Helpful Score: 1
I'd read other books in the Holly Barker series but was very excited to finally read the first book introducing this wonderful character. I am a new fan of the author and based on reading a few of them, I am now trying to read all of them! This is a great read, and I particularly love that Daisy, the loyal dog, is featured.
Helpful Score: 1
I love the Holly Barker series. I am a big Daisy fan (her Doberman), but the plots are always great too!
Helpful Score: 1
i enjoyed this first book of the Holly Barker series so much! finished it in a weekend!
Helpful Score: 1
Excellent book.
Talk about a bad first day. Major Holly Barker thought she was getting out of a mess when she left the army. She'd been sexually harassed by her superior, but the exigencies of the military legal system wound up wrecking her career. Orchid Beach seemed like the perfect place to start over. Though Chief Marley, an old family friend, was worried about some local increases in the drug trade, the Florida barrier island was not a crime mecca. As the new deputy police chief, Holly would be stepping on the toes of a few Orchid Beach P.D. regulars who were being overlooked for the job, but she would prove her worth in short order. After installing her trailer in Riverview, though, the bad news started to flood the Beach. The chief was found along the side of highway A1A with a bullet through the head, and his closest friend just had his skull blown apart with the chief's shotgun. Now, Holly is the acting chief in a town she hardly knows and with a police force that's full of animosity towards its newly minted leader. Just about the only consolation is that Holly has inherited Daisy, a Doberman who's about the best and most faithful friend a troubled gal could ask for; Daisy's a fierce defender of her master and she knows how to retrieve a beer on command.
From Publishers Weekly: "After a string of successes based on the escapades of the redoubtable Stone Barrington, Woods (Swimming to Catalina) shifts to a female protagonist in this police procedural, with mostly smooth and satisfying results. Woods's new heroine is Holly Barker, a 37-year-old MP supervisor whose army career comes to a halt when she loses a sexual harassment suit against her superior officer. A friend of her father's offers her a position as a deputy in the small Florida town of the title, but life becomes even more problematic when she gets there and finds that her benefactor is in a coma after having been shot. The body of his best friend is discovered next. The clues quickly lead to an exclusive community for the ultra-rich within Orchid Beach that bears a suspicious resemblance to a military installation, and the trail gets hotter when several corrupt Miami ex-cops turn up on the community's roster of security workers. Aided by local defense attorney Jackson Oxenhandler, Barker gathers a raft of evidence that she turns over to the FBI, which organizes a well-planned assault on the fortress. The climactic raid is somewhat lacking in suspense, but Woods compensates by introducing a charming romantic subplot between Holly and Jackson, and the story gets extra bite from Holly's intriguing relationship with an inherited canine named Daisy, the clairvoyant Doberman that belonged to her mentor." Agent, Anne Sibbald.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --
This was a fantastic book, just as all of Stuart Woods. This is a must read.
The Holly Barker series includes some of my very favorite Stuart Woods novels!
Great story, with a no nonense plot. All in all a quick fun read.
Love the Holly Barker novels - entertaining.
Too vulgar and too much profanity for me. Didn't finish it.
Woods Holly Barker character is always a good read. He makes her human in circumstances most of us luckily will never experience.
Loved this book! The suspense keeps building throughout the book.
This was the first Stuart Woods book I had ever read and I'm hooked. The characters are well developed. There is lots of intrigue and even action. I am looking forward to reading the other Holly Barker mysteries.
Five stars for this one. This was very exciting book - even my 81-year old father really liked it. Of course the Doberman Pinscher played a pivotal role, and that's what made the book really good.
You will want to read more by this author!
Lady MP in the army leaves it and enters civilian life. She takes a job as Deputy Chief of small town police squad.
Just as she gets going on the new job all hell breaks loose.
This is a really entertaining and fun read.
Just as she gets going on the new job all hell breaks loose.
This is a really entertaining and fun read.
Part of the Orchid Trilogy by Stuart Woods. Great reading!
Excellent... I have just in the past year been introduced to stuart woods books I especially like the Orchid series of books!! This series deals with Holly Barker as the main character. Mystery murder and maham
First in the major Holly Barker Novels. Forced into retirement at thirty-seven, smart, attractive, and fiercely independent Major Holly Barker Trades in her bars for the badge of Depute Sheriff in Orchard Beach, Florid. But below the sunny surface of this sleepy, well-t0-do town lies an evil that escalates into the cold blooded murder of one of Holly's new colleagues. An outsider, Holly has little to goon for answers. The closer she gets to the truth, the more danger stalks Holly.
This is a new author for me and a welsome discovery. Good Book.
This is a new author for me and a welsome discovery. Good Book.
Very entertaining read
Great Book
Great book about the character Holly Barker. Laughs, suspense and mystery.
Another page turner from Woods.
This book is a cat and mouse cops and robbers sort of book. This isn't really my taste in books, therefore I wasn't all that interested in the book. However, it is well thought out and a decent read.
I thoroughly enjoyed this thriller. I loved the main characters- 37 year old Major Holly Barker and her dog, a Doberman named Daisy. The plot was fast-paced and interesting.
FEMALE DETECTIVE. hOLLY bARKER AND HER DOBERMAN SOLVE THE MYSTERY. ENGROSSING BOOK.
A good story, but a little slower paced than I would have liked.
Holly Barker trades in her bars as a military cop for deputy chief of police in a small Florida town. A page turner with lots of secrets.
WOW!!! EXCELLENT book, I couldn't put this one down!
This book is a fast moving plot with entertaining characters. It does not have a complicated storyline, which makes it a perfect read for the beach, airplane ride, or while you watch little Johnny in the sandbox. My ultimate favorite book by Woods is still one of his earliest novels called "Chiefs". If you haven't checked it out yet please do. It has so many twists and turns, it will set your mind whirrling!
I enjoyed this easy read.
Forced into retirement from the Army, Holly Barker takes a job as deputy Chief of a small Florida town. Promoted to chief after the chief is murdered, Holly uncovers more than she bargained for. Aided by her retired father, the FBI and a public defender lover, Holly leads the FBI to their biggest bust in history. Oh, Daisy, a highly trained dog also plays a part in aprehending the bad guys in addition to retrieving a beer from the fridge on command!
Forced into retirement from the Army, Holly Barker takes a job as deputy Chief of a small Florida town. Promoted to chief after the chief is murdered, Holly uncovers more than she bargained for. Aided by her retired father, the FBI and a public defender lover, Holly leads the FBI to their biggest bust in history. Oh, Daisy, a highly trained dog also plays a part in aprehending the bad guys in addition to retrieving a beer from the fridge on command!
Very good book this author is very good
The 1st Holly Barker book. A very enjoyable read ... several good dynamics at work in this book, including the central mystery. There is the amazing Daisy - the Doberman who becomes Holly's best friend; the relationship between her and Ham, her father and there is the development of a strong, independent woman who takes over the police department of a small Florida town.
If you like these types of books, then I can confidently recommend the Holly Barker books ... there are five in all (so far!)
If you like these types of books, then I can confidently recommend the Holly Barker books ... there are five in all (so far!)
Too vulgar and too much profanity for me. Didn't finish it.
Too vulgar and too much profanity for me. Didn't finish it.
I loved this book. Can't wait to read the others in this series.
Stuart Woods'books are very easy reads and they keep your attention. This one did not disappoint! I'm looking forward to the new novel about Orchid Beach, Holly and Daisy that is out.
1st in the Holly Baker books. Love this series
Major Holly Barker trades in her bars as a military cop for the badge of deputy chief of police in Orchard Beach, FL. But, there is an evil in this town that escalates into murder of one of Holly's new collegues. As an outsider, she has little to go on and no one to help, except for Daisy, a Doberman who becomes her loyal companion.
Holly Barker forced into early retirement takes a job as the deputy chief of police in Orchid Beach, Florida.
Too vulgar and too much profanity for me. Didn't finish it.
Too vulgar and too much profanity for me. Didn't finish it.
Great read!
