Pleasing The Dead: A Storm Kayama Mystery
By Deborah Turrell Atkinson
Poisoned Pen Press, $24.95
ISBN: 978-1590-58597-9
Click here to read an interview with the author.

Once again Deborah Turrell Atkinson displays her talent for writing mysteries that brilliantly convey both the beauty and dangers of Hawaii. In her fourth outing, attorney Storm Kayama travels to Maui to meet with her new client, former champion windsurfer Lara Farrell. To her surprise, Lara seems reluctant to reveal the details about her business partnership with her fiancé Ryan Tagama. Or more accurately, as Storm soon discovers, the ties with Ryan and his Japanese financier father whose tendrils connect him with shady Japanese businessmen who all display a distinct lack of pinky fingers.

Storm's first sights on Maui are the burned remains of a local restaurant, and that harbinger foreshadows a tragic domestic shooting and additional murder as her own room is repeatedly invaded and she is followed by an ominous SUV. In her own life Storm is dealing with the tentative relationship with her boyfriend Ian Hamlin, who left her for a "break" after Storm's previous investigations left them both scarred and wounded.

Atkinson's mysteries always excel at detailing the sights and flavors of Hawaii that only a local could convey. From the diverse and delicious foods such as poi pancakes and saimin with fish cake to the Hawaiian tradition the "coconut wireless" that makes a small island a small neighborhood, all of these descriptions display traits that are uniquely Hawaiian. More than just a regional mystery, Pleasing the Dead explores the complex relationships between fathers and their children and the long-lasting, tragic, legacies left when those relationships are broken. This latest Storm Kayama mystery is the most harrowing yet, with an exciting battle at sea that the reader won't soon forget. A beautiful, scenic, and fascinating thriller that shouldn't be missed.

Review by CINDY CHOW

Pleasing The Dead: A Storm Kayama Mystery
By Deborah Turrell Atkinson
Poisoned Pen Press, $24.95
ISBN: 978-1590-58597-9
Click here to read an interview with the author.

In this, the fourth novel in the series, attorney Storm Kayama once again finds herself in the midst of a dangerous situation despite the fact that her journey from Honolulu to Maui begins innocently enough. All she has to do is some perfunctory legal work on behalf a client setting up a new business, a dive shop. But she no sooner lands there than she is witness to an explosion at a restaurant, which kills an official.

Then an employee working on the new dive shop shoots his two young daughters and himself. From that point, Storm becomes involved in the various personalities and interrelationships way beyond the simple task if setting up by-laws and establishing insurance criteria. These include the Yakuza, intertwined interests of local businesses, real estate, prostitution and politics. It makes for exciting reading.

As in past novels in the series, the book is filled with broad glimpses of the beauty of the Hawaiian Islands, as well as its past history and customs. Fast-paced and smoothly written, the novel is entertaining and a good read, and is recommended.

Review by THEODORE FEIT

©2009 Lorie Ham. All rights reserved.