Orchid Beach by Stuart Woods

Orchid Beach (Holly Barker Series Book 1)
by Stuart Woods

Holly Barker has decided to leave the Army after twenty years and take a civilian police position. Her father, Ham, has an old Army buddy who is looking for someone with her experience to be his Deputy Chief but when she arrives a month later to take up the position, the Chief has been shot and is in a coma.

Holly already has a contract and her first goals are clear - take down the Chief’s assailant and clear out the corruption the Chief had been investigating in his own force. When she arrives, Holly finds there has been no announcement about her coming to take up the Deputy Chief position and now she is the acting Chief.

This is a very straightforward police procedural that moves quickly on dialogue and clean action with minimal description. It’s not deep but it is intriguing. I would call it a fun summer read and I’ll probably read another.

It’s got a simple cast. There’s Holly, twenty years in the Army as an MP, working her way up to a command, but now moving into civilian life as a cop. There’s her father Ham, about ready to retire from the Army himself. (Holly’s mom died some time ago.) There’s the police chief, Chet, who appears only briefly. Wallace Hurd expected is the acting Chief for a few hours, until Holly arrives, but he seems to take it all in stride. He does not let his emotions show at all, which makes Holly wonder. Bob Hurst is the detective sergeant and main homicide investigator. Jane was the Chief’s secretary and he apparently confided in her regularly.

Hank Doherty, a friend of Holly’s dad and the Chief is also found dead. Holly adopts Hank’s Doberman Pinscher, Daisy. Daisy is very well trained and becomes instrumental in a lot of action.

They make an arrest quickly, a young couple who whose van was seen in the vicinity and are found to have the Chief’s gun. He claims to have had a punctured tire and found the gun. They prosecute but the public defender, Jackson Oxenhandler, is able to show more than reasonable doubt. He and Holly take a shine to each other and quickly become an item. Then her father arrives, and Holly becomes interested in the goings on at a local high end housing development, gated community. Things develop in an unexpected direction from there.

I can genuinely say I did not see who the mole on the police force was until the end, and there were actually two. This book kept me guessing.