MAI TAI MALICE

A Florida waitress tries to find the killer of a woman who had recently implicated her in a murder.

In Westlake’s third installment of a mystery series, Tampa resident Kalliope “Kallie” Brooks and her best friend, Tess Russo, are enjoying the parade at Gasparilla, the city’s annual pirate festival. Suddenly, a woman crashes into Kallie, and hands her a bloody knife. It’s the knife that was just used to kill an NFL player with a troubled past. Although Kallie spends a brief time in jail, she is released when security footage taken at the festival shows a woman handing off the knife. After Kallie’s release, she learns of another murder at the parade, and later is shocked to find the victim is Kelsey Majors, the woman who gave her the bloody knife. When not communing with her sweet dog, Sherman, or hanging out with Tess, Kallie is a waitress at the Lazy Gecko, which features a cheerful beach vibe (“The unusual drinks were her favorites—the cool, retro Harvey Wallbangers and Blue Hawaiis and Old Fashioneds, delicately layered shots that relied on specific gravities—the ones that made Kallie feel like a mad scientist”). But serving up killers has become the amateur sleuth’s second career. She, Tess, and their hired bargain-rate private investigator, Reggie Cornwallis, look into Kelsey’s past, including her boyfriend, Dakota Abernathy, a filthy rich and supposedly reformed bad boy, and her controlling boss, Esmerelda Collins. Police Det. Morrison keeps an eye on Kallie along the way, and his interest in her may be personal as well as professional. Although this engaging novel can be read as a stand-alone, perusing the series in order provides helpful background information. This is not Kallie’s first rodeo, er, murder. But solving gory crimes does not dampen her spirits or lessen her good humor. The book is often quite funny, as when Tess gives Kallie a makeover, and the evocative descriptions of Gasparilla and the Tampa area add color. But old-timey terms stand out; Kallie drives a “jalopy,” and characters “scowl” and “grin.” Still, there are intriguing plot twists, and Kallie gets into some dangerous scrapes.

Cheers to this delightful cocktail of sweetness, humor, and murder.