In Hawaii affluent Deana Armstrong rejects the police conclusion that her sixteen year old nephew Ryan used a baseball bat to bludgeon his parents to death and he was convicted of that crime. She believes he is innocent and her only hope to prove this rests with former DEA agent Josh Windsor who left the department before they fired him over a meth case that turned ugly. Deanna confronts him and offers him money, but he simply says no; her family money tipped him in a previous drug related court case re her nephew. Josh further explains he is out of the hero business and wants nothing to do with this woman who belongs in a Nebraska convent.

Eventually her harassment pushes Josh to agree to investigate if for no other reason but to get Deana from stalking him. Every clue he finds affirms the conviction, which makes falling in love a bit more difficult than even their totally opposite childhoods.

This is an entertaining investigative romance in which the love subplot supersedes the murder mystery. Josh and Deanne have issues; his with his heritage in which his mom turned tricks to feed him and her with scars on her chest from her most frightful moment; thus with their different opinion re Ryan leads to a fascinating pairing. Although the detecting subplot seems only to serve as a matchmaker, fans will enjoy the repartee between two people who represent opposite sides of Hawaii's social spectrum.

Harriet Klausner