DEATH IN PARADISE

It's been six years since newsman Richard Collins fell to his death off a cliff at Ahiahi, the Hawaiian estate of his longtime friend Belle Ericcson, a world-famous correspondent whose daughter CeeCee had been kidnapped and killed just a year before. Now Richard's still grieving widow Henrietta O'Dwyer Collins (Death in Lovers' Lane, 1997, etc.) has received an unsigned package of materials indicating that Richard's death was murder, not accident. Henrie O resolves to get at the truth, starting with the notes written by Richard before his last journey. They take her to Texas, where CeeCee was killed, to a search for Johnny Rodriguez, who, according to the notes, had called Richard with information about her daughter's killer. Told that Johnny had drowned long since, Henrie O, with a carefully faked invitation, goes on to Hawaii and Belle's estate. There, she meets Belle's property manager, Lester Mackey; her third husband, Keith Scanlon; and her half-dozen grown children, all gathered for their annual remembrance of CeeCee. A cool reception, some sinister incidents, and another death can't stop Henrie O, however, as she pursues her mission to its mildly surprising conclusion. The first-person narration tends toward the flowery and melodramatic as our heroine explores this maze of interrelationships, petty feuds, and contrived dangers, with very little suspense. Not up to this author's best.