Molten Death by Leslie Karst is book one in Leslie’s new cozy mystery series An Orchid Isle Mystery. @BookSparks @LeslieKarst

Readers who enjoy a little murder with a tropical vacation should be sure to pick up this entertaining and fun new mystery. 

Valerie and her wife Kristen are visiting Hilo, Hawai’i for a much needed vacation and to celebrate Valerie’s upcoming 60th birthday. It’s been a hard year for Valerie, a retired caterer, who recently lost her brother in a car accident. Thankfully the couple is staying with Kristen’s friend and local teacher Isaac. He’s an entertaining and loveable character, determined to give Valerie and Kristen an excellent vacation. 

Unfortunately on an early morning hike, Kristen and Isaac get ahead of Valerie and much to her dismay, Valerie sees a quickly melting corpse at the foot of a volcano. But with Valerie as the only eye-witness, who is going to believe what she saw? Regardless, Valerie is determined to solve the mystery. 

What an excellent start to a new series! The setting is beautiful, and as Valerie investigates this murder, readers are taken on a tour of the setting and of different culinary dishes. (Side note: do not read while hungry…thankfully there are recipes in the back!) I also appreciated that Valerie was an older protagonist and that the story didn’t shy away from her grief. Leslie also did an excellent job of showing how grief can impact a marriage. It was all handled with honesty and grace. 

I certainly did not see how Valerie, knowing nothing of the area, was going to solve this mystery, but I soon found out no matter the danger, she was going to stick it out, and I loved her for it. 

I’ll be reading more into this series and recommend this for mystery fans who would like a little arm-chair travel. 

224 pages, Hardcover, Kindle

April 2, 2024 Pub Date

About the Author:

The daughter of a law professor and a potter, Leslie Karst learned early, during family dinner conversations, the value of both careful analysis and the arts—ideal ingredients for a mystery story. Putting this early education to good use, she now writes the Sally Solari Mysteries (Dying for a Taste, A Measure of Murder, Death al Fresco, Murder from Scratch), a culinary series set in Santa Cruz, California.

An ex-lawyer like her sleuth, Leslie also has degrees in English literature and the culinary arts. She now spends her time cooking, singing alto in her local chorus, gardening, cycling, and of course writing. Leslie and her wife and their Jack Russell mix split their time between Santa Cruz and Hilo, Hawai‘i.

Author Website: https ://www.lesliekarstauthor.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lesliekarstauthor/

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