Sara Mason and love interest, Huxley Keane, are led on a perilous search while attempting to identify or match a bullet-scarred house key found in the Vietnam jungle. Huxley’s brother, Rocky, received a key from his fiancée, Emma Ellis, to her San Francisco apartment. Despite decades having passed, if Sara and Huxley can find Emma and match the key, Rocky would no longer be listed as MIA but deceased.
Sara Mason Mysteries Book Three
Finding Emma and hoping she kept a matching key through the years seemed an impossibility, especially since Rocky never came home. Their search to locate Emma leads Sara and Huxley to Brian and Juliet Porter in San Francisco. They knew Emma when she lived in the building next door. Their leads take Sara and Huxley to Honolulu, Hawaii. There they meet Michelle Masterfano and Koel Maruame who have old preserved records of people who managed the building in which they now live. Their information sends Sara and Huxley on a trail of deception as they learn about the nefarious life Emma chose to live.
Following clues to Emma’s whereabouts in Honolulu, Sara befriends a man and his teenage daughter who live among the homeless. Hachiro (Hachi) Asano and Noelani knew the woman called Emma. They have information to offer. They paint a despicable picture. Emma had lived among the homeless, but what depraved business had she gotten involved in that gave her enough money to get off the street so quickly? True to Sara’s plan of helping others, since the DVD games she creates still bring her millions, she helps get witnesses Hachi and Noelani off the street.
Emma’s corrupt history in drugs and human trafficking, spanning all the way to Singapore, is revealed. She lived a wicked life waiting for a fiancé who never returned. They learn she is streetwise and brutal with contacts to do her bidding. She attempts to stop Sara and Huxley whose very lives are threatened. In separate incidences, both Sara and Huxley are left for dead.
Once finding Emma and learning of the sordid life she chose, Sara discovers a secret about her that turns the entire investigation on its head. The Honolulu Police realize the woman Sara and Huxley search for is the same woman they once had under surveillance. When the final truth about Emma is understood, Sara and Huxley are hit with yet another sickening revelation about the woman. Then finally, both the Honolulu Police and the San Francisco Police re-open ancient cold cases with perpetrators finally in custody who begin to tell all.
A 5-Star Review by Michele Masterfano
I live in Honolulu, so I was interested to see what this was going to be like. The author did a good job in mentioning the various locations around town while weaving an intricate story, with lots of twists and turns. I read the first book in this trilogy, but somehow managed to skip the second, but that wasn’t a problem, as I was able to easily pick up the thread of the story line.
I found myself wishing I could run across Sara Mason in my travels! What a kind, caring person who can also solve mysteries. She reminded me a little bit of a younger, hipper Jessica Fletcher (for those of you old enough to remember Murder, She Wrote on TV), although she didn’t make her money writing mystery novels. Always one step ahead of the police, she can find clues in the smallest of details. She manages to get herself into way more trouble than Jessica Fletcher ever did, but always comes out on top.
This is well worth reading if you enjoy strong female personalities who also have a caring side. You’ll also get a sense of the darker side of Hawaii–it’s not all paradise, even though we all say “lucky we live Hawaii!” Oh, and you’ll also learn a little of the Hawaiian pidgin, developed by plantation workers early on, who came from many different nations to work the fields.
Synopses of Books One, Two, and Three
In River Bones, the 1st story, Sara is stalked by and helps catch a serial killer in California’s Sacramento River Delta. Her love interest, Huxley Keane, searches for his MIA brother.
The 2nd story, The Howling Cliffs, begins deep in the Vietnam jungle where Sara, Huxley and the veteran search team scour the area for remains of MIAs. Later, Sara goes on to solve a missing child cold case on Kauai in Hawaii. It almost costs her life.
In the third story, Dead to Life, Sara and Huxley need to find a person associated with a key found in the jungle, to confirm it belonged to Huxley’s missing brother. The key takes them on a harrowing search in Honolulu, Hawaii.
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