The Woods formula continues ... Very quick read. ( )

Arrington Calder asks Stone to help her vote her shares in a takeover bid from a ruthless developer for Centurion Pictures. Along the way, Arrington buys a horse farm, sells her home in Virginia, and puts her Bel-Air home up for sale. With all this legal work, Stone is offered at partnership at the law firm where he has been "of counsel" for years. Dino and Mike Freeman help Stone and Arrington get through attempts on their lives, and save the studio that made Vance Calder famous and wealthy. ( )

A beautiful BelAir widow, already one of the wealthiest women in America, needs Stone's help to become even more cash-rich. At stake is the sale of her investment in - and the resulting dissolution of - Hollywood's world-famous Centurion Studios. Stone is no stranger to the stylish and lucrative world of Centurion. . . and he has more than a passing acquaintance with the lady herself. But when he arrives in BelAir to finalize the sale, the tranquility of that famous neighborhood turns out to be no more than a facade. One of LA's most rapacious power brokers has Centurion and its unique real estate in his sights, and he will not be denied. Stone finds himself dragged into a surprisingly complex and high-stakes game, the kind only the truly rich and dangerously ambitious can play. . .and survive. ( )

One of the better Barrington books. Stone weaves a clever plot to enable Arrington (his former lover and mother of his child) to retain control of a Hollywood studio owned by her former husband. Twisty enough for you? Stone and Dino are not in NYC, a delightful change and the amounts of money thrown around are phenomenal. Stone gets laid several times, as usual, but one of them doesn't get killed...that's odd for a Barrington novel. Dino's role helps bring the protagonist to justice after many bad acts. The plot involves Ed Eagle, a Santa Fe lawyer and his edgy ex-, bringing together a couple of Woods' plot strings. This one is #20 in the series and is better than most. ( )

Not bad, one of the better Barrington books. Woods actually weaves a fairly clever plot of stock takeovers, murder, romance, etc., in with some of his better written characters for a good summer read. It helps if you have read all the Barrington novels leading up to this one. ( )