Stuart Woods

Stuart Woods (1938-2022) was an American thriller novelist and one of the most prolific series writers of his generation, publishing roughly one book a year across six long-running series for over four decades. Raised in Manchester, Georgia, he worked in advertising in London and New York before turning to sailing -- an obsession that shaped his early nonfiction and fiction alike -- and to fiction full time after his 1981 debut, Chiefs, won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel. His signature creation, the ex-cop, Manhattan-lawyer bon vivant Stone Barrington, debuted in New York Dead (1991) and grew into a 60-plus-book flagship series built on brisk plotting, private aviation, fine dining, and an ever-expanding web of connections to money, law enforcement and the CIA. Woods wrote five further series alongside it -- Will Lee, Holly Barker, Ed Eagle, Rick Barron and Teddy Fay -- several of them crossing over directly with Stone Barrington's world, and collaborated with other novelists (notably Parnell Hall on the Teddy Fay books) on a number of later titles. Woods died in July 2022, partway through what became Near Miss (2023), completed by thriller writer Brett Battles, who has continued the Stone Barrington and Teddy Fay series ever since with the blessing of the Woods estate, publishing under the 'Stuart Woods' name.