L.A. Dead (Stone Barrington)
Stuart Woods is a master of the glitzy, high-concept, suspense thriller,  and Stone Barrington, hero of five previous mysteries, is the kind of private  cop who glides gracefully between lavishly detailed dinners, private jets, fancy  parties, sexy assignations in luxury hotels, and the occasional murder  investigation. Occasionally he gets his hands dirty, but more often it's his  sheets.L.A. Deadfinds him in Venice, where he's about to marry the  beautiful (but seriously crazy) daughter of a high-ranking Mafioso, whose other  daughter happens to be married to Stone's best friend--an NYPD cop, naturally.  The civil ceremony's over, but the church wedding is only hours away when Stone  is called to L.A., where his former lover has just discovered her husband's dead  body. The lover is Arrington (an oddity, given Stone's surname; did Woods just  run out of imagination here?), the dead husband is a famous movie star, and  everyone believes she killed him. Everyone except Stone, who's still in love  with Arrington. He has a helluva time interviewing (and bedding) all the women  in her circle, including the dead husband's private secretary, Arrington's best  friend, her lawyer's mistress, and a number of Hollywood wives. Jackie Collins  does the ladies better, but Stone manages to save the damsel in distress, get  rid of his nutty near-wife without offending her father, and wrap up all the  details except the most important one. No doubt he's saving that for the next  book. In the meantime, Woods's many fans will snap this up and spend the interim  wondering: if Stone marries the woman of his dreams, will that make her  Arrington Barrington?--Jane Adams