Black Dog

Stone Barrington is back in New York City. Hoping for some downtime but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards for him.

I’m excited about this one. Joan, who is one of my favorite characters, is front and center in this one. Introducing her uber-rich aunt to Stone. Her aunt has somewhat of a chequered past but is also married to one of the wealthiest men in the world. Or she was until he recently died.

Although she’s sixty, she looks forty and has the hots for Stone. And who wouldn’t? She also wants to give him millions in business and make him the executor of her will and her stepson’s trust. The stepson is too bad for a black sheep even. And boy does this Eddie character not have a moral bone in his body.

He is desperate and we all know desperate people do desperate things. Like murder and forgery.

This was a very humorous book. Stone always has a good sense of humor but who knew about Joan?

Woods always gives us a good time with Stone, Dino, and Joan. This one was especially good!

NetGalley/02 Aug 2022 Penguin Group/Putnam

Free ARC from NETGALLEY

Black Dog is yet another "starred attraction" to the Stuart Woods' Stone Barrington series. If you liked the last one and the one before that you will enjoy this one as they all follow the same predictable format. Beautiful women, mega-wealthy and dangerous situations still make the familiar fun.

Stuart Woods does it again! I look forward to each and every one of the books in the Stone Barrington series. Stone is like an old friend that you know well and enjoy having drop in from time to time. The same goes for the group that he surrounds himself with. Stone’s adventure in Black Dog does not disappoint! As a matter of fact, there seems to be quite a bit of humor to the situation in spite of the accompanying danger involved. I was quite pleased to see Joan, Stone’s loyal Girl Friday, figure so prominently in this story, and it was good to have a peek into her life and back story. My only complaint is that it, like the others, ended too soon, but I am looking forward to the next one. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for feeding my addiction early!

Devoured another Stone Barrington book! This one, focused on his long time secretary Joan and her pesky relative, Eddie. As per usual, lots of NYC dining with Dino but kind of light on Stone's love interests as he declines his client's advances. Keep churning them out Stuart, we can't wait for the next one!

Another fantastic book by Stuart Woods, I love this series, the characters have become old friends after all this time. The story concerns the difficulties in ridding oneself of an unwanted stalker, and takes great pains to show how slanted the system is to favor the criminals over law abiding citizens. Woods does get to sneak in some references to his left leaning political views, but in this day and age it's sadly par for the course. I have been reading this series since the beginning and I hope to be able to continue enjoying them for many years to come. These are my guilty pleasure and they truly are a pleasure to read. I only wish that they took longer to read, just as I'm getting into it it seems like I'm finished, but Woods turns out new books every few months so it's a trade off that works for me. If you're interested in an enjoyable afternoon with some old friends you definitely couldn't do any better than these.

Spectacular as usual. How the author keeps writing such varied novels with Stone growing through the years is true talent
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this arc

Black Dog is yet another welcome addition to Stuart Woods' Stone Barrington saga. While predictable, in the sense that the story features beautiful women, extraordinary wealth and dangerous circumstances, this novel is nonetheless compelling, amusing, and at its heart, somewhat surprising. While all of Stone's fans are very familiar with his secretary, Joan Robertson, it is fun and different to see her as the central character of the novel. Also featured, as expected are Dino Bacchetti, New York City Chief of Police, and the sights and sounds of the big city.

As always, I could not put this book down until I had finished it. Stuart Woods has done it yet again, may it be ever so! You won't want to miss it.