Blood Orchid

the book was great it kept me wanting to read more and more and as the end of the book neared i could not stop reading and had to finish the book do to stuart woods' finely crafted ending that was spectacular. the different narrative skills woods' incorporates in the book allow the reader to know what has happened as holly tries to figure out and find out who and why they did what they did. the last 100 pages of the book really grabbed my attention and made this a very cool book to read

As the third book in the Holly Barker series, I believe Blood Orchid is the best yet!Still recovering from the shock of Jackson's death and trying to move on with her life, Holly must now deal with attacks on her own life! The book opens with Palmetto Gardens up for sale, and the high-bidders in a pool of blood. Enter Ed Shine, the highest bidder left alive, with a hefty 60 million purchase! Palmetto Gardens becomes Blood Orchid Estates, and the corpses start piling up.There are several attempts made at Holly's own life, and her new boyfriend/under cover FBI friend is not much help, since he and Harry Crisp (making an appearance in each book of the series) are both with-holding information from her...not to mention that someone has bugged her house.Soon the intruder ends up dead in the river and Barker begins to investigate. She ends up south of Orchid Beach with possible Mob involvement, a dead Russian, a suspicious restaurant, and more and more dead bodies.Holly must determine who is bugging her and Ham's houses, who is trying to kill her, and why. Is Ed Shine and Blood Orchid involved? Or is this stemming from a past case and someone Holly put behind bars?The story starts with murder and ends with murder. You will have to read to find out who survives!

Holly Barker is a great inspiration to women everywhere. It's amazing that Woods can create a woman who other women will love and root for. Blood Orchild will not disappoint, it keeps us wanting more of Holly!

We had begun to tire of Woods' jet-setting playboy and sometime sleuth Stone Barrington, so this relatively new series starring Orchid Beach FL Police Chief Holly Barker has to our eye brought new life to his writing. In this third of the series featuring Holly, there are killings galore with a plot that moves along at a "murderous" pace. Indeed several attempts on our heroine?s own life only add to the suspense as she unravels a tale stretching back and forth to Miami, with mob and drug connections bringing help from the FBI to the scene. That latter element is almost more a hurdle than anything -- we even wondered for a while if the agent in charge, Harry Crisp, who hindered Holly while constantly pumping her for leads, was one of the bad guys. Meanwhile, Grant Early, a federal agent working undercover in Orchid Beach, adds a little romantic interest to the story, leading to a climax or two other than the one at the end of the book!The villain was probably a little more obvious than usual ? one player seemed a little fishy almost from the start, but it's quite a while before enough facts and clues converge to spell out the whole scheme of things. In between, we turned pages and burned the chapters almost as fast as they would go to reach the satisfying conclusion.Holly is a tough but likable character; her father Ham and one of her local officers, Hurd, plus her faithful hound Daisy add some good support roles in this well written, lively mystery which we thoroughly enjoyed. Some good scenes involving small aircraft added interest as well. So ? a step up from a beach read, but a tale that moves quickly ?longside the fireplace. All in all, Woods in great form.

It has been almost a year since Jackson died and Holly has buried herself in work trying to block out the pain. The Chief of Police of Orchid Beach, a coastal town on the East Coast of Florida, is usually very quiet. However, when Holly and her father visit a new friend Ed Shine, a sniper fires a shot that almost kills him. Ed is a property developer who bid on a piece of land in Orchid Beach that the federal government is selling and the two other bidders on the property are also assassinated.Holly immediately connects the dots and sees a link since the property in question was used in drug smuggling. She contacts the FBI and an agent tells her that he is sending an undercover operative into the area on a completely separate assignment. The agent and Holly hit it off but Holly is too busy dodging bullets to give their relationship a chance to grow.Stuart Woods famous for his Stone Barrington private eye novels has created a whole new series with it's own unique voice. The Holly Barker police procedurals are fun to read because the author imbues a subtle sense of humor in many of the characters. The heroine really doesn't know why she keeps getting shot at yet she still manages to produce a credible investigation. Mr. Woods just keeps getting better with each book he writes.Harriet Klausner