Desperate Measures

A killer is stalking petite blond women on Manhattan’s East Side in Edgar-winner Woods’s diverting 47th novel featuring New York lawyer Stone Barrington (after Turbulence). One intended victim, Faith Barnacle, whom Stone recently hired as his personal pilot, manages to elude the unknown killer by crashing through a window of the seedy Lexington Avenue hotel where he’s held her captive. Luckily, she falls into a dumpster and suffers only minor injuries. Meanwhile, Stone assists a wealthy heiress he meets by chance with securing a divorce from her no-good husband, the book’s other villain. Dino Bacchetti, Stone’s police commissioner pal, lends a helping hand as needed. As usual, Woods keeps the tone light, as shown by the many pages devoted to the flirtatious banter between Stone and the book’s several attractive, available women. At the end, he surprises the reader by not neatly tying up every thread. Series fans will be satisfied, but those who prefer realistic police procedurals will have to look elsewhere. [em]Agent: Anne Sibbald, Janklow & Nesbit. (Oct.) [/em]