Santa Fe Rules (Ed Eagle) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Stuart Woods (Author) "Wolf Willet remembered too late that Flaps had always had a cold nose..." (more)
Key Phrases: tango foxtrot, answer print, guest wing, New York, Wolf Willett, Mark Shea (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
You're a rich, successful Hollywood producer who awakens the morning before Thanksgiving in your Santa Fe home with no memory of the previous night. Ignoring your dog's attempts to get you to visit the guest wing of the house, you leave and fly your private plane to Los Angeles. But you never get there: a breakdown forces you to spend the holiday isolated in a small airport town. When you finally see the newspaper the next day, you read that the bodies of your wife, your business partner and a third man--assumed to be you--have been found in the guest room of the Santa Fe residence. Further, you learn that your wife is not who you thought she was and has a most sleazy past. You don't know what's going on--or even whether you committed the murders yourself. That's the premise of Woods's ( Palindrome ) newest thriller. Wolf Willett decides to stay "dead" for a while and finish work on his new film, then hires a top defense attorney and turns himself in. Things keep moving thereafter at the same mad pace, with ever more improbable plot twists pushing the reader's suspension of disbelief to the limit--if not beyond. Willett may be the dumbest protagonist any writer will create this year. Woods is a master of this sort of thing, however, and unfolds his tale in an easy style that will keep readers engrossed and probably put his name on the bestseller lists again. 75,000 first printing; $125,000 ad/promo; Doubleday Book Club and Mystery Guild selections; Literary Guild alternate; author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews
Woods (New York Dead, 1991, etc.) may hail from Sante Fe, but he doesn't do his hometown much honor with this slack mystery/homage. Even Sante Fe's gorgeous desert setting fades against the blinding silliness of Woods's plotting here. A nifty premise sets up the story: Middle-aged film producer Wolf Willett, stranded at the Grand Canyon, opens a New York Times to read that his gorgeous young wife, Julia, his best pal, and...himself! have been shot dead at his Sante Fe home. But rather than run with that kick-off by having Wolf stay officially dead and investigate the murders incognito, Woods has his hero fly on to L.A.--and finish work on his latest movie. A week or so later, Wolf returns to Sante Fe and, anticipating legal trouble, hires legendary defense lawyer Ed Eagle--a 6'7'' tower of chutzpa who's the only character here who rises above clich‚. Under Ed's expensive guidance, Wolf manages temporarily to stave off arrest for triple-murder by the suspicious local cops, who finally figure out that the body misidentified as Wolf is really that of the sleazy ex-husband of Julia's nearly identical sister, Barbara--who shows up and begins a fling with Ed Eagle. Meanwhile, Wolf's psychiatrist is murdered. Finally arrested for the triple-slaying, Wolf is tossed into jail--and learns that Julia stole his $3.5 million savings just before she died. Fortunately, a former IRS agent retrieves Wolf's money, and, while in jail, Wolf is adopted by a biker named Spider, who, impressed that Wolf once shook hands with Madonna, offers help that proves invaluable after someone puts out a contract on Wolf--someone who looks a lot like Barbara/Julia.... All this cockeyed mayhem sorts out in the end, of course, as Woods winds up with this happy sentence starring Wolf's pet pooch: ``Flaps lifted her head and grinned at everybody''--a fitting conclusion to this shaggy-dog story of a novel, a shockingly poor showing from an author who's sometimes (e.g., Chiefs; Under the Lake) terrific. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: HarperTorch (June 15, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061090891
• ISBN-13: 978-0061090899
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #338,183 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Pageturner for sure!, July 5, 2001

By	Shorty "jillshari" (Owings Mills, MD USA) - See all my reviews

I brought this book along with me to read during an originally short plane trip. I started reading it on the way home and after two planes and a 5 hour delay in the middle, I easily finished this book in one day. This was a great book to have with me because it was really a page turner and helped to quickly pass the time. One thing I think Stuart Woods does well is put several twists into his books which made me look up and say "No way!" throughout this book.

The main character is Wolf Willet who we get to know in the start as a guy who likes his routine and has made a large amount of money in the entertainment business. In the beginning he flies from Sante Fe on his way to LA and has plane troubles and lands near the Grand Canyon. He reads the NY Times headline which says that his wife, his best friend, and him are found shot dead at his home in a guest bedroom. Through the entire rest of the book, Wolf continues to find out who the killer and the dead people really are. You are introduced to many characters who you consistently question...who do you really trust?

This was a great mystery by Stuart Woods and I would definately recommend it to anyone!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Oh Come On, September 28, 2000

By	Kathleen C. Strong (Belmont, OH United States) - See all my reviews

Very disappointing. Stuart Woods can be very good. That's why I read him. Chiefs, Grass Roots, and Run Before the Wind were excellent. Other books have not been so wonderful and this was one of them. I kept finding myself saying, "Oh come on" way too many times during this book. Wolf doesn't seem to have a conscience, and I found it hard to find any redeeming qualities in him. This book was just too slick, and the characters way too shallow. Your wife is just killed, so you fly off to L.A. to finish a script? You start an affair? What's missing from this picture?

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars TALES FOR A JEWISH INDIAN, January 25, 2005

By	Michael Butts (Martinsburg, WV USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Santa Fe Rules (Hardcover)

One of the strangest nuances of this book is Ed Eagle, who everyone seems to think is a Native American, but as we learn later, he is really a Jew and was accepted as an Indian because of his basketball prowess. Okay, Mr. Woods, that's original. Too bad the rest of the novel isn't quite so fresh; but indeed SANTA FE RULES manages to weave an involving, if somewhat hard to believe tale.
Anyone who's read a great deal of mystery novels will see the truth in this novel very early on. Woods does manage to throw in a neat twist at the end, but it only enhances what an astute reader will have already figured out.
Woods writes like a screenwriter; much of his narrative would transfer well to the big screen. A little faster pacing would have enhanced the book as well. But if you're in the mood for a superflous but highly entertaining read, SANTA FE RULES delivers.