Trouble in paradise, Hawaiian-style.
Avid RVer Maxie McNabb has just returned to her home in Alaska after a long and arduous trip to the southwest (The Tooth of Time, 2006) when an acquaintance, Karen Bailey, begs her to come to Hawaii and help her pack up to move back to Alaska. Maxie promptly flies off to aid the battered Karen, who’s on crutches after tripping over packing crates. Karen is a helpless type who leaves Maxie to deal with a nasty landlord, a thwarted burglary and a flooded bathroom. But Maxie takes a liking to Jerry, the plumber’s friendly teenaged assistant, and when he quits his job, she hires him to help them pack. Karen is furious and the landlord annoyed when Jerry moves in, but they acquiesce when Maxie threatens to walk out. Fed up with the secretive and unhelpful Karen, Maxie sends her back to Alaska and with Jerry’s help finishes the packing and cleans up the mess from the break-in. She makes sure to allow time to hire a camper so that she and Jerry can visit the Big Island. The trip would be a joy if not for a series of mysterious occurrences. Maxie must figure out what Karen is hiding before she and Jerry become victims of a hidden danger.
A surprise ending and a northerner’s ode to Hawaii don’t make up for saddling Maxie with this improbable tale.
