long reach. With the help of his ex-partner, Dino, Stone investigates “Datilla the Hun,” and the rest of the mob family, encountering intrigue and danger at every turn. Will Stone finally take a stand, or will he end up at the bottom of Sheepshead Bay?
Rogue agent Teddy Fay has been considered dead for some time now. But President Will Lee thinks Teddy may still be alive. In a top-secret Oval Office meeting, Stone Barrington learns that he and his cohorts, Holly Barker and Dino Bacchetti, are being sent to the beautiful Caribbean island of St. Marks, courtesy of the CIA, to track down Teddy once and for all.
St. Marks is a vacationers’ paradise, but its luxurious beach clubs and secluded mountain villas are home to corrupt local politicians and more than a few American expats with murky personal histories. Stone and Holly soon discover that in St. Marks, everyone is hiding something—and that Teddy Fay may just be hiding in plain sight.
Dumped by his glamorous Russian girlfriend during dinner at Elaine’s and running low on cash, Stone Barrington is not having a good week. So his luck seems to be improving when he’s hired to locate the missing son of a very wealthy man—lucky because the job pays well, and because the son seems to be hiding in the tropical paradise of Key West. But when Stone and his sometime running buddy Dino Bacchetti arrive in the sunny Keys, it appears that someone has been lying in wait. Stone very nearly loses his life after being blindsided at a local bar, and he realizes that the missing son he’s been hired to track may have good reason for not wanting to be found. Suddenly Key West is looking less like Margaritaville and more like the mean streets of New York...
Stone Barrington is back in New York, working on some simple cases for Woodman & Weld when he crosses paths with a aspiring actress and gets a little more involved with show business than he’d expected...
Then the fleecing of a wealthy art dealer’s daughter leads him into the worlds of financial fraud, “Big Art,” and Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where opulent co-op apartments are hung with multimillion-dollar paintings and family scandals never remain hidden for long. No stranger to high society or the foibles of the rich, Stone must now uncover the truth in a world where wealth and beauty sometimes come at the ultimate price.
Stone Barrington and his former cop partner Dino are enjoying their drinks at Elaine’s when former client and all-around sad sack Herbie Fisher walks in...in need of a lawyer. But while Stone is trying to fend off Herbie, a more welcome potential employer appears: a beautiful woman looking for somebody who somebody else wants dead.
She takes Stone into the posh world of embassy soirees and titled privilege, where high society meets government intrigue. And when trouble follows him from his Manhattan townhouse to his tranquil summer home in Maine, Stone has to decide what to do with the explosive information he’s uncovered.
Stone Barrington is enjoying his usual dinner at Elaine’s when his boss at Woodman & Weld, the law firm where Stone is “of counsel,” walks in, sits down and hands Stone a check for one million dollars. It seems Stone’s undercover dealings with MI6 had brought in a big new client for the firm, and they’re willing to pay Stone a huge bonus and make him a partner. But almost as soon as he’s taken the deal, Stone gets wind of an impending scandal that might torpedo his big promotion: it seems the lucrative new client he’s introduced to the firm might be a devil in disguise...
Stone is no stranger to Bel-Air—and to the beautiful and wealthy widow who needs his help to become even wealthier. At stake is the sale of her investment in Hollywood's world-famous Centurion Studios. But when Stone arrives in Bel-Air to finalize the sale, he discovers that one of L.A.'s most rapacious power brokers has Centurion in his sights. Now, Stone must play a surprisingly complex and high-stakes game, the kind only the truly rich and dangerously ambitious can win—and survive.
After an eventful trip to Bel-Air and a reunion with his sophisticated (and very wealthy) former love, Arrington Calder, confirmed bachelor Stone Barrington is looking to stay in New York and cash in on his partnership at Woodman & Weld. Not only is he a rainmaker of one of the riches white-shoe law firms in town, he’s back in his element. Manhattan, after all, is his home, and no one is better than Stone at navigating both its shadowy underworlds and its chic society.
But Arrington has other plans for Stone, and his life is about to take a turn he never imagined...
