Targeted Age Group:: Adult
Category: Mystery/Suspense
About And Sudden Death:
The looting of $2 million, murder, and revenge…it’s going to be an interesting cruise to Honolulu
Rex McBride, LA private detective and self-proclaimed heel, needs to forget. He needs to forget his last case. But mostly he needs to forget the beautiful Sheila Mason, going on trial thanks to McBride. He needs to get away. And he needs the money that Mr. Vickers offers him…ten percent of the dough that disappeared with Nordstrom after he looted the Southern Counties Buildings & Loan.
Nordstrom himself got away clean. He had something over two million in his pants at the time.
Now, after three years, Mrs. Sibyl Nordstrom has booked passage on the Honolulu Queen to Honolulu. Vicker’s spy, a maid in Mrs. Nordstrom’s apartment, says she may be off to meet her husband.
But then the maid is found murdered, shot with a .32-caliber handgun. Could a woman, could Mrs. Sibyl Nordstrom fire such a weapon? Or is someone else responsible?
On board, McBride checks the passenger manifest. Mrs. Sibyl Nordstrom is traveling alone, under her own name. Does that make her innocent or crafty? But Fenner, Teal and O’Connor—Nordstom’s patsies—are not listed. Could they be on board under assumed names, tracking Mrs. Nordstrom to her husband, the money and revenge?
McBride wastes no time associating himself with the beautiful Mrs. Sibyl Nordstrom, meeting her officially when she is seated next to him at dinner the first night.
She was even more stunning than her pictures. Perhaps it was her gown, a black-and-silver effect that could have been painted on her. Her hair was platinum, her eyes a curious shade that might have been described as sea green. Her hips moved with a provocative sway that was just short of a challenge.
His eyes glowed warmly. “How do you do, Mrs. Nordstrom?”
Could there be more than meets the eye to this beautiful woman? Could she have fired the .32 that killed the maid, or broken the poor girl’s fingers to get information before shooting her in cold blood? If so, what would make a woman like Mrs. Sibyl Nordstrom—Beautiful— kill?
Could it be the enigmatic Japanese gentleman, Baron Ito Itsuki, seen leaving Beautiful’s lanai suite late that night? McBride’s check on the Baron reveals he is supposedly attached to the Japanese Consulate. And he’s been checking up on McBride, as well.
“I was having a little party in my suite.” Beautiful told him.
Then he got it. Not only had he seen Baron Ito Itsuki, he had been seen. This was her way of accounting for the baron’s presence.
“Itsuki is amusing, don’t you think?”
Amusing, indeed. Until he throws himself off his lanai balcony and his valet hangs himself with his own belt. Along with the missing Simmons—McBride’s steward—lost overboard, and the mysterious Englishman Fessenden—misguided defender of Miss Ford’s honor—stabbed to death on the promenade, bodies begin to stack up…McBride attached to each.
Under suspicion, McBride struggles to continue his investigation into the deaths and what connection there is between the mysterious Japanese Baron, the beautiful Mrs. Sibyl Nordstrom, and the missing two million dollars.
Can he continue to woo Mrs. Nordstrom and get her to lead him to her husband? Can he uncover the connection between Itsuki and his lovely prey? Can he unravel the mystery before more people he loves, like the lovely Miss Kay Ford, are killed?
Find out in this breath-taking mystery set against a pre-World War II scenario of international intrigue, greed, revenge and murder. Take a Look Inside, above, or download a sample to your Kindle device and find out why AND SUDDEN DEATH is still a favorite read of hardboiled murder mystery fans 75 years after it was first serialized as HOMICIDE HONOLULU BOUND in 1939.
[Read more…] about Gift Guide: And Sudden Death by Cleve F. Adams