Stone Barrington may be a little exhausted from his life-threatening games with "Two-Dollar Bill" in his prior exploit but, before he can put vacation plans into motion, a few surprising developments open up a whole new case.

First, he receives a letter and mysterious package from his cousin Dick Stone who lives in wealthy circumstances on the small island of Islesboro, Maine. He's a relative Stone hasn't seen but once in 19 years. So, our good investigative lawyer is quite surprised to receive a letter appointing Stone as Dick's attorney, fee included, and asks him to put the sealed package in his safe, to be opened only in the event of his cousin's death.

After absorbing this and wondering what provoked it, Stone is playing marriage counselor to ex-NYPD partner and close buddy Dino Baccheti over dinner at Elaine's, their perennial hangout, when two of his law enforcement "clients", Lance Cabot who runs a CIA unit in New York, and Holly Barker, Lance's beautiful assistant with whom Stone has been known to spend magnificent time in the sack from time to time, show up. But, it's not a visit about companionship.

"Yesterday your cousin, Dick Stone, shot his wife and only daughter, then put a bullet in his own brain. At his house in Dark Harbor," Lance informs an astonished Stone. Immediately, the group assembles at Stone's house, whereupon he opens the package and discovers that he's the deceased's primary beneficiary and has been bequeathed the sole use of Dick's property for his lifetime. Lance informs the men that his involvement in the case derives from the heretofore secret fact that Dick was a fellow CIA agent, covering as a State Department employee.

When Stone flies the group up to Maine, they're met at the local airport by the caretaker of Dick's new dwelling, Seth Hotchkiss, who drives them to Dark Harbor. Soon, he's visited by the sergeant of the Maine Police with whom he argues over the cause of death. Disproving the murder-suicide theory will be a matter for the inquest.

But, then, Dick's brother Caleb shows up thinking he's the beneficiary of Dick's will. He, his wife and twin sons have been packing up in order to take possession of the house according to Dick's will. With considerable animosity, he orders Stone and his guests out of the house but he's stunned when he learns about Dick's newer will. He shuffles away wordlessly, fuming.

Just when the nature of Dick's death is recognized as murder, new corpses turn up floating in nearby coves and inlets in unusual succession. The case is by no means over.

Holly, that former police chief in a small Florida town who fell in love with Stone several books ago, shows she's still as eager to hop between the sheets with her handsome rich guy as he is with her. But that doesn't preclude his calling the sensuous Arrington in to fill in for Holly when she's gone. Arrington leaves New York on a moment's notice and brings Peter, her son by Stone. But her stay with him on the island brings only a single night of pleasure, cut short when a young girl found raped and dead alarms her to danger.

Which gets her out of the way for Holly's return to Dark Harbor and Stone's other passion. It's also Woods' ploy to elevate the mystery by bringing it closer to what makes him tick. Holly's capture just when the resolution of the mystery draws near, provides us the last act emotional stake in the outcome.

Dino, who now plays the everfaithful sidekick with a license to arrest, manages to end his stressful marriage with the daughter of a mob boss, leaving him free to roam and assist Stone's investigations as long as his police desk is clear.

We detect that author Woods is also on something of a vacation with a low key case that provides more insouciant charm and displays of high living among the rich and their toys--the kind of light aircraft and power boats that one suspects best-selling author Woods enjoys and integrates into his fiction.

It's not as though this is inferior writing--Woods can keep you under the reading lamp through an uprising (I won't suggest by whom). And, when you work under deadline pressures, not every product is going to be equally satisfying. This is just a less-involving chapter in the excellent adventures of Stone Barrington, barrister debonair and extraordinaire.