Guest Post & #Giveaway: Murder, Local Style (An Orchid Isle Mystery #3) by Leslie Karst
- Archaeolibrarian
- 1 day ago
- 7 min read
Book Details:
Genre: Traditional Mystery, Snarky Cozy Mystery, Soft-Boiled Mystery
Published by: Severn House
Publication Date: April 7, 2026
Number of Pages: 240 pages, Hardcover
ISBN: 9781448316588 (ISBN10: 1448316588)
Series: An Orchid Isle Mystery, Book 3
@lesliekarstauthor @severnhouse @partnersincrimevbt
@lesliekarst @severnhouseimprint @partnersincrimevbt
Retired caterer Valerie Corbin investigates a suspicious poisoning in this Orchid Isle cozy culinary mystery, featuring a feisty queer couple who swap surfing lessons for sleuthing sessions in tropical Hilo, Hawai‘i.
A dinner to die for!
It’s been an eventful transition, but retired caterer Valerie Corbin and her wife Kristen are finally settling into life on the Big Island of Hawai’i. Val’s even joined the neighborhood orchid society to make some new friends. So when she’s asked to step in to cater their latest social event, as the newbie of the group she can’t exactly say no.
But what should have been a straightforward gig is soon a dining disaster when the food from the event poisons and kills the society president. As Val herself becomes a suspect in the murder investigation, she’s determined to uncover the truth. Who would want to kill the mild-mannered president of the orchid society?
Turns out the list is longer than a celebrity chef's tasting menu. Apparently some of the residents did not "love thy neighbor." Can she reveal the killer’s identity before they strike again?
This mouthwatering cozy mystery is perfect for fans of Ellen Byron, Jennifer J Chow, Lucy Burdette, and Raquel V Reyes, and includes a selection of delicious Hawaiian recipes to cook at home.
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From beginning of chapter one:
Paradise isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.
Sure, Valerie Corbin knew she and her wife Kristen were supremely fortunate to now reside in the quaint, still-stuck-in-the-1970s town of Hilo on the magnificent Big Island of Hawai‘i—home to lush jungles, fiery volcanoes, black sand beaches, and coral reefs teeming with eye-popping tropical fish.
But at this moment, all she could focus on was the bull terrier-spaniel mix next door barking so loudly that it almost—though not quite—drowned out the whine of the pneumatic tools its owner was using on a jacked-up truck, the parts of which were currently scattered all across his driveway.
Letting loose a few choice words regarding both dog and man, Valerie slammed shut the window above the kitchen sink, then returned to the stove to poke at her potatoes simmering in a pot of water. At the sound of the back door opening, she looked up to see Kristen and her nephew, Sean, come inside from the lānai, Valerie and Kristen’s little white dog, Pua, trotting after them.
“We couldn’t take the racket anymore,” said Kristen, tossing her Outside magazine onto the counter. “Does he ever stop?”
“Who—Akoni or Larry?”
Kristen laughed. “Both, I guess. And yeah, I know the answer: rarely. Especially Akoni, with his constant yowling. Though I gotta say, it seems like Larry’s been working on his vehicles a hell of a lot more of late. And I don’t believe I’ve ever even seen that particular truck before. You think he’s started repairing other people’s vehicles, too?”
“Oh, God, I hope not. Though that would explain the increased frequency of the noise.” Valerie switched off the heat under her potatoes, then turned to Kristen. “I wonder if it’s legal to have a car repair business in this neighborhood. Maybe I should ask at tonight’s meeting if anyone knows.”
“Or maybe you could just talk to your neighbor about it,” put in Sean, who’d taken a seat at the kitchen table and was busy typing something into his phone.
Valerie and Kristen exchanged glances, after which Valerie replied, “Maybe later. But first we should figure out where we stand on the issue.”
Sean set down his phone with a shrug. “So what’s this thing you’re going to tonight, anyway?”
“It’s the monthly meeting for the neighborhood orchid society,” said Valerie, carrying the pot to the sink and dumping the steaming potatoes into a colander. “Shirley invited me—you know, the woman who lives at that house down the street with all those beautiful orchids in her tree ferns? I was admiring them the other day, and after we got talking, she invited me to come along tonight to see if I might be interested in joining. You wanna join me?”
Sean let loose his man bun, held in place by a wooden hair stick, and shook out his dirty-blond locks. “No can do; I’m working tonight at the hospital. It’s my first time in the ER, which should be interesting.”
Sean had come from Arkansas to do a three-month stint as a visiting nurse at the Hilo hospital and was now on his second week at the job—and at Valerie and Kristen’s house, where he’d be staying for the duration of his time on-island. “I didn’t know you were into orchids,” he said in a lazy drawl, pulling his hair back from his face and retying the bun.
“I wasn’t, not till we first got to Hilo. But they’re so amazing and, I dunno . . . other-worldly.”
Star Trek flowers, I call them,” said Kristen, and Valerie nodded.
“And they’re so easy to grow here, so I’m thinking it might be fun to try it myself. Plus, it’d be a great way to get to know some of the folks in the neighborhood a little better.”
“Like Larry?” asked Sean with a grin.
“Ha. I’m not so sure he’s really the orchid type . . .”
Traditional and cozy mysteries are often set in a small town or village, and for good reason. People in a small town tend to know one another, so when something goes awry—such as a murder—they make for good suspects and witnesses. And when the amateur sleuth lives in the same community, she too will have a special connection to and insider information regarding the crime.
The street I live on in Hilo, Hawai‘i is in one of the town’s older neighborhoods (dating from the 1930s), and many of its residents are the children or grandchildren of families who bought the properties when they were new. Although originally a Japanese-Hawaiian neighborhood, it’s now a blend of the original families along with “locals” (generally a mix of native Hawaiian, Chinese, Filipino, and/or Portuguese) and haoles (those of European descent).
My wife Robin and I, of course, fall into the latter category, but we were welcomed warmly into the neighborhood when we bought our house eighteen years ago. And we love our street. Folks not only know one another, but often host social events for others on the street: Halloween parties, boxcar derbys! And it’s marvelous watching the kids play together in the street and on our front lawns—riding their bikes and playing hide-and-go-seek, just like I did when I was a kid back in the 1960s.
Of course no neighborhood is perfect, and ours definitely has its drawbacks. Lawnmowers, blowers, and weed whackers are a frequent background noise. People use loud pneumatic tools to work on their cars. Dogs on chains whine and bark. And neighbor disputes arise over trees blocking ocean views and the feeding of feral cats.
Not so fun, these things.
But, I thought one day as I slammed shut my bedroom window in a vain attempt to block out the grinding of a neighbor’s power saw, what a marvelous premise for a murder mystery!
What would happen if the resident of a tight-knit street in little Hilo town ended up dead in a highly suspicious manner? And what if he’d been having disputes—from the serious to the petty—with many of his neighbors in the months leading up to his death? And to add an additional local element to the story, what if I set it within a neighborhood orchid society? Because we all know how competitive things like orchid growing can be.
Thus was born Murder, Local Style, book three in my Orchid Isle mystery series (yes, another reason for the orchids) set on the magnificent Big Island of Hawai‘i.
Mind you, this is not a critique of Hilo. Quite the opposite. If anything, it’s a love letter to my adopted town. For in the end (no spoiler here; this is after all a cozy mystery), we see how a small community in distress can come together to bring a killer to justice and restore order to their beloved neighborhood.
Leslie Karst is the Agatha, Lefty, and Macavity Award-nominated author of the Orchid Isle Mysteries, the Sally Solari culinary mysteries; and the IBPA Benjamin Franklin and IPPY award silver medal-winning memoir Justice is Served: A Tale of Scallops, the Law, and Cooking for RBG. After years waiting tables and singing in a new wave rock band, she decided she was ready for a “real” job and ended up at Stanford Law School. It was during her career as an attorney that Leslie rediscovered her youthful passion for food and cooking and once more returned to school—this time to earn a degree in culinary arts. Now retired from the law, in addition to writing, Leslie spends her time cooking, cycling, gardening, and observing cocktail hour promptly at five o’clock. She and her wife and their Jack Russell mix split their time between Hilo, Hawai‘i and Santa Cruz, California.
Catch Up With Leslie Karst:
Tour hosted by: Partners in Crime Tours
Mahalo for letting me be a guest today! Aloha!
Love this guest post! It sounds wonderful living there! I used to have a good friend who was from Maui. She lived in NY for a long while then ended up moving back. <3
Thanks so much for sharing!