Swimming to Catalina

she is beautiful.
    From a premier table at Elaine’s to dark back alleys where lurk Armani-clad mobsters with the latest lethal accessories, Stone launches a life-and-death hunt that will test him as no case has ever done before.
    “Satisfying to the last dirty deed…This seductive novel will have readers twitching with suspense.”
    —Library Journal
    “Excellent…A fun read for fans of undercover agents who get plenty of action under the covers.”
    —USA Today
    More Stone Barrington and Stuart Woods coming from PerfectBound…
    The five Stone Barrington novels described above (there are, to date, nine, also includingL.A. Dead ;Cold Paradise ;The Short Forever ) are available from PerfectBound e-books as of April 2003. Please visit www.perfectbound.com for details of and to purchase these five titles and other Stuart Woods e-books titles. And get all the latest news on Stuart Woods at www.stuartwoods.com.
    And new in hardcover from Stuart Woods…
    Dirty Work
    Back in New York City after the London adventures ofThe Short Forever , cop-turned-lawyer Stone Barrington is approached by a colleague at the firm of Woodman & Weld seeking help with a celebrity divorce case.
    Heiress Elena Marks needs proof of her lay about husband’s infidelity before she can begin divorce proceedings. When the undercover work Stone sets up turns dirty—and catastrophic—leaving the errant husband dead and the mystery woman gone without a trace, Stone must clear his own good name and find a killer hiding among the glitterati of New York’s high society.
    Carpenter—the beautiful British intelligence agent first encountered inThe Short Forever —arrives in New York to begin an investigation of her own; Stone suspects that her case is strangely connected to the dead husband. And he and Dino, his former NYPD partner, are set to face the most bizarre and challenging assignment of their very colorful careers.

    About the Author
    Stuart Woodswas born in Manchester, Georgia; graduated from the University of Georgia; and served in the Air National Guard. A professional sailor, Mr. Woods participated in the Observer Single-handed Transatlantic Race (OSTAR) in 1976 and the catastrophic Fastnet Race in 1979, in which fifteen competitors died.
    W.W. Norton published Woods’s first novel,Chiefs , in 1981. It won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America that year and was made into a six-hour television drama starring Charlton Heston.
    Mr. Woods, who has written twenty-six novels—including nine featuring Stone Barrington—currently resides in Florida, New York City, and Maine.
    Please visit www.stuartwoods.com.

    Praise for Stuart Woods and
    SWIMMINNG TO CATALINA
    “This enjoyable, star-dusted plunge into Hollywood’s dark side agreeably melds ’90s glitz with classic noir.”
    —Peoplemagazine
    “A fast-paced thriller….Swimming to Catalina is Woods’s 17th novel, and his experience is evident in a tight storyline that never loses focus while barreling to an exciting finale…. Woods…keeps readers interested.”
    —Rocky Mountain News
    “Outstanding…. After nearly two dozen books, Woods can still surprise readers, not only with clever plots and characters, but also with his knowledge of everything from aeronautics to yachtsmanship.”
    —Booklist
    “His best book sinceSanta Fe Rules.”
    —Boston Globe
    “Woods is in the entertainment business…and he’s good at it.”
    —Winston-Salem Journal

    DEAD IN THE WATER
    “A man lost at sea, a small airplane crash, some impassioned sexual antics, and a tropical island…. One of [his] best…. Woods is a pro and this goes by like a summer breeze, with just enough heat to make you sweat.”
    —Detroit News
    “Fast-paced, filled with enough humor, sex and clever surprises all the way to the last page to make it thoroughly entertaining amusement.”
    —Publishers Weekly
    “Trying to make this neat tale last more than one sitting would be like staying up all night nursing a Godiva truffle.”
    —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
    DIRT
    “Blackmail, murder, suspense, love—what else could you want in a book?”
    —Cosmopolitan
    “This slickly entertaining suspenser displays Woods at the top of his game…. Woods delivers a marvelously sophisticated, thoroughly modern, old-fashioned read.”
    —Publishers Weekly, starred review
    “There is something delightfully nasty about the way Stuart Woods settles every account in his crime capers. Even more delightful is