Happy Release Day!
Congratulations Leslie
on the release today of
Molten Death!
Molten Death by Leslie Karst
(Orchid Isle Mystery)
Mystery, LGBT, 271 pages
Published April 2, 2024 by Severn House
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 of 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!
(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)
First lines—"This is not what she'd imagined their Hawaiian vacation would be like."
Leslie Karst is a new-to-me author so I didn't really know what to expect when I dove into this book. Set in Hawaii—how can that be anything but wonderful—Valarie sees what she believes to be a leg being engulfed in hot lava. Yikes! She spends a lot of time during the rest of their vacation trying to solve the mystery of who that leg belonged to.
As we are taken along with her and her friends as they try to solve the mystery, we also get a glimpse of the wonderfulness of Hawaii and the fun activities that there are to do there. I felt like I was on vacation with them as well.
I have to admit that I am not really a 'cozy mystery' reader, more a reader of thrillers, so I felt that this was a much slower paced story, with not as much focus on the 'mystery', from what I am used to reading. That's not to take away from this story at all, it just had a different feel to me. I ended up loving the slower pace and the character development and activities that were integrated into the storyline. And I learned a lot about Hawaii and all that it has to offer.
I will definitely be interested in reading more about Valarie and Kristen's life and adventures and will be keeping an eye out for the next installment in the Orchard Isle series. Highly recommend this to all cozy mystery readers.
I received a copy of Molten Death from SparkPoint and this is my honest opinion.
Advanced Praise
“Molten Death is one hot ticket with a gorgeous yet deadly setting, a tenacious amateur sleuth, and a real head scratcher of a mystery. Karst delivers a compelling read that will enlighten, engage, and entertain, leaving readers longing for their next trip to the Orchid Isle.” —Jenn McKinlay, New York Times bestselling author
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About the author
Connect with Leslie
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The daughter of a law professor and a potter, Leslie Karst learned early, during family dinner conversations, the value of both careful analysis and the arts—ideal ingredients for a mystery story. Putting this early education to good use, she now writes the Sally Solari Mysteries (Dying for a Taste, A Measure of Murder, Death al Fresco, Murder from Scratch), a culinary series set in Santa Cruz, California.
An ex-lawyer like her sleuth, Leslie also has degrees in English literature and the culinary arts. She now spends her time cooking, singing alto in her local chorus, gardening, cycling, and of course writing. Leslie and her wife and their Jack Russell mix split their time between Santa Cruz and Hilo, Hawai‘i.
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