Hot Mahogany by Stuart Woods

Synopsis

When a group of US Marines discover a cache of gold coins as they are leaving the battlefields of Korea they become, upon their discharge, very wealthy civilians. Colonel Barton Cabot parlays his wealth into a number of successful ventures, including his passion of collecting extremely valuable pieces of antique furniture. VERY valuable, as in a $25 million secretary desk.

As the story begins, Barton has been robbed of this valuable piece of Americana and suffers from amnesia as to exactly who assaulted him and stole his prized possession. He is also uncertain whether it was the original desk or a replica he had produced that was actually stolen.

Attorney/Detective Stone Barrington is assigned to protect the wealthy gentleman, solve the mystery, and find the missing piece. Easier said than done.

My Two Cents Worth

For me, Mr. Woods passes the ultimate litmus test for an author - the ability to tell an entertaining story. I have been a fan since Reckless Abandon.

Hot Mahogany, however, has a number of fatal flaws that I found disappointing. The story is well-written and fast-paced, but the character of Stone and his actions are too cliche to overlook.
The amnesia of Mr. Cabot originally promised some interesting twists in the plot, but fell flat and went nowhere. The character of Stone, a favorite of mine, seems to have been diluted to the point he has become just another elitist and egotistical playboy, out to see how many beauty queens he can undress and how many rich men he can make a buck from by being a smart alec. He seems to be little more than an advertisement for Knob Creek bourbon and Elaine's diner. At one point, I was reminded of the bar in Cheers, where the characters spent their every waking moment and "everybody knows your name."

I was most annoyed by the lingering questions I was left with at the end of the book. It was unclear if there was a theft of the desk, or if this was just a hoax created by Barton to swindle money from his ole pals. We never learn the truth about the amnesia and the issue was left unresolved. Did Stone and Dino steal the right desk and get conned by Barton?

I did enjoy reading the book, but it was not as polished and professionally constructed as prior works by Mr. Woods. It might be time to retire the character of Stone and turn instead to making Holly a central character.

Paperback
368 pages
3 1/4 hours