On Flashback Fridays I will share with you
the books I was not able to review
when they were first released that have been screaming at me
from my To-Be-Read bookshelf.
While I was reorganizing my bookshelves recently I found this book in a box that hadn’t made it to the shelves when we moved. I needed a Hawaii book for the Literary Escapes Challenge so I redipped my toes last week back into the long-running Murder, She Wrote Series. I may be reading more now that I realize each book can truly be read on its own, even for a “read series in order” stickler like me.
Murder, She Wrote: Aloha Betrayed
Cozy Mystery
41st in Series
Setting – Hawaii
Berkley (April 1, 2014)
Hardcover : 288 pages
ISBN-10 : 0451466543
ISBN-13 : 978-0451466549
Mass Market Paperback : 304 pages
ISBN-10 : 0451466551
ISBN-13 : 978-0451466556
Kindle ASIN : B00DMCV23C
Jessica Fletcher finds herself in a tropical paradise where “aloha” means both hello and goodbye. But sometimes, the goodbye is permanent…
Jessica is on the Hawaiian island of Maui, giving a lecture on community involvement in police investigations. Her co-lecturer is legendary retired detective Mike Kane, who shares his love of Hawaiian lore, legends, and culture with Jessica. But the talking stops when the body of a colleague is found at the rocky foot of a cliff.
Mala Kapule, a botanist and popular professor at Maui College, was known for her activism and efforts on behalf of the volcanic crater Haleakala. Plans to place the world’s largest solar telescope there split the locals, with Mala arguing fiercely to preserve the delicate ecology of the area.
Now it’s up to Jessica and Mike to uncover who was driven to silence the scientist…and betray the spirit of aloha.
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Jessica Fletcher leaves Cabot Cove and lands in the tropical paradise of Hawaii to co-host a lecture series about community members getting involved in police investigations. Something she is an expert at. Legendary retired Hawaiian detective Mike Kane is her co-host for the lecture series and they become fast friends as he shares his Hawaiian life, lore, and legends with her. She also meets a young professor, Mala Kapule, with ties back in Maine, but before they can spend much time together, the young woman is killed, found at the foot of a rocky cliff. Mala was an activist and her current project was to keep the “world’s largest solar telescope” from being built atop Haleakala. Her quest is to protect and preserve the delicate ecology of the entire area. The quest probably led to her death but Jessica and Mike need to follow every clue to uncover the truth. They also need to stay alive long enough to do that as the killer’s quest is to get away with MURDER!
This book is a travelogue mixed with a mystery. I have wanted to travel to Hawaii forever and this book hit several of Maui’s hot tourist activities giving me a little virtual vacay. Let me be clear, it can’t replace actually going there in person. That item is still at the top of my bucket list. The descriptions definitely whetted my appetite for things to do and see. I want to witness the sunrises and sunsets and attend the luau and check out the volcanos myself.
The mystery in the story is a little light as the setting seemed to get even more time than the investigation. Because I was a fan of the television show it is so easy to imagine Jessica’s antics and hear her voice when she speaks. Jessica and Mike follow the clues and get a little help from his old friends on the force. Even when in Hawaii she hops on a bike to follow a clue. Things did take a turn when she tried to enjoy a popular tourist attraction on her own. It turned into quite a harrowing event but it moved the investigation forward. I do love how Jessica is always up for almost anything and she isn’t afraid to return to the scene of the crime several times as she tries to pull all the clues together. I really enjoyed the way Mike and Jessica worked together and the way he invited her to his family event. He really lives the Aloha spirit.
Murder She Wrote: Aloha Betrayed was a fun and entertaining story. Great characters and a captivating mystery all set in a tropical paradise. A nice little escape.
Your Escape Into A Good Book Travel Agent
About the Authors
Jessica Fletcher is a bestselling mystery writer who has a knack for stumbling upon real-life mysteries in her various travels.
Donald Bain, her longtime collaborator, is the writer of more than one hundred other books, many of them bestsellers. He passed away in 2017.
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Sounds like a great book.