Santa Fe Rules-Stuart Woods

Santa Fe Rules
Stuart Woods
Harper, Dec 2008, $7.99
ISBN: 0061711632

Affluent Hollywood producer Wolf Willet cannot remember what he did the night before, but thinks nothing of it as he is flying on his private plane from his Santa Fe home to Los Angeles even with Thanksgiving being the next day. Engine trouble forces him to land near the Grand Canyon. While waiting for the repair with the holiday in the way of any maintenance occurring, he reads the New York Times only to find his wife Julia, his business partner and himself murdered.

Instead of reporting that the third body is not him, Wolf flies to Hollywood after his plane is repaired to finish his movie. A week later he hires defense lawyer Ed Eagle to defend him as he expects legal trouble. The Santa Fe cops suspect him of murder and have identified the other dead male as the ex-husband of Julia's look-alike sister Barbara who has a tryst with Ed. Soon another homicide occurs and Wolf is arrested for the murders just when he leans his late wife stole over three million dollars from him, but remains ignorant to a hit called on him.

This is a reprint of an exciting fast-paced early 1990s thriller that is fun to read, but stretches plausibility further than the distance between Santa Fe and Hollywood. The twists starting with the insanity of finishing the movie instead of either going with a lawyer to the cops or gong underground as an amateur sleuth to spins on siblings that seem unreal, but in fairness add entertainment. Far from Stuart Woods' best work, his most dedicated fans will enjoy Wolf playing hardball by Hollywood make believe rules in Santa Fe.

Harriet Klausner