Nan Allen finds a strange legacy in the sandalwood fan given to her by ""Ah Sam,"" her Chinese substitute mamasan. Ah Sam had taken care of her ever since her mother died in childbirth in a Chinese prison camp. Also present at her mother's death was cousin Elizabeth who subsequently inherited the Allen fortune and built it into an import-export empire. Nan goes to Hawaii to visit Elizabeth whom she hasn't seen in years and from Aloha to Aloha-nui the suspense is as thick as poi. For one thing there's Major Fenton, another ex-prisoner same camp, who finds something fascinating in Nan's unusual coloring (red hair-brown eyes); then there's Elizabeth's reaction to the fan with its 1937 date and name not to mention Mr. Yin Wah, Elizabeth's menacing partner. But for (unintentionally comic) relief there's sweet Lani, island flower with what must be Miss Eyre's vision of island primitive: ""Sure theeng."" . . . ""He my numba-one fella."" The past catches up and so do the inevitable narcotics agents as the island sun sinks slowly into the tropics. . . . Ladies' suspense. . . same old samsara.