Primitive Secrets by
Deborah Turrell Atkinson
pbk out December 06
(Poisoned Pen Press)
at £9.95
Storm Kayama, a young lawyer who has only recently completed the bar exams,
comes to work one morning to find the head of the firm, her "Uncle" Miles
Hamasaki, dead at his desk. There is nothing to indicate a suspicious death,
although thanks to a preliminary chapter the reader is well aware that that is
exactly what it was. Hamasaki had been Storm's guardian since her father's
death, and she is bereft; also a little unsure of her future with the firm, the
remaining senior partners being rather a mixed bag, and not all sympathetic
towards her. (There's a great temptation to do the bibliographic equivalent of
shouting "Look behind you", from time to time). Despite this, Storm doesn't pull
her punches in trying to unravel various minor mysteries: where is Hamasaki's
briefcase, and what has happened to a particular file? Gradually Storm uncovers
a case of corruption involving a medical care firm, and eventually she realises
that her uncle's death was not natural. Nothing natural, either, about the mugging
and the break-in that she suffers, or the attempt to force her car off the road. But
good will triumph (love, too) and with an interesting setting and packed with
details about the Hawaiian culture, way of life and folklore, this is a novel well
worth reading.
(
Judith Rhodes
)
New Books by Deborah Turrell Atkinson at Amazon.co.uk
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Primitive Secrets by
Deborah Turrell Atkinson
