The setting is mainly Elima, a composite of the Hawaiian Islands where Kay Yoshinobu is practicing criminal law along with her husband Sidney Chu and senior partner Qual Smith. Kay specializes in thoroughly investigating the lives of her clients. And truthfulness is not the most frequent virtue of the people Kay chooses to defend.Sid is a brilliant trial attorney, who is frequently exasperated by Kay's avocation as an investigator.Qual is the stabilizing force in the firm. ...

The setting is the Big Island of Hawaii. With its active volcano and its frequent earthquakes, it has long been the subject of Polynesian legends. And, at the core of the legends, are the tales told of the alii, the Polynesian nobility, who possessed a strange power making them invulnerable to attack. Lehua Watanabe, investigative reporter for the Kona News, suddenly acquires this mysterious force, which serves her well in her encounter with organized crime, but which ...

The rain-soaked streets of Napua on Hawaiis island of Elima are a far cry from a battlefield but, for returned soldier Kimo Stanner, theres a sudden reminder of warfare when a figure rushes in front of his pickup and he feels the impact. Even before getting out to view the damage, he knows the pedestrian is dead, and theres nothing for it but to report to the police—except that when the police arrive, the body has disappeared.When he turns to the firm of Smith, Chu and Yoshinobu to ...

The lovely, lonely princess wandered along the edge of a pond thinking about finding a mate, but her fathers kingdom was poor, and no noble had ever asked for her hand. Suddenly a large bullfrog jumped up on the bank and said, “Kiss me and you will find a mate.”“What do I have to lose?” thought the princess, as she stooped down and kissed the frog.Within moments, two frogs jumped happily into the pond and swam out together among the lily pads.Not what ...

John A. Broussard's Murder at Milltown Junior College is packed to the last page with murder and suspense. This exciting mystery begins with the murder of Milltown JC's un-beloved president Gilbert Green. Green has a despicable secret. Is that what got him killed? Or has someone simply gone mad? Academic murder is an unlikely scenario in this seedy, down-at-the-heel Pacific Northwest logging town. The suspects are many and the clues are few. Paul Yankovich...

Elima—imaginary Elima. It is one of the Neighbor Islands. That is what the residents of the main island of Oahu call the other islands in Hawaii. The people of Elima—the haoles (white newcomers), the Asians, the Portuguese, the native Hawaiians—in the following pages are an amalgam of what one can find on any of the real Neighbor Islands.Elima is a county in its own right: the island has its own mayor, police force, tax structure, and share of corruption. Once almost entir...

When the local missions Father Duffy shows up at the office of Smith, Chu, Yoshinobu and Correa, it looks at first like a routine case. Father Duffy is seeking an attorney to defend one of his clients on a possible murder charge. The routine aspect rapidly disappears when it turns out that Shelton Williams hasnt turned himself in to the police, for the simple reason that the murder has never been reported.Matters become more complex when the police investigation at the crime scen...

Fifty-Minutes Flahterty presents forty-one short stories in the tradition of Sherlock Holmes—with a difference. "Fifty-Minutes" Flaherty is Holmes brought up to date, accelerated, and sprinkled with humor. Homicide Lieutenant "Fifty-Minutes" Flaherty has acquired his nickname from his success at solving crimes in less than an hour. His helper, who is sometimes actually helpful, is Detective Sergeant Donaldson. In each story the reader is ordinarily provided with enough clues to ...

“Back when I was a kid growing up in South Chicago, I never dreamed that having a Lebanese father and a Syrian mother would turn out to be an asset. But my ancestry paid off big-time when I sat down across from Timothy Fisher at a San Francisco sidewalk cafe on that warm September morning. He bought my cover as a Mid-East terrorist—hook, line and sinker. Of course, being an FBI agent, Id been provided with excellent cover. Even so, he was nervous and kept looking around at our neigh...

June 1I doubt that I would be starting this diary if it werent for laptops. I had a maiden aunt who gave me a pretty, red, imitation-leather notebook with “My Diary” embossed in gold on the cover. She said every girl should start one at age eleven. If I remember right, I wrote the date on the first page and immediately lost the book.Im not too likely to lose this laptop, since its my bread and butter. And, because I regularly send my programming back to the office, I...

Its a beautiful day in Hawaii. Kay Yoshinobu and Sid Chu have been invited for a day trip on the luxurious Forbes yacht. At the outset, the excursion meets all expectations. The food is wonderful, the seas are calm, the magnificent boat is obviously in competent hands. Theres an undercurrent of unease, however, centering chiefly on their hostess—the recently widowed Joanna Forbes. Two rivals for her affection hover around her. One is young, athletic Bart Cain. The other is dentist David Rouse...

Hawaii is a paradise, especially for real estate salesmen. But Ron Crockett, recently arrived from the mainland and amazingly successful in marketing properties, finds a serpent in paradise. The snake is in the form of his boss, Dale Matthias. Unloved while alive, he is a far worse problem when found dead in his office, since Ron is suspected of killing him. The evidence is overwhelming, and even Ron's attorney, Kay Yoshinobu, can't see how he can possibly be innocent or, worse yet, that ...