Carnal Curiosity

Stone Barrington shows he’s one of the smoothest operators around, despite running into a few rough patches, in Edgar-winner Woods’s entertaining 29th novel featuring the New York City attorney (after Standup Guy). What starts as a business meeting for insurance adjuster Crane Hart ends in Stone’s bedroom, as so often happens with beautiful women in this bestselling series, but the tryst leads to a confrontation with Hart’s estranged husband, Don Dugan, who’s stalling on the divorce settlement. Stone handles the oversized Dugan with his usual panache, but his troubles with the couple are just beginning. When the guests at a ritzy private party are robbed, Stone recognizes one of the crooks as a Dugan henchman. A subsequent robbery gets even more personal, when someone is able to bypass Stone’s state-of-the-art security system in his Manhattan townhouse and steals valuable paintings. Stone needs to draw on all his talents to recover his artwork and lay a trap for highly elusive thieves. Agent: Anne Sibbald, Janklow & Nesbit. (Apr.)