Stuart Woods Books in Order

Stuart Woods was an American crime and thriller author best known for the Stone Barrington series about a former NYPD detective who becomes a New York lawyer and fixer for sensitive cases involving wealthy clients and government contacts. He also created the Will Lee, Holly Barker, Ed Eagle, Rick Barron, Teddy Fay, and Herbie Fisher series, which often share characters and settings with Stone Barrington.

Stuart Woods was a #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than ninety novels. His debut novel, Chiefs, won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel and was adapted into a CBS television miniseries. His own background as a sailor and instrument-rated pilot also shows up throughout the books, where travel, planes, boats, law firms, Washington politics, and Hollywood studios often become part of the plot.

This page lists Stuart Woods books in order, including the Stone Barrington series, the connected Will Lee and Teddy Fay books, Holly Barker, Ed Eagle, Rick Barron, Herbie Fisher, standalone novels, short fiction, and non-fiction. After the death of Stuart Woods in 2022, the Stone Barrington and Teddy Fay series have been continued by Brett Battles.

Latest Stuart Woods Books

More upcoming releases:

• Hostile Intent (November 17, 2026)

How the Series Connect

Stuart Woods’ main crime and thriller series is part of a shared world, with Stone Barrington becoming the center. The Will Lee books begin with Chiefs and follow Will from local law and Southern politics into national office. Later books connect that political world to Stone, Holly Barker, Teddy Fay, and the CIA side of the series.

Stone Barrington starts as a New York police detective, then becomes a lawyer whose cases pull him into government favors, wealthy clients, Hollywood business, and old friendships rekindled. Holly Barker begins in Orchid Beach as a small-town police chief before moving into CIA work, which is why she enters the Stone and Teddy Fay books. Teddy Fay starts as a former CIA operative and later gets his own Hollywood-set series, where Stone, Peter Barrington, Ben Bacchetti, and Centurion Studios often meet.

Ed Eagle and Rick Barron are smaller connected subseries. Ed Eagle brings in Santa Fe legal cases, while Rick Barron’s books take us into old Hollywood and Centurion Studios. Herbie Fisher is a Stone Barrington supporting character who received one spin-off novel, Barely Legal.

The simple way to read the books is to read each series in publication order, then use the crossover notes here to understand why familiar names keep popping up in other series.

Stone Barrington Series (Books in Order)

The Stone Barrington series follows former NYPD detective Stone Barrington, who leaves the police force and becomes a lawyer in the prestigious Manhattan firm Woodman & Weld. He takes on the cases the firm prefers not to handle directly: discreet, often legally grey work for wealthy clients that take him through a world of money, politics, and high-end New York social life. The series starts in New York with New York Dead, then expands into Washington, Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Maine, Key West, London, and other regular locations. Over time, the books become the main hub for the wider Woods universe, with recurring characters such as Dino Bacchetti, Holly Barker, Will Lee, Kate Lee, Teddy Fay, Ed Eagle, Lance Cabot, and Herbie Fisher appearing in Stone’s cases.

The series began in 1991 with New York Dead and continued to 64 books under Stuart Woods, and following his death in 2022, it has continued under Brett Battles starting with Near Miss.

1. New York Dead, 1991
2. Dirt, 1996
3. Dead in the Water, 1997
4. Swimming to Catalina, 1998
5. Worst Fears Realized, 1999
6. L.A. Dead, 2000
7. Cold Paradise, 2001
8. The Short Forever, 2002
9. Dirty Work, 2003
10. Reckless Abandon, 2004
11. Two Dollar Bill, 2005
12. Dark Harbor, 2006
13. Fresh Disasters, 2007
14. Shoot Him If He Runs, 2007
15. Hot Mahogany, 2008
16. Loitering With Intent, 2009
17. Kisser, 2009
18. Lucid Intervals, 2010
19. Strategic Move, 2010
20. Bel-Air Dead, 2011
21. Son of Stone, 2011
22. D.C. Dead, 2011
23. Unnatural Acts, 2012
24. Severe Clear, 2012
25. Collateral Damage, 2012
26. Unintended Consequences, 2013
27. Doing Hard Time, 2013
28. Standup Guy, 2014
29. Carnal Curiosity, 2014
30. Cut and Thrust, 2014
31. Paris Match, 2014
32. Insatiable Appetites, 2015
33. Hot Pursuit, 2015
34. Naked Greed, 2015
35. Foreign Affairs, 2015
36. Scandalous Behavior, 2016
37. Family Jewels, 2016
38. Dishonorable Intentions, 2016
39. Sex, Lies, and Serious Money, 2016
40. Below the Belt, 2017
41. Fast and Loose, 2017
42. Indecent Exposure, 2017
43. Quick & Dirty, 2017
44. Unbound, 2018
45. Shoot First, 2018
46. Turbulence, 2018
47. Desperate Measures, 2018
48. A Delicate Touch, 2018
49. Wild Card, 2019
50. Contraband, 2019
51. Stealth, 2019
52. Treason, 2020
53. Hit List, 2020
54. Choppy Water, 2020
55. Shakeup, 2020
56. Hush-Hush, 2020
57. Double Jeopardy, 2021
58. Class Act, 2021
59. Foul Play, 2021
60. Criminal Mischief, 2021
61. A Safe House, 2022
62. Black Dog, 2022
63. Distant Thunder, 2022
64. Near Miss, 2022
65. Smolder, 2024
66. Finders Keepers, 2025
67. Deep Water, 2026
68. Hostile Intent, 2026

Will Lee Series (Books in Order)

The Will Lee series follows Will Henry Lee, a small-town Georgia police chief whose family story goes back three generations beginning with his grandfather’s attempts to solve a series of murders in 1920s rural Georgia and running through to Will Lee IV becoming a U.S. senator and later President. Chiefs, the first book and Stuart Woods’ debut novel, is a multigenerational crime saga that is different in tone from the rest of the series, while later books become more political thriller in nature as Will Lee moves to Washington to become President.

1. Chiefs, 1981
2. Run Before the Wind, 1983
3. Deep Lie, 1986
4. Grass Roots, 1989
5. The Run, 1995
6. Capital Crimes, 2003
7. Mounting Fears, 2008

Ed Eagle Series (Books in Order)

The Ed Eagle spin-off series follows defense attorney Ed Eagle practicing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a criminal defense lawyer with a strong track record in court but much less luck in his personal life, which is quite messy, especially his ex-wife. Ed Eagle and his associates occasionally appear in other Stuart Woods books.

1. Santa Fe Rules, 1992
2. Short Straw, 2006
3. Santa Fe Dead, 2008
4. Santa Fe Edge, 2010

Holly Barker Series (Books in Order)

The Holly Barker spin-off series follows retired Army major Holly Barker, who becomes police chief of the small Florida town of Orchid Beach before being recruited as a CIA operative. Her Doberman, Daisy, is part of the early books, and Holly’s later career explains why she crosses into the Stone Barrington and Teddy Fay series.

1. Orchid Beach, 1998
2. Orchid Blues, 2001
3. Blood Orchid, 2002
4. Reckless Abandon, 2004
5. Iron Orchid, 2005
6. Hothouse Orchid, 2009

Rick Barron Series (Books in Order)

The Rick Barron series follows former Beverly Hills police detective Rick Barron who starts working in the Hollywood film industry in the 1930s and 1940s, eventually becoming chief of production at a major studio, Centurion Studios. Set around old Hollywood, the books takes us to the world of movie stars, studio politics, organized crime pressure, and the business side of the film industry.

1. The Prince of Beverly Hills, 2004
2. Beverly Hills Dead, 2008

Teddy Fay Series (Books in Order)

The Teddy Fay series follows former CIA operative Teddy Fay who has gone rogue and resurfaces in the entertainment industry under the alias Billy Barnett, working as a fixer and occasionally an actor-stuntman for Centurion Studios. Teddy is a master of disguise who operates under new identities and solves cases outside of the official police channels. Teddy first appeared in the Will Lee novel Capital Crimes and became a recurring character in the Stuart Woods universe before getting his own series. The Teddy Fay books are closely tied to the Stone Barrington universe and regularly feature crossover characters.

The early Teddy Fay books were co-authored with Parnell Hall and Jackpot with Bryon Quertermous. Starting with the novel Obsession, the series has been written by Brett Battles.

1. Smooth Operator, 2016
2. The Money Shot, 2018
3. Skin Game, 2019
4. Bombshell, 2020
5. Jackpot, 2021
6. Obsession, 2023
7. Stuart Woods’ Golden Hour, 2024
8. Stuart Woods’ Blown Away, 2025

Herbie Fisher Series (Books in Order)

The Herbie Fisher series follows Stone Barrington protégé Herbie Fisher, who eventually becomes his law partner. This is really a Stone-world spin-off novel rather than a separate long-running series.

Co-authored with Parnell Hall.

1. Barely Legal, 2017

Standalone Novels

• Under the Lake, 1987
• White Cargo, 1988
• Palindrome, 1990
• L.A. Times, 1993
• Dead Eyes, 1994
• Heat, 1995
• Imperfect Strangers, 1996
• Choke, 1996

Short Story Anthologies

• Suspense Magazine, January 2011, 2011

Non-Fiction Books

• Blue Water, Green Skipper, 1977
• A Romantic’s Guide to the Country Inns of Britain and Ireland, 1979
• An Extravagant Life, 2022

Stuart Woods Biography

Stuart Woods was an American author who wrote crime and legal thrillers, and political suspense novels whose work includes the Stone Barrington, Will Lee, Holly Barker, Ed Eagle, Rick Barron, Teddy Fay, and Herbie Fisher books. He published more than ninety novels over forty years, with more than seventy appearing on the New York Times bestseller list.
Official website: stuartwoods.com

Born Stuart Chevalier Lee on January 9, 1938, in Manchester, Georgia, Stuart Woods graduated from the University of Georgia in 1959 with a BA in sociology. After college, he served in the Air National Guard and moved to New York in 1960 hoping to find writing work. As newspapers and magazines were not hiring, he spent a decade in advertising, working in New York and later London. He moved to Ireland in the early 1970s, where he took up sailing and began writing seriously for the first time.

During his sailing years, he learned navigation, competed in the 1976 Observer Single-handed Trans-Atlantic Race, and later took part in the 1979 Fastnet Race. His sailing memoir Blue Water, Green Skipper was his first published work, and his debut novel Chiefs followed in 1981. The book, inspired by his grandfather’s death while serving as a police chief, won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel and was later adapted into a CBS television miniseries. It was also the beginning of the Will Lee series.

Stuart Woods launched the Stone Barrington series with New York Dead in 1991, and it became the main series of his career, making him one of the most prolific figures in American fiction. He became a #1 New York Times bestselling author and published more than ninety novels. His official biography notes more than seventy bestsellers, and Penguin Random House described him as the author of more than seventy-five books featuring Stone Barrington.

He was also an experienced licensed pilot, with over 3,400 hours as an instrument-rated private pilot, which explains why planes and travel appear so often in the books.. He received France’s Grand Prix de Littérature Policière for Imperfect Strangers in 2010.

Stuart Woods died on July 22, 2022, at his Connecticut home. His posthumous Stone Barrington and Teddy Fay books have continued with Brett Battles, with the newer titles published under the “Stuart Woods’” banner.

Stuart Woods Book Adaptations

• Chiefs – adapted into the CBS television mini series Chiefs (1983)
• Grass Roots – adapted into the television movie Grass Roots (1992)

Stuart Woods Awards and Honors

Awards

• Chiefs -Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel (1982)
• Imperfect Strangers – Grand Prix de Littérature Policière (2010)

Nominations and Shortlists

• Palindrome – Edgar Award for Best Novel (1992)

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