Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #130023 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 416 pages

From Amazon.com
Talk about a bad first day. Major Holly Barker thought she was getting out of a mess when she left the army. She'd been sexually harassed by her superior, but the exigencies of the military legal system wound up wrecking her career. Orchid Beach seemed like the perfect place to start over. Though Chief Marley, an old family friend, was worried about some local increases in the drug trade, the Florida barrier island was not a crime mecca. As the new deputy police chief, Holly would be stepping on the toes of a few Orchid Beach P.D. regulars who were being overlooked for the job, but she would prove her worth in short order. After installing her trailer in Riverview, though, the bad news started to flood the Beach. The chief was found along the side of highway A1A with a bullet through the head, and his closest friend just had his skull blown apart with the chief's shotgun. Now, Holly is the acting chief in a town she hardly knows and with a police force that's full of animosity towards its newly minted leader. Just about the only consolation is that Holly has inherited Daisy, a Doberman who's about the best and most faithful friend a troubled gal could ask for; Daisy's a fierce defender of her master and she knows how to retrieve a beer on command.

Holly is a new character for Stuart Woods, and the author wastes no time getting readers into the thick of the mystery. This means that character takes a bit of a back seat to plotting in Orchid Beach, but with a mystery this fast-paced, the tradeoff is worthwhile. --Patrick O'Kelley

From Publishers Weekly
After a string of successes based on the escapades of the redoubtable Stone Barrington, Woods (Swimming to Catalina) shifts to a female protagonist in this police procedural, with mostly smooth and satisfying results. Woods's new heroine is Holly Barker, a 37-year-old MP supervisor whose army career comes to a halt when she loses a sexual harassment suit against her superior officer. A friend of her father's offers her a position as a deputy in the small Florida town of the title, but life becomes even more problematic when she gets there and finds that her benefactor is in a coma after having been shot. The body of his best friend is discovered next. The clues quickly lead to an exclusive community for the ultra-rich within Orchid Beach that bears a suspicious resemblance to a military installation, and the trail gets hotter when several corrupt Miami ex-cops turn up on the community's roster of security workers. Aided by local defense attorney Jackson Oxenhandler, Barker gathers a raft of evidence that she turns over to the FBI, which organizes a well-planned assault on the fortress. The climactic raid is somewhat lacking in suspense, but Woods compensates by introducing a charming romantic subplot between Holly and Jackson, and the story gets extra bite from Holly's intriguing relationship with an inherited canine named Daisy, the clairvoyant Doberman that belonged to her mentor. Agent, Anne Sibbald.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA-An entertaining suspense story. After losing a sexual-harassment lawsuit, Major Holly Barker, 37, retires from the military and accepts a job as assistant police chief in Orchid Beach, FL. Even before she gets her trailer unhitched and her uniform on, police chief Chet Marley and his friend Hank Doherty are brutally murdered. She doesn't know whom she can trust in her department, and the murders seem to be tied to the heavily secured and gated community of Palmetto Gardens. Holly adopts a Doberman pinscher (who comes to her rescue more than once) and becomes romantically involved with a local lawyer. The main characters are well drawn and expressive. Holly Barker is tough when she needs to be, and clever and persistent in following her hunches. With a little assistance, she finds the leak in her department and solves the murders.
Patricia White-Williams, Kings Park Library, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

quick paced read..
this is my first stewart woods book..and I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with it. The dialogue flows pretty easily and the pacing was very fast. I read the book in a couple of days. Good action and plenty of twists and turns that I didn't see comming from start to finish.

Definetly worth a look for anyone who's a fan of good crime/mystery novels. I'll definetly be reading Woods' other works!

Orchid Beach
When I learned that the new Stone Barrington novel was to feature Holly Barker, chief of police in Orchid Beach, Florida, I thought I'd get to know her by reading the first book in her series by Stuart Woods. Holly Barker is forced into early retirement from the Army after a nasty sexual harassment case. Chet Marley, chief of police in Orchid Beach, offers Holly a job as his deputy chief of police. On her first day on the job, Holly learns that Marley had been shot the night before and was in a coma. She also finds out that Marley's best friend, Hank Doherty, had been killed the same night. Holly adopts Doherty's Doberman, Daisy. She suspects that someone on the force knows about the shootings, but she isn't sure who knows. As she investigates, she is led to Palmetto Gardens, a very exclusive and rich piece of property in Orchid Beach. It is gated with extremely tight security. With the help of the FBI, her father Hamilton, and her lover Jackson Oxenhandler, Holly gets the answers to her questions. I enjoyed this book. Stuart Woods writes page turners, and "Orchid Beach" will keep the reader turning pages.

A good simple mystery
This being the second book I have read by Mr.Woods I have enjoyed it much more than Swimming to Catalina. His characters are understandable,all dialog is down to earth, the mystery is within a probable format and the great dog is only a plus. I will read more of this author and would recommend his books to all.