A forbidden kiss. A death in plain sight. And the faculty meeting’s just begun.
When the lecherous Kent Lovely, Mahina State’s one-man hostile work environment, collapses face-first into his haupia cheesecake, the faculty retreat goes from dull to disastrous. Now Professor Molly Barda has to fight to keep an innocent out of prison—and herself off the unemployment line. If you like Dorothy Parker, Sarah Caudwell, P.G. Wodehouse, or E.F. Benson's Mapp and Lucia stories, you'll enjoy this tale of passion, pilferage, and petty politics.
I loved this book! I was caught laughing out loud. The sarcasm and humor are superbly written. I was hooked from the start and dare say forgot all about the time while reading.
We all think of Hawaii as a paradise where everything is always in bloom and perfect weather with beautiful beaches. Molly, a literature Ph.D at Mahina University is teaching of all things business. Not exactly her dream job. And she is not a fan of rain and guess what, it rains a lot and with curly hair she is a frizzy mess and her clothes stick to her. Yuck! This is not exactly the paradise people think of but at least she has a job. She and her colleagues are going through a lot right now because of budget cuts, committees and working in the summer with no extra pay. Molly has been having trouble with a student getting violent in class and looks forward to a nice dinner out with her boyfriend Stephen for her birthday. Stephen stands her up and she ends up at her best friend Emma's who is also a professor of Biology at the university. Emma is one of my favorite characters because she is a hoot. She is funny, straight forward person who btw told Molly that Stephen the jerk would stand her up again.
Meanwhile back at the university Molly and Iker, professor of accounting have been working on budgets and possibly inappropriation of funds in the music department. This is where Molly's life goes from bad to worse. Kent Lovely is the professor who oversees the budget for the department and seems to have a "special " relationship with a staff member who is looking the other way. I'm sure you guessed that Molly and Iker are told to stop looking into the budget. This doesn't sit well with either of them. Then they find out that everyone is to attend a retreat with all the trimmings to hand out the best teacher award. Gee, what happened to the budget! After everyone is seated and they are ready to announce the winner Kent ends up face down in his haupia cheesecake . Things spiral out of control when he dies and her best friend Emma's brother Jonah is supposedly the prime suspect. Now with the help of her friends Emma and Iker they have to solve this mystery before the wrong person ends up in jail.
The adventure, mystery, and twists and turns in this book were so much fun. I loved being on the edge of my seat throughout reading and being totally surprised at the end. I didn't see it coming! I look forward to reading more by Frankie Bow.
Review by Penny M.
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