DIAMOND HEAD

Paperback heroine Abigail Danforth, the world's first female consulting detective, travels to Hawaii, circa 1906, for her hardcover debut. Her teas, changes of clothing, and elevated small talk (``Do not dare quote Tennyson!...I have endured quite enough Emerson from Mr. Tarkington'') are interrupted by no fewer than three wide-eyed mysteries—the death of an illegitimate niece of Queen Liliukalani's (for which Miss Danforth's love-smitten major-domo is held); the poisoning (or is it leprosy?) of sugar-king Abner Tarkington's son Frank; and the search for Abner's long-banished first son Luke. With corset and parasol, Miss Danforth even takes time out to dispatch a would-be assassin. When a male companion pulls her from a doomed carriage, Miss Danforth does ``not recoil from his scandalous breach of conduct.'' Readers who aren't die-hard fans of Carole Nelson Douglas's more accomplished stories about Irene Adler, though, will probably do their own recoiling.