Julie's Review: Loitering With Intent

Summary: Never one to avoid a glamorous vacation spot, Stone Barrington travels to Key West, Fla., in this easygoing entry in bestseller Woods's long-running series (Hot Mahogany, etc.) to feature the New York cop turned lawyer. Stone is supposed to track down Evan Keating, a young man whose signature is needed on documents allowing his father to sell the family business, except that Evan doesn't want to be found and when he is, doesn't want to sign the papers. Meanwhile, there's always time to enjoy good food and romance. Stone and Dino Bacchetti, his former NYPD partner, eat a lot of conch, while a beautiful Swedish doctor, Annika Swenson, learns the hard way that being involved with Stone is the most dangerous job in America. Woods handles the proceedings with dispatch and good humor, the pages fly by, and contented readers will sit back and eagerly await the next installment.~amazon.com

Review: I think I've said this before, but I'm going to say it again...I think that Stone Barrington is the guy that Stuart Woods wants to be. I think it's his alter ego. Why you might ask? I don't have concrete evidence it's just my opinion and they seem to have a couple things in common: flying and fine dining; I'm not sure about the womanizing. Loitering with Intent is probably the best Stone Barrington novel I've read in 2 years. This was funny, quick and a great plot which is more than the other recent installments. I love it when Dino and Stone travel on Eggers' dime. This time their case takes them to Key West and neither of them seem to mind. In fact, I think Dino saves his vacation time to go on jaunts like this with Stone.

Stone is sent to Key West to look for Evan Keating, heir to a fortune and his signature is needed to sell the family business. Well he finds him, easily, but as with all Stone's cases that's just where the fun begins. What I love is that Dino and Stone always know someone from the NYPD wherever they go. They are always retired and always helpful (NYPD must have a nice pension plan). It's never simple for Stone and of course mayhem follows him.

Since this is Stone Barrington he's always getting a "lady" into bed and in Key West he beds a lovely Swedish doctor. Although she's not just a subplot this time, she becomes and interesting part of the puzzle as the book gets deeper into the mystery.

This one has a couple different twists that I enjoyed and didn't see coming, which is even better. Sometimes when you read an author quite a bit you can see things coming, I almost never can with Woods.

If you are looking for a entertaining read, where you will chuckle but also enjoy the twists and turns, then Loitering with Intent is for you. As with all of the Stone Barrington novels, you don't have to read all of the previous books but you will want to when you are done.

Final Take: 4/5