Book Review: Murder, Local Style (Orchid Isle Mystery, #3) by Leslie Karst

Murder, Local Style by Leslie Karst
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When the local orchid club president is murdered, Valerie steps up to catch the killer.

Murder, Local Style is the third book in veteran author Leslie Karst’s fun and layered Orchid Isle Mystery series, and once again, Valerie must step in to investigate a local death. When the president of her neighborhood’s orchid club dies after eating food she prepared for their club’s annual memorial dinner, Valerie naturally has a vested interest in clearing her name.

Valerie Corbin, a former caterer, graciously agrees to help prepare the annual dinner when one of the two volunteers responsible must go to Oahu to care for her sick mother. Thankfully, only 60 attendees are expected, and most of the menu shopping has been completed. The menu is comprised of local favorites that sound delicious, and there are fun discussions of their preparation woven into the story. As is her tradition, the author provides recipes at the end of the novel. Valerie had only just attended her first club meeting at the invitation of one of her neighbors and was hoping to meet others from the area, but making everyone sick with her cooking wasn’t what she had in mind, so she had plenty of righteous motivation to discover the truth.

Readers get an insider’s view of Valerie and Kristen’s marriage and home life, stressed by the murder and compounded by the building tensions between them and the inconsiderate neighbor next door, who uses loud power tools from dawn to dusk and has a dog that barks incessantly. Kristen’s nephew, Sean, has also come for an extended stay, and he gets upset when he overhears one of Valerie’s possible hypotheses, which would implicate his new island amour, who is also a member of the orchid club. Later, when he disappears for several days without a word to his aunt, Kristen is naturally concerned and upset, and Valerie doesn’t share her urgency to find him, which I found out of character for her. On the other hand, while Kristen has been somewhat supportive of Valerie’s past sleuthing, she’s really not on board this time, even though someone has done their best to point the finger at her wife.

The plot is full of neighborhood gossip and intrigue, with everyone involved living within the same area. Everyone knows everyone else, their families, and all their business, so there are plenty of suspects to consider and some very good red herrings to rule out. As always, the author imbues the story with local flavor, both cultural and culinary.

I recommend MURDER, LOCAL STYLE to cozy mystery readers, especially those who would enjoy a Big Island setting.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.

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Book Review: Waters of Destruction (Orchid Isle Mystery, #2) by Leslie Karst

Waters of Destruction by Leslie Karst
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An intriguing murder mystery with an atmosphere-rich Hawai’ian setting!

Waters of Destruction is the second book in author Leslie Karst’s excellent and atmosphere-rich Orchid Isle Mystery series featuring two malahinis (newcomers) to Hilo, Hawai’i, retired transplants from Southern California, Valerie Corbin and her wife, Kristen. When one of the bartenders goes AWOL at the restaurant where she works, Sachiko asks Valerie, a former caterer, if she could fill in for a couple of nights until a permanent replacement is hired. But when the missing bartender is found dead, and Sachiko becomes the police’s number one suspect in his murder, Valerie agrees to snoop around among the restaurant staff for clues as to who really killed him.

Valerie and Kristen have made the big move to Hilo, bought a great old home, and are in the delightful process of outfitting the kitchen, locating the perfect pieces of furniture at garage sales, and generally settling into their new life. They are a fun couple with both common and divergent interests, and they are wonderfully adept at coordinating with each other. Since the murder in the previous book, Kristen has come to terms with Valerie’s interest in getting to the bottom of the mysteries, especially to help out their new friends.

The story is full of vibrant descriptions of the island and island life that are so vivid I felt I was seeing things firsthand, and I enjoyed the recipes featured after the story was over. I loved how the author included a glossary of the various Hawai’ian words and phrases that peppered the dialogue throughout the story at the end of the book. However, she did a great job with context or short explanations when a new word came up.

While the eventual victim is missing at the start of the book, it takes a while for his death to be discovered. In the meantime, the author cleverly introduces the staff at the restaurant where he worked and the members at the rowing club where he was competing for the position on the team for an upcoming race, while Valerie carefully prods them for their opinions about the man. Her questions are to the point, but she always strives to be low-key so as not to alarm anyone or keep from appearing too interested in the answers. I enjoyed how she finally came to the right conclusions, and the final face-to-face between her and the murderer was intense but, ultimately, successful. It pays to make friends. I look forward to this couple’s further adventures.

I recommend WATERS OF DESTRUCTION to cozy mystery readers, especially those who would enjoy a Hawai’ian setting or realistic LGBT representation.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.


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