An eternal lei

Leilani Santiago has returned to Kaua'i, leaving school on the mainland to care for her mother and keep the family's shaved-ice business afloat. With the pandemic in full force, business and tourism are down. After Leilani's younger sisters pull a near-lifeless woman from Waimea Bay, Leilani tries to resuscitate her, removing a lei made with rare mokihana berries before paramedics take the woman to the hospital. Leilani fears, correctly as it turns out, that the lei is from the flower shop run by her best friend's family. Curiosity piqued, she begins working her large and diverse kama'āina network to learn who the woman is and why she has risked travel during the pandemic. The threats, subtle at first, accelerate after Leilani is on the scene when Ted, a nurse she met at the hospital, is killed at an influential lawyer's home on Kaua'i's north shore. Hirahara gives us a multilayered story, rich in island detail. The subplots probe the importance of the tourist industry, family relationships, and adoption. There is a glossary of the many Hawaiian terms used throughout.

The Covid pandemic provides the backdrop for Edgar winner Hirahara's entertaining sequel to 2019's Iced in Paradise. By October 2020, travel restrictions have eliminated the tourism industry on Kaua'i, and Leilani Santiago's hopes of marketing her original shave-ice flavors beyond Hawaii have been dashed. She's diverted from worries about her own future when an unconscious woman washes ashore on Waimea Bay. Before administering CPR, Leilani removes a lei from the woman's body that reveals blistering on her chest and back. Leilani preserves the lei, which turns out to have a link to her best friend, Courtney Kahuakai, and Courtney's family's flower business. The woman is taken to a hospital, where she's put into a medically induced coma. The police identify her as Yumi Hara, a Japanese travel agent who recently broke quarantine. At her peril, the ever curious Leilani looks into how Yumi ended up on the beach. A murder raises the ante. Hirahara seamlessly integrates real-life Covid impacts into a plot that's peopled with fully realized characters. Fans of intrepid amateur sleuths will want to see more of Leilani. Agent: Susan Cohen, PearlCo Literary. (Mar.)