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dollycas's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
4.0
Dollycas's Thoughts
Valerie Corbin is having a tough time. A few weeks ago she and her younger brother Charlie were in a terrible car accident. She survived, he didn't. She had been planning a vacation with her wife, Kristen to the Big Island of Hawai'i to celebrate her 60th birthday and Kristin's retirement. They decide to keep their plans and go. Valerie hopes seeing their friend Isaac and enjoying all the things he wants to show them and the entire experience will help her deal with her guilt and her grief.
Isaac can't wait to take Kristen and Valerie to see a volcano with an active flow. Valerie gets all caught up in the mass of red and orange crawling across the base of the black rock. She separates herself from Kristen and Issac to take some pictures. Suddenly she sees a boot about to be covered with lava. Then she realizes the book is attached to a leg. Before she can call for help lava covers the leg, boot, and everything around it.
Since she is the only one who saw what happened not even Isaac and Kristen will believe her but she knows the person was murdered and the killer left the body near the lava so it and all the evidence would be covered quickly and forever. Valerie decides to do sleuthing on her own to get justice for the victim. Unfortunately, her investigation puts a target on her back and she realizes she could be the next person swimming in the flowing lava.
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I have always wanted to travel to Hawai'i but short of that I enjoy literary vacations to the islands. With Ms. Karst living part of the year there and her descriptive writing style she brought the Big Island to life for me. I also learned that you must respect the volcanos and their lava flow. A tourist site or neighborhood can quickly turn to disaster as fissures open and red ooze flows. I can't believe how close people can get to it. Geothermal development was a big theme in the book. While I knew the basics it was truly put into perspective in this story. I also became more knowledgeable about avocados and cliff fishing.
The author introduces us to Valerie Corbin, a retired caterer, and her wife Kristen, a now-retired journeyman carpenter. I really didn't like Kristen, but I identified immediately with Valerie. She has suffered a horrendous traumatic loss and it happened just a short time ago. Of course, she is grieving and a trip to Hawaii is not going to fix it. Yes, as the days, weeks, months, and years go by it gets easier to move forward but Valerie survived the accident that killed her brother and she will need help to get beyond that. Then she sees a person buried under the lava and again, it shook her to her core. It was hard for her to open up, which was understandable, but there was conflict between the couple throughout the story. I just would have liked Kristin to be more supportive from the start as she did get better by the final page.
The murder mystery was very unique with an eerie start. What a way to get rid of a body. It made sense for Valerie to get involved. Anyone who saw such a sight would want answers. I liked that Valerie didn't give up especially when no one believed her. Her sleuthing took her all around the island. I was very entertained following along each step of the way. The ending was very exciting.
The author does use "spelling and punctuation routinely employed currently in the Hawaiian Islands", Hawaiian and Pidgin English. It messed with the flow for me at the start of the story, as I had to take a moment to get the context. There is a glossary at the end of the book and some recipes too.
Molten Death is more than a cozy mystery. It is also a story of the complex relationship between Valerie and Kristen. I believe it was struggling before Valerie's brother's death, but that event opened a chasm. Kristen not believing Valerie about the body broke her trust as well.
I am intrigued to see where Ms. Karst takes this series. Valerie's first trip to the island was pretty eventful. It will be interesting to see what she gets tangled up in next.
Content Warnings
Minor: Grief
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