Stuart Woods, Dark Harbor

Dark Harbor

Stuart Woods

Putnam, Apr 2006, $25.95

ISBN: 039915342X

Attorney Stone Barrington dines with his former NYPD partner Dino Bachetti when CIA operative Lance Cabot and Agents Holly Barker arrive at the restaurant. Lance asks Stone what he knows about his first cousin Dick Stone, Jr. Stone says not much as they have seen each other once in the last two decades, and that was eight or nine years ago. He said that following graduating high school he spent a summer with Dick and his family, but that was about it, except for a package he received this morning. Lance informs Stone that the Isleboro sheriff department and the Maine State police believe Dick, recently appointed the CIA Deputy Director for Operations, murdered his wife Barbara and their eighteen year old daughter Esme before killing himself. Stone and Lance are to uncover the truth.

They start with the package, which contains a letter of instruction, two wills, and a finance statement. From there the quartet travel to Dick's home in the village of Dark Harbor on Isleboro, an isle in Penobscot Bay, Maine. As they dig deeper into what happened, the evidence piles up that a double murder suicide occurred, but Stone finds it too perfect and wonders if his cousin's work as an operative, or his estrangement with his brother Caleb led to what he believes is the homicides of three people.

This delightful police procedural with espionage overtones hooks the audience from the moment that Stone and Lance discuss his cousin, and never slows down until the final twin confrontation. The long running series is refreshed with Stone explaining aspects of his past, but smoothly as part of the present investigation. This tale is a must for series regulars, while newcomers will understand why the accolades for this very talented writer are many.