Choke

A standalone novel from Stuart Woods, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Stone Barrington and Holly Barker series...

Chuck Chandler arrives in Key West, and, like many people, finds it the end of the line. He has, in turn, blown a career as a top touring tennis professional and a series of teaching jobs at plush clubs, usually because he has been unable to keep his hands off the female students, especially the married ones.

At Key West’s Olde Island Racquet Club, true to form, Chuck yields to temptation yet again, this time with the beautiful Clare Carras, who is married to an enigmatic older man with no apparent past, and who turns out to be a great deal more than the tennis pro can handle. Suddenly the easygoing Chuck is in over his head, suspected of murder and on the verge of losing not only his modest teaching career and all his possessions, but his freedom, as well.

Enter Tommy Scully, a former New York Police Department homicide detective, augmenting his pension with a job on the Key West force, and his neophyte partner, Daryl, who may be smarter than he looks. The two detectives find themselves barely afloat in a shark infested investigation that stretches from the Florida Keys to Los Angeles and back, involving not only the treacherous Clare, but a furious West Coat mob boss who is determined to get back something that belongs to him and doesn’t care who he has to kill to do it.