Want a NOOK? Explore Now
Stuart Woods' Edgar(r) Award-winning novel spans fifty years of racial tension, politics, and murder in the small Southern town of Delano, Georgia, where a depraved killer claims his innocent victims even as three very different generations of policemen seek to stop him. For the people of Delano, Georgia, 1920 was a landmark year. That winter they elected their first police chief, built the first jail. . .and discovered the first body — the naked, brutalized corpse o a young boy. So began a forty-year manhunt that would embroil three generations of small-town police chiefs in the dark, twisted secrets of their sleepy, God-fearing community — and expose a seamy underbelly of hatred, corruption, and perversion too terrible to imagine. . .and too virulent to ignore.
Beginning in 1920, Chiefs spans 40 years, chronicling the experiences of three Georgia police chiefs who watch the world, their town and their jobs, change. At the heart of this incredible read is a 40-year-old mystery each chief must try to crack. Reissue.
Stuart Woods is the author of fifty novels, including the New York Times-bestselling Stone Barrington and Holly Barker series. He is a native of Georgia and began his writing career in the advertising industry. Chiefs, his debut in 1981, won the Edgar Award. An avid sailor and pilot, Woods lives in New York City, Florida, and Maine.
However, despite his best intentions, Woods got sidetracked in Ireland. He was nearly 100 pages into a novel when he discovered the seductive pleasures of sailing. "Everything went to hell," he quips on his web site "All I did was sail." He bought a boat, learned everything he could about celestial navigation, and competed in the Observer Singlehanded Transatlantic Race (OSTAR) in 1976, finishing respectably in the middle of the fleet. (Later, he took part in the infamous Fastnet Race of 1979, a yachting competition that ended tragically when a huge storm claimed the lives of 15 sailors and 4 observers. Woods and his crew emerged unharmed.)
Returning to the U.S., Woods wrote two nonfiction books: an account of his transatlantic sailing adventures (Blue Water, Green Skipper) and a travel guide he claims to have written on a whim. But the book that jump-started his career was the opus interruptus begun in Ireland. An absorbing multigenerational mystery set in a small southern town, Chiefs was published in 1981, went on to win an Edgar Award, and was subsequently turned into a television miniseries starring Charlton Heston.
An amazingly prolific author, Woods has gone on to pen dozens of compelling thrillers, juggling stand-alone novels with installments in four successful series. (His most popular protagonists are New York cop-turned-attorney Stone Barrington, introduced in 1991's New York Dead, and plucky Florida police chief Holly Barker, who debuted in 1998's Orchid Beach.) His pleasing mix of high-octane action, likable characters, and sly, subversive humor has made him a hit with readers -- who have returned the favor by propelling his books to the top of the bestseller lists.
His first job was in advertising at BBDO in New York, and his first assignment was to write ads for CBS-TV shows. He recalls: "They consisted of a drawing of the star and one line of exactly 127 characters, including spaces, and I had to write to that length. It taught me to be concise."
He flies his own airplane, a single-engine turboprop called a Jetprop, and tours the country every year in it, including book tours.
He's a partner in a 1929 motor yacht called Belle and spends two or three weeks a year aboard her.
In 1961-62, Woods spent 10 months in Germany with the National Guard at the height of the Berlin Wall Crisis.
In October and November of 1979, he skippered a friend's yacht back across the Atlantic, with a crew of six, calling at the Azores, Madeira, and the Canary Islands and finishing at Antigua in the Caribbean.
HUGH HOLMES, president of the Bank of Delano and chairman of the Delano City Council, was a man who, more than most, thought about the present in terms of the future. It was one of his great strengths, both as a banker and as a politician, but on a cold morning in December of 1919, this facuIty failed him. It would be many years before he would have some grasp of how that morning changed his future, changed everything.
Holmes prided himself on being able to took at a man as he entered the bank and predict what the man would want, On this morning he watched through the sliding window in the wall be tween his office and the main room of the bank as Will Henry Lee entered, and Holmes indulged himself in a bit of his usual prognostication. Will Henry Lee was a cotton farmer; his standing mortgage was due the first of the year, and he would want it renewed. It took Holmes only seconds to review the circumstances: Will Henry's debt amounted to about thirty-five percent of the value of his farm, in reasonably good times. That was a lower level of debt than was borne by most farmers, and Will Henry had paid his interest on time and made two payments against principal. But Holmes knew, the boll weevil situation being what it was, that Will Henry might fail with his next crop. Still, he respected the man, liked him, wen; he decided to renew. He leaned forward at his desk and pretended to read a letter, confident that he had anticipated the content of their approaching discussion and had worked out an appropriate response. Will Henry knocked at the open door, sat down, exchanged pleasantries, and askedHolmes for the job of chief of police.
Holmes was stupefied, partly by the completely unexpected request, and partly by the total collapse of his early-warning system. His mind was not accustomed to such surprises, and it lurched about through a long moment of silence as it struggled to assimilate this outrageous input and get it into an orderly framework of thought. The effort was a failure. To give himself more time, he clambered onto familiar ground. "Well, now, Will Henry, you're not overextended on your farm. We could probably see you through another crop, even with things the way they are with cotton." To his credit, Holmes maintained his banker's face throughout the exchange.
"Hugh, if I extended I'd have to have more capital, which means getting deeper in debt to the bank. If I did that for another crop things wouldn't get any better; they'd just get worse. Better farmers than me are going under. I think you'd be doing the best thing for the bank if you took the farm now and sold it. I might get something after the note was paid. To tell you the truth, Hoss Spence offered me nearly about exactly what I owe for the place just last week, but I think I'd rather let the bank take it than let a man buy me out for a third of what the place is worth. Hoss's peaches and cattle are going to be on a lot of land where cotton used to grow, and I'd just as soon my land didn't get included in that." He stopped talking, looked at Holmes, and waited.
Holmes's brain was beginning to thrash through the gears now. Item one: Will Henry was right about the bank's position; taking the farm now would give a better chance of coming through the transaction profitably; things could truly be a whole lot worse next year. Item two: Delano had long been big enough for a chief, but the town wasn't big enough to attract an experienced officer from another force. Holmes, as chairman of the city council, had been looking hard for months for a suitable man. The chief at La Grange had put it to him bluntly. "Mr. Holmes, I'll tell you the truth; right now Delano couldn't even attract a decent patrolman from a larger town, let alone a sergeant. My advice to you would be to find a local man that people respect, and give him the job. In a town like Delano he can do about ninety-nine percent of what he's got to do with just plain old respect."
Holmes looked across the desk at Will Henry. He respected the min, and he was a harsher judge than most. Will Henry was well known in the community, even though he and his father before him had been country men. Maybe his always having lived in the country would mix a little distance with familiarity and give respect a sharper edge. Holmes resisted an urge to pump Will Henry's hand and pin a badge on him right on the spot. He had to preserve a reputation for caution, and, anyway, he couldn't make the decision entirely on his own.
"Well, I'll have to bring this up at the next council meeting." He paused. "Have you talked to Carrie about this, Will Henry?"
"No, I wanted to talk to you first. Carrie's all ready to worry us through another crop, but I think it'd be a kind of relief to her to have done with the farm. We'd have to find a house in town, and I think she'd like fixing that up. She's really always been a town girl at heart, I think. What's your opinion of my chances for this job, Hugh?"
Holmes cleared his throat. "Well, I guess you could say les within the maim of possibility. I'll see that the council gives the proposal serious consideration." The two men rose and shook hands. "I might be able to help you with finding a house in town, too." He already...BARBIE75
Posted Wed May 05 00:00:00 EDT 2010
IT IS THE BEST BOOK WOODS EVER WROTE. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN. THE CHARACTERS ARE REAL AND THE STORYLINE IS NOT SUGAR COATED BUT VERY REALALISTIC. MAKES YOU SAD WHAT HAPPENS TO SOME OF THE CHARACTERS BUT AS YOU READ ON IT ALL MAKES SENSE. AS I Have READ ALL OF WOODS BOOKS I SEE WHERE SOME OF THE CHARACTERS STARTED, WITH THE BOOK CHIEFS HE IS SUCH A GREAT STORY TELLER AND IT SHOWS IN THE BOOK CHIEFS. YOU BETTER HAVE A COUPLE OF RAINY DAYS IN A ROW AS YOU WILL NOT BE GETTING OFF THAT COUCH IF YOU ARE READING CHIEFS. IT IS A DIET BOOK, AS YOU WILL NOT WANT TO STOP EVEN TO EAT. HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Sat Jan 30 00:00:00 EST 2010
This is a classic story of rural Georgia written by a well known native. It was a gift to someone who recently moved to the writer's home town. It was a hit.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Wed Jun 07 00:00:00 EDT 2006
I am an avid reader, and I will have to say this is the best written book I have ever read. So true to what happened in my beloved South in that era
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Mon Jan 30 00:00:00 EST 2006
I too love the original, I still have the paperback that I fell in love with. I do not recall how many times I have read it. I also have a very worn copy of the movie of Mr. Woods book. I read all of Mr. Woods books, but I will not buy the anniversary edition, it can't be improved on so why another copy. Thanks for all your books.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Fri Dec 16 00:00:00 EST 2005
EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT. Think of great reads such as 'The Godfather', 'Gone With The Wind' and 'Roots'...'Chiefs' is THAT GOOD!! I finally found a copy in large print and although it was almost 700 pages long, I couldn't put it down until I turned the last page. The emotional rollercoaster hasn't stopped yet. READ THIS BOOK...you won't regret it.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Thu Jul 28 00:00:00 EDT 2005
A great book! Buy this book, tell your friends but don't loan it out, you'll never get it back!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Sat Jan 04 00:00:00 EST 2003
Wood's first and BEST. It really got me hooked on Woods. I like all I've read, but none compares to "Chiefs" It gets you from the get-go and carries you excitingly through 3 generations. It's the start for Will Lee novels.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Sat Jun 23 00:00:00 EDT 2012
After reading the reviews, I decided, whst the heck OMG! This is by far one of the BEST books that I've read. I literally hsd to make myself put it down. It seemed to start out slow, but I later realized that the beginning was fundamental to the entire storyline. Get this book, you won't rrgret it!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Mon Apr 23 00:00:00 EDT 2012
This is the first book I read by this author. I will definetly read more. It keeps your interest.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Tue Mar 13 00:00:00 EDT 2012
Very interesting tale from beginning to end. Broken into three books covering three generations kind of confused me for a minute but they tied together real fast. A believeable story extremely well told covering the 1920' s through 1960's. Recommended to anyone willing to syart a book they cannot put down till its over.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.This is the best book that Stuart Woods ever wrote. It won many awards and it started his career. You will love it.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.It's one of my favorite books, period, not one of my favorite Stuart Woods books or paperbacks. It is, without a doubt, one of the best books I have ever read. The book feels as though it is being read to you by a man with a deep soothing voice and a knack for storytelling. The first third of the book reads the best, the William Henry Lee part. For you Will Lee fans, this character would be President Lee's grandfather, the first chief of the town of Delano, Georgia.
My one complaint is that some parts of the plot were left unanswered in later Will Lee books. I want ask them here so to not spoil anything. And frankly those might be concerns for later books, not this one.
I believe I have owned three paperbacks of this one, each having to be replaced because I read them to death. One day, perhaps I'll find a hardcover.
READ THIS BOOK!!! It's awesome!
PookieDB
Posted Sat Sep 19 00:00:00 EDT 2009
Picked this up because of my sister. Trying to find a new Series. This is not the one for me
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.luvsbritdrama
Posted Sat Aug 15 00:00:00 EDT 2009
I originally read this book when it was first released and absolutely loved it. Read it several times. Then, when Hurricane Rita came to our area in 2005, I lost my entire library, including the first edition of this remarkable book.
I was never able to find it in any library and, then, wanting to read it again, I ordered it and the remainder of the Will Lee Series. Although I love all of them, Chiefs is, without a doubt, my favorite.
I recommend it to all readers as the characters are so believable and the plot has many twists and turns and keeps you turning the pages when you should be turning out the light and going to bed.
Buy it! You will never be sorry.
58tbird
Posted Sun May 10 00:00:00 EDT 2009
Stuart Woods was recommended to me by my mother. I read Iron Orchid and a couple others and was a bit disappointed in his writing style. So, I went to his website and read that Chiefs was his favorite book and probably the best written. I really enjoyed his characters, they were well developed and interesting. The plot was also well developed and researched. However his writing style doesn't compel me and seems sophomoric and a bit lazy (especially in his later novels and characters). Mr Woods is a prolific writer who has found a recipe for novels that sell but are extremely forgettable.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Wed Feb 06 00:00:00 EST 2008
Stuart Woods was recommended to me by someone I didn't know and I bought a couple of his books to check him out. I have finally read all of them (and there are ALOT). In some commentary or other, Woods says that CHIEFS might be his best work, possibly because it was his first, and I have to agree. Perhaps it is because Woods is writing about his own family history, but this book combines all the best elements of a novel that you can't put down while you are reading it and you can't forget it when you are finished. I'm a BIG Woods fan, especially of the Stone Barrington series and Will Lee series, but CHIEFS stands by itself. I recommend it with no qualifications.........
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Fri Jan 06 00:00:00 EST 2006
Since I have the original 'Chiefs' I don't need to buy this one. It was a very good read and worth of Mr. Woods, but who needs to re-issue it: him or the publisher?
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Sat Aug 20 00:00:00 EDT 2005
Chiefs is a compelling story because it allows the reader to keep a secret and nurse it and wait until it seems the secret will never be revealed - and then it is revealed. The dialog is true, the depiction of the 40 year span in the deep south vivid and the characters are ones that readers will deeply care about.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Sun Jun 12 00:00:00 EDT 2005
I read 'Chiefs' many years ago and it remains one of my favorite of Mr. Woods'novels (To Kill a Mockingbird is my most cherished though). I read all Stewart Woods novels, without disappointment.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Sun Apr 15 00:00:00 EDT 2001
Stuart Woods has managed another very suspenseful book. Chiefs manages to convey an atmosphere of relaxed life in a southern town and, at the same time, the pervasive racial tension as people go about their daily lives. At one point, the supposed 'good guy' is not, to put it mildly, your typical hero type, and you'd cheer on anyone who could manage to give him his comeuppance. If it weren't so frustrating to yet again . . . . Well, no point giving anything away. Tension and suspense is maintained throughout this very well written story.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Overview
Stuart Woods' Edgar(r) Award-winning novel spans fifty years of racial tension, politics, and murder in the small Southern town of Delano, Georgia, where a depraved killer claims his innocent victims even as three very different generations of policemen seek to stop him. For the people of Delano, Georgia, 1920 was a landmark year. That winter they elected their first police chief, built the first jail. . .and discovered the first body — the naked, brutalized corpse o a young boy. So began a forty-year manhunt ...