Santa Fe Edge

July 12, 2010
Ed Eagle continues to contend with his ex-wife, Barbara Eagle Keeler, in Woods's less than topnotch fourth thriller to feature the Santa Fe lawyer (after Santa Fe Dead). Keeler, who's incarcerated in Mexico's El Diablo Prison for Women, contrives to escape and return to the U.S. to finish off Eagle. Meanwhile, CIA agent Holly Barker, another Woods series lead, goes after renegade CIA agent Teddy Fay. Fay, who escaped Barker in Hothouse Orchid, wants to stay in Santa Fe, and figures that Todd Bacon, the young CIA agent dispatched to trace him, isn't a serious problem. In a third plot line, Eagle manages to free client Tip Hanks, a pro golfer suspected of murdering his wife, but Hanks will soon face other problems. With the bad guys at least as clever as the good guys and often more ruthless, the outcome is uncertain. Though not at his best, Woods provides plenty of not overly graphic sex and enough absurd contrivances for a slapstick comedy.

Stuart Woods loves to alternate the time each of his characters spends in the spotlight. In SANTA FE EDGE, the heroes are P.I. Cupie Dalton and a scary Apache Indian named Vittorio. They are easily the most fully realized characters in the book even though it's pitched as "an Ed Eagle adventure." Michael Kramer keeps the story rolling with his pitch-perfect interpretations of the many characters. He makes Cupie sound like he just stepped out of a 1940s black-and-white thriller. And Kramer's voice has enough "edge" to keep listeners riveted as the detectives once again try to keep Eagle's homicidal ex-wife from killing him. There are too many subplots, but they're nicely woven into the cloth of the main story. M.S. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine