Book Review and Giveaway : Turtle Bay by Helga Stipa Madland

Welcome to our stop on the Turtle Bay Book Tour!

Need a respite from the winter blahs? We've got a solution for you!

Synopsis: A robbery and the disappearance of an English professor at the famous Turtle Bay resort in Oahu, Hawaii keep Detective James Kahamala of the Honolulu Police Department and his family, twin daughters Myra and Maya, Aunt Beatrice, and dachshund Questor on their toes. Follow their adventures into English Department politics and family complications. Ultimately, the dachshund saves the day. A “whimsical” mystery, not to be missed!

Review: I was surprised this was the first book in this series (the author says there shall be more). As the author makes asides in the book, that all lead you to believe there was a previous book with all the main characters- that is a little confusing, as you finish the story and want to go read the previous tale, and there isn't one! 

Having been on the Northshore of Hawaii when the parents were living on Oahu, I think the author really captures the essence of living in Hawaii, (her descriptions of Hawaiian royal dinners will have you hungry, so make sure you don't read the book on an empty stomach!) and the police procedural set in Hawaii is a great idea and generally does pretty well. You may guess the ending to the double mysteries ahead of time, but read on to see how she ends it.

I actually wish the book had been fleshed out more, as I felt like it was still a rough draft in some ways, and I finished it in about 80 minutes, it was that quick to read! The author has a good starting point in the book- i'd love to see it compiled with a prequel and another tale, into one larger book.It would be a great read then! But as it is now, it's enjoyable, especially if you are looking at nothing but MORE SNOW outside your window- the lushness of Hawaii will take you away for awhile!



About the Author: HELGA STIPA MADLAND was born in Upper Silesia, now a part of southwest Poland, in 1939. In 1954, by way of Canada, she, her parents  and her siblings, moved to the United States, settling in Missouri. Helga worked as a secretary, something she thought she would never do because she could not type; got married and had three amazing children. She eventually got a B.A. in German and English education, from the University of Washington and then later a Ph.D. in German and a minor in Spanish

In 1981, Ph.D. finally in hand, Helga asked her sons, who by then had graduated from high school, if she should accept the assistant professor of German position she had been offered at the University of Oklahoma; they told her: “Mom, if you don’t leave, we might.” Such maturity was difficult to resist. She took the job. After “rising” to department chair of the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Linguistics at the University of Oklahoma, an institution she generally adores, she retired in 2005 and is now Professor Emeritus at OU.

Last but in no way least, she has been married for twenty years or so, to her second husband, Richard Beck, who teaches Ancient Greek at the University of OklahomaThey live in Norman, OK with two dogs two house cats, three outdoor cats, occasional raccoons and possums, and bunches of birds.Their food bill is enormous. And she has stopped doing academic research and turned back to her first love, writing fiction, although "Dachshunds Can Fly" is not fiction but a travelogue, in the hopes to sell enough books to help pay theirr veterinarian bill! Visit Helga on the web at www.dachshundscanflyhelga.com.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this book for review purposes, free of charge, from the author, via Pump Up Your Book Book Tours House! No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about the book.