Death in Paradise (A Henrie O Mystery) (U)

Henrie O has experienced much sadness and loss in her life--yet nothing more tragic than the sudden death six years ago of her beloved newspaperman husband, Richard, on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Then, on a brisk March morning, a package arrives by courier that shatters her fragile peace of mind--a chilling message that claims Richard's fatal fall from a towering island cliff was no accident. It was murder. It is news that enrages the normally self-contained Henrie 0, and a summons she cannot ignore, as she follows cryptic clues and her infallible instincts to a secret-shrouded tropic Eden--a lush and verdant Pacific paradise where giant palm fronds hide evil deeds from inquisitive eyes and the soft, salt scented ocean breeze whispers of treachery and death. At the lavish mountaintop estate of Belle Ericcson--where Richard spent the final days of his life--and in the company of the fabulously wealthy matriarch's large, extended clan, Henrie is privy to the rumors that have torn Belle's family apart: terrible allegations of greed and jealousy; of treachery, adultery, abuse...and of a mystery that surrounds the kidnap-slaying of Belle's eldest child, CeeCee, which may have been what called Richard Collins to Kauai and to his death. Henrie O's anger and pain--her duty to the past and to the cherished memory of the man she dearly loved--have brought her to this island of breathtaking, lethal beauty. But her unwavering determination to uncover the truth in a house of lies may ensure that she never leaves. Because the deaths did not begin with Richard Collins, nor have they ended there. And the closer she gets to unmasking her husband's assassin, the more frighteningly apparent it becomes that someone's dark and enduring homicidal passions have not yet been fully satisfied.