Ph D Mary Ellen Stepanich

The Doo-Wops and the B-Flat Murder Ph D Mary Ellen Stepanich

In this first novel in a proposed series, the Lilac Crazy comedy quartet is vacationing on the Big Island of Hawaii, and through a case of mistaken identity, gets involved in solving the murder of a young woman, the fiance of the heir to the pineapple fortune, confounded by the efforts of a wealthy entrepreneur who's trying to corner the world's food market. The victim is chased by an unseen villain into the Halemaumau dormant crater of the Kilauea volcano and falls through the lava crust to her death. The police find Lilac Crazy's business card in the dead woman's possessions. When the detectives question the quartet at their vacation villa, humorously dubbed The B-Flat, they notice that the tenor is a dead ringer for the deceased. The police believe the victim may have been killed in error, that the real target is the quartet tenor, so they place her in protective custody. Of course, the other three women in the quartet decide to solve the mystery on their own and return their friend to singing with them. What follows is a series of comedic miadventures--including a jailbreak, a kidnapping by a drug smuggler, an airplane crash on Mauna Loa, a shark attack at the Grand Hilton Waikoloa, and a shoot-out at an abandoned sugar mill. There's also a growing romance between the homicide detective and the lead singer in the quartet. The path to true love is rocky, however, because the quartet gets involved where they shouldn't, which angers the detective. He orders the women, including his paramour, to stop investigating. Furthermore, the lead singer is torn between this new romance and the memory of her late husband. In addition to providing comedy, suspense, and romance, the underlying purpose of the book is to show readers of all ages that so-called "middle-aged" women and widows can also be "girls who just wanna have fun." And love IS more comfortable the second time around.