by Stuart Woods
Part of Stone Barrington, book 27
First published 2013
Stone Barrington travels to Bel-Air expecting to handle routine business matters and enjoy a peaceful retreat from New York's relentless energy. The attorney and occasional sleuth looks forward to trading Manhattan's harsh streets for California's gentler pace. But his quiet vacation dissolves when a case he thought closed explodes back into his life with fatal consequences. Someone has died, and Stone finds himself pulled into a dangerous web of deception. He must work alongside an unexpected partner, a man with extraordinary skills who operates outside conventional boundaries. Their unlikely alliance takes them from the glittering poker rooms of Las Vegas to California's exclusive coastal retreats. As they follow a trail marked by false identities, elaborate schemes, and murder, Stone discovers that appearances deceive at every turn. The investigation builds toward a revelation that will shake everything he believed about the case.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, action
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: unexpected-partnership
Setting: Bel-Air, California, Las Vegas, New York
320 pages · Hardcover · G.P. Putnam's Sons