" "Fresh Disasters" is the first Stuart Woods book I have read, but it is the thirteenth book to feature his detective/lawyer Stone Barrington. Here's what I liked: Woods tells a darn good story, filled with the right amount of suspense and action, tempered with a healthy dose of humor and some snappy dialogue. Woods reminds me of another good mystery writer, the late Robert Parker. Parker's beloved detective, Spenser, was, like Stone, a manly, wise-cracking do-gooder. Here's what I didn't like: Stone is a lawyer. I'm kind of sick of lawyers. Not that I, personally, have come in contact with a lot of lawyers. I just think it's an oversaturated market. There are a ridiculous amount of TV shows about lawyers, as well as numerous authors who have lawyers as their protagonists. Yawn. Also, Stone Barrington suffers from the same malady that Parker's Spenser suffered from in later novels: perfection. There is, from what I could gather, nothing wrong with Stone. He's not an alcoholic. He doesn't have an annoying ex-wife. He doesn't have any children from a previous marriage with which he's struggling to build a relationship. He doesn't have any addictions of any kind (although a case can be made for sex addiction, because he gets laid an awful lot). He doesn't have any morally questionable or dysfunctional personality traits whatsoever. Woods, you gotta gimme something here... I guess I'm not a huge fan of protagonists who have no flaws, tragic or otherwise, unless they're superheroes. Even then, superheroes usually have some fatal flaw. Even Superman had kryptonite. All that being said, "Fresh Disasters" was a good, quick read. I'll probably give Woods another chance. "
— Scott, 2/10/2014