KAUA'I STORM

While searching for a missing cousin, a park ranger reconnects with her large family and rediscovers her love for Hawaii.

A brief opening chapter finds Oregon-based ranger Makalani Pahukula running for her life in a Hawaiian rain forest. Then the story flashes back a week to her arrival at her native Kaua'i to celebrate her grandmother's 85th birthday. She receives the sad news that her 17-year-old cousin, Becky Muramoto, is missing, along with another cousin, 22-year-old Solomon Ching. Uneasy about Solomon’s sketchy reputation, Makalani feels compelled to investigate. Her probe proceeds slowly against a backdrop of the island’s beautiful natural attractions and several subplots involving different members of her family, making readers appreciate the detailed genealogy that Eldridge has provided at the beginning. Scenes with Makalani's resilient Mama and Tūtū are particularly affecting. Eldridge attempts to maintain the suspense surrounding the case of the missing duo by offering red herrings, glimmers of the truth, and new developments like the discovery of a corpse in the Keālia Forest Reserve. But these may not be enough to satisfy readers impatient for a solution to the juicy mystery, whose eventual arrival is followed by still more family drama. A lengthy glossary will educate interested readers further in Hawaiian culture. The richly detailed descriptions of the natural wonders of Kaua'i and of Makalani's large and tangled family hint at more Hawaiian mysteries to be solved by the resourceful forest-ranger-turned-sleuth. Apparently, you can go home again.

An atmospheric love letter to Hawaii’s Garden Isle with episodes of action and mystery.