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Holly Barker Books In Order

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Publication Order of Holly Barker Books

The Holly Barker series is a series of mystery, thriller, and detective fiction books written by the New York Times bestselling and well known American author named Stuart Woods. This series consists of a total of 6 books, which were released between the years 1998 and 2009. All the novels of this series feature the chief protagonist in the role of Holly Barker. The series is also known by the name, the Orchid series as each and every book of the series has the name Orchid in its title. Author Stuart Woods has described Holly Barker as the Police Chief of the fictional city called Orchid Beach, which is located in Florida, United States. The character of Holly Barker has also made a few appearances in another famous novel series written by author Stuart Woods. It is called as the Stone Barrington series. Originally, there are 5 books published in this series. But, there is one more book called as the Reckless Abandon, which can also be included in the series. This book serves as the 10th book of the Stone Barrington series and the 4th one of the Holly Barker series. In this book, Holly Barker works with another popular character created by author Woods named as Ed Eagle, to solve the mysterious cases. Holly Barker is first introduced in the series as a retired major from the United States Army.

Later, she gets recruited to work as a CIA operative and then as a police chief in Orchid Beach, Florida. It is the specialty of author Woods to develop each of his novels in the same universe as well as introduce his characters in multiple book series as crossovers. When Holly Barker was serving in the army, she was considered to be a brave soldier and dedicated army personnel. She was also a highly qualified navy brat. In the later books of this series, author Woods has given the reason why Holly took an early retirement from the army. He has described that she was wrongly named in a sex scandal that forced her to leave the army. After that, she learned to live a civilian life with a lot of difficulties. When Holly becomes the police chief of the Orchid Beach city, the events in her life teach her how dangerous the new life is for her. But, in spite of all the difficulties Holly does stop fighting. Being from the army, she has learned how to keep fighting and not give up until all the difficulties are overcome.

The debut book in the Holly Barker series written by Stuart Woods is titled as ‘Orchid Beach’. This book was released in the year 2007 by the Harper publication. It was first published in the year 1998. The book is set in Florida, United States, and depicts Holly Barker in the main role. With the help of this book, author Woods has begun a riveting new thriller that serves as an exciting addition in the long run of the fictional sleuths. At the start of the book, Holly Barker is introduced as a 37 year old, attractive, smart, as well as fiercely independent woman. She was forced to have an early retirement from her service in the army. Now, she has become a Major after trading her bars as a cop in the military for a badge of deputy police chief in the city of Orchihd Beach. When Holly arrives at Orchid Beach, she comes to know that under the calm and sunny surface of the well to do sleepy island town lies a danger and evil. This causes the cold blooded murder of one of the colleagues of Holly Barker. Being an outsider, Holly does not seem to have much for answers. She does not find any help from any except Daisy, which is a Dobberman having exceptional loyalty and intelligence. Daisy becomes Holly’s protector and companion throughout the investigation. The more Holly tries to find the truth behind the murder of her colleague, the more she realizes that she will have to be dependent on Daisy to bring out the killer from his hiding and make him pay for his brutal crime. Holly knows it very well that she has to catch the killer as soon as possible or else she might become his next victim.

The second novel written in the Holly Barker series by author Stuart Woods is titled as ‘Orchid Blues’. It was released in the year 2002 by the G.P. Putnam publishers. This book also features Holly Barker as the chief protagonist and the plot is once again set in Orchid Beach, Florida. At the beginning of the book, author Woods has shown that Holly Barker is busy with the wedding festivities. But soon, all her preparations are shattered because of a brutal robbery. After the robbery, Holly takes a vow to find all those who were involved in the robbery and make them stand before the justice. During the event of the robbery a bystander was killed by the culprits by mistake in an attempt to prevent him from recognizing them. Holly decides to use it as an opportunity to get closer to the robbers. She comes across a few important evidences with the help of which she comes to know about a clan known for being professional robbers. Later, Holly Barker learns that the clan of robbers is as mysterious and deadly as they are adventurous. In order to deal with this deadly gang of robbers, Holly decides to take the help of her father named Ham, who is a retired master sergeant from the army. She uses him as her ticket to enter into the strange world. Whatever Holly finds through her investigation over there boggles each and everyone’s mind as well as sucks one and all, including Ham, Daisy, and Holly. It appears that they cannot be saved from this whirlpool of the crazy criminals even by the FBI. This book became successful like every other book in the mystery series. The success helped author Woods to bring a lot of name and fame to her profession as an author. This boosted her with a lot of motivation and allowed her to continue writing numerous other intriguing mystery books in her career. A number of critics praised him for his dedicated efforts and appreciated her. The success also helped her to focus on her other sleuthing characters as well as the mystery series.

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3 Responses to “Holly Barker”

  1. Sarah Degheri: 3 years ago

    Hi, I just finished reading Hothouse Orchid – is there a novel after that to continue the story and life of Holly Barker?

    Reply
    • Graeme: 3 years ago

      Unfortunately not. That is the final book in the series (so far!)

      Reply
      • Mark A: 1 year ago

        She does appear in choppy water and maybe other before. I was shocked and happy the book is from 2020. Stuart Woods died this year (2022) so that’s very sad. Love all these books. Got another 50 to read!

        Reply

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