Molten Death (An Orchid Isle Mystery)
by Leslie Karst
About Molten Death
Molten Death (An Orchid Isle Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – the Big Island of Hawai‘i
Publisher : Severn House (April 2, 2024)
Hardcover : 224 pages
ISBN-10 : 1448312167
ISBN-13 : 978-1448312160
Digital ASIN : B0CKWF5VWT
A glimpse of a quickly melting corpse at the foot of a volcano has amateur sleuth and food enthusiast Valerie Corbin shocked. But how can she investigate a murder, when there’s no evidence the victim ever existed?
The first Orchid Isle cozy mystery, set in tropical Hilo, Hawai’i, introduces a fun and feisty LGBTQ+ couple who swap surfing lessons for sleuthing sessions!
Retired caterer Valerie Corbin and her wife Kristen have come to the Big Island of Hawai’i to treat themselves to a well-earned tropical vacation. After the recent loss of her brother, Valerie is in sore need of a distraction from her troubles and is looking forward to enjoying the delicious food and vibrant culture the state has to offer.
Early one morning, the couple and their friend – tattooed local boy, Isaac – set out to see an active lava flow, and Valerie is mesmerized by the shape-shifting mass of orange and red creeping over the field of black rock. Spying a boot in the distance, she strides off alone, pondering how it could have gotten there, only to realize to her horror that the boot is still attached to a leg – a leg which is slowly being engulfed by the hot lava.
Valerie’s convinced a murder has been committed – but as she’s the only witness to the now-vanished corpse, who’s going to believe her?
Determined to prove what she saw, and get justice for the unknown victim, Valerie launches her own investigation. But, thrown into a Hawaiian culture far from the luaus and tiki bars of glossy tourist magazines, she soon begins to fear she may be the next one to end up entombed in shiny black rock . . .
The amiable characters, stunning backdrop and culinary delights make this the perfect cozy for fans who enjoy a tropical vacation with a twisty murder mystery and compelling Hawai’ian culture – paired with an added bonus of recipes of local Hawai’ian dishes!
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Valerie Corbin is having a tough time. A few weeks ago she and her younger brother Charlie were in a terrible car accident. She survived, he didn’t. She had been planning a vacation with her wife, Kristen to the Big Island of Hawai’i to celebrate her 60th birthday and Kristin’s retirement. They decide to keep their plans and go. Valerie hopes seeing their friend Isaac and enjoying all the things he wants to show them and the entire experience will help her deal with her guilt and her grief.
Isaac can’t wait to take Kristen and Valerie to see a volcano with an active flow. Valerie gets all caught up in the mass of red and orange crawling across the base of the black rock. She separates herself from Kristen and Issac to take some pictures. Suddenly she sees a boot about to be covered with lava. Then she realizes the book is attached to a leg. Before she can call for help lava covers the leg, boot, and everything around it.
Since she is the only one who saw what happened not even Isaac and Kristen will believe her but she knows the person was murdered and the killer left the body near the lava so it and all the evidence would be covered quickly and forever. Valerie decides to do sleuthing on her own to get justice for the victim. Unfortunately, her investigation puts a target on her back and she realizes she could be the next person swimming in the flowing lava.
I have always wanted to travel to Hawai’i but short of that I enjoy literary vacations to the islands. With Ms. Karst living part of the year there and her descriptive writing style she brought the Big Island to life for me. I also learned that you must respect the volcanos and their lava flow. A tourist site or neighborhood can quickly turn to disaster as fissures open and red ooze flows. I can’t believe how close people can get to it. Geothermal development was a big theme in the book. While I knew the basics it was truly put into perspective in this story. I also became more knowledgeable about avocados and cliff fishing.
The author introduces us to Valerie Corbin, a retired caterer, and her wife Kristen, a now-retired journeyman carpenter. I really didn’t like Kristen, but I identified immediately with Valerie. She has suffered a horrendous traumatic loss and it happened just a short time ago. Of course, she is grieving and a trip to Hawaii is not going to fix it. Yes, as the days, weeks, months, and years go by it gets easier to move forward but Valerie survived the accident that killed her brother and she will need help to get beyond that. Then she sees a person buried under the lava and again, it shook her to her core. It was hard for her to open up, which was understandable, but there was conflict between the couple throughout the story. I just would have liked Kristin to be more supportive from the start as she did get better by the final page.
The murder mystery was very unique with an eerie start. What a way to get rid of a body. It made sense for Valerie to get involved. Anyone who saw such a sight would want answers. I liked that Valerie didn’t give up especially when no one believed her. Her sleuthing took her all around the island. I was very entertained following along each step of the way. The ending was very exciting.
The author does use “spelling and punctuation routinely employed currently in the Hawaiian Islands”, Hawaiian and Pidgin English. It messed with the flow for me at the start of the story, as I had to take a moment to get the context. There is a glossary at the end of the book and some recipes too.
Molten Death is more than a cozy mystery. It is also a story of the complex relationship between Valerie and Kristen. I believe it was struggling before Valerie’s brother’s death, but that event opened a chasm. Kristen not believing Valerie about the body broke her trust as well.
I am intrigued to see where Ms. Karst takes this series. Valerie’s first trip to the island was pretty eventful. It will be interesting to see what she gets tangled up in next.
Your Escape Into A Good Book Travel Agent
About Leslie Karst
In addition to Molten Death, Leslie Karst is the author of the Lefty Award-nominated Sally Solari mystery series and Justice is Served: A Tale of Scallops, the Law, and Cooking for RBG. After years waiting tables and singing in a new wave rock band, she decided she was ready for a “real” job and ended up at Stanford Law School. It was during her career as an attorney that Leslie rediscovered her youthful passion for food and cooking and once more returned to school—this time to earn a degree in culinary arts. Now retired from the law, Leslie spends her time cooking, cycling, gardening, observing cocktail hour promptly at five o’clock, and of course writing. She and her wife split their time between Santa Cruz, California and Hilo, Hawai‘i.
Author Links
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Purchase Links –
Amazon – B&N – Bookshop.org
Also written by Leslie Karst
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This sounds great! Not sure why Dollycas knocked off one star.
Love Leslie’s Books!