Short Straw

By: Stuart Woods

Narrated by: Michael Kramer

Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Santa Fe lawyer Ed Eagle fell in love with the seductive Barbara Kennerly, and married her, against his better judgment.

He should have listened to his intuition. Ed awakens on the morning after his 40th birthday to find that Barbara has vanished, and Ed's money from his business, his bank, and his brokerage accounts has been wired to the Cayman Islands. Barbara, it appears, drugged his birthday wine, neatly cleaned him out, and then fled to Mexico, from where she can't be extradited. And as if that weren't bad enough, when Ed arrives at work that morning, he discovers he's been assigned a new client who looks like nothing but trouble: Joe Big Bear, a part-time mechanic charged with a triple homicide.

Ed hires two slightly shady investigators to search for his wife. But when they track Barbara down in Puerto Vallarta, they discover that Joe Big Bear may also be embroiled in Barbara's plot. Ed soon finds himself caught in a scheme much more far reaching and deadly than anyone could have expected.

©2006 Stuart Woods (P)2006 Penguin Audio, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“This fast-moving tale has more than its share of twists, turns and double-crosses...a fine romp.” (The Roanoke Times, Virginia)

“Woods keeps [his characters] moving smartly around the playing board like so many checkers.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)   

“A taut tale of a very bad woman out to fleece a very good man…Scarcely an excess word gets in the way of the briskly moving plot.” (Publishers Weekly)

Starts OK- becomes ridiculous

I enjoyed the first portion of this book but as it went on it seemed the author lost any sense of needing to tell a story that was at least plausible. I finally stopped listening when it became so implausible I lost interest in the characters and started feeling annoyed at the author for being so sloppy.

2.

This is book 2 of the short lived Ed Eagle series.
It is the same narrator but lacking the
dead pan delivery that I so enjoyed in Book 1. This appears to be the Bad
Barbara book, interesting but just a muck pile by book's end. Skip it.

Book 2 the best in the series

Have listened to this many times. The twists and turns very interesting. Keeps your interest. Barbara a fabulous villainess.

am a new fan

really good story- I read the sequel first and couldn't wait to get to the prequel!!

Too much sex

I started to enjoy a well-written and well-narrated story with lots of surprises in the plot but was disappointed by the degree of graphic sex that showed up in the second half.

Don't Waste Your Time

Couldn't even finish listening to this one. It dragged on and on and on.

Short Straw

I like Woods. His book Chief was so good I could not stop listening. However, Short Straw was painful. The repetition of lines was impossible to the point it was uncomfortable.

Good story

I like the Ed Eagle characters and Victorio. Good story, good writing. Good narration. Good stuff.

Poor choice

I'm sure the book would have been another great listen, but the narration was HORRIBLE. I'll never buy another book with this narrator.

Ed Eagle fan

Liked the story and performance. Hope the Ed Eagle series continues. Stuart Woods is excellent in weaving a story line. Anyone who likes mysteries will like this one.