Honolulu [Murder] Story by Leslie Ford, 1946

 

dustjackets.com

Also published as "Honolulu Story"

About the author: Leslie Ford is a pseudonym of Zenith Jones Brown, 1898-1984. She also wrote as David Frome and Brenda Conrad. Here is her bibliography. Also see this Book Scribbles blog: Leslie Ford's Fall From Grace. 

Series: This is Colonel Primrose #13.

Major characters:

• Mrs. Grace Latham, narrator
• Tommy Dawson, Lieutenant, Army Air Force
• David Boyer, Lieutenant, Army Air Force
• Swede Ellicott, Lieutenant, Army Air Force
• Ben Farrell, Marines (killed in action)
• Corinne Farrell, Ben's widow
• Mary Cather, formerly engaged to Swede Ellicott
• Alice & Harry Cather, Mary's parents
• Roy Cather, Harry's estranged brother (Mary's uncle)
• Norah Bronson, Harry's sister (Mary's aunt)
• Kumumato, Japanese servant
• Colonel John Primrose
• Sergeant Phineas T. Buck

Locale: Honolulu, Hawaii; 1944

Synopsis: Three Army Air Force friends, Tommy Dawson, David Boyer, and Swede Ellicott are on leave in Honolulu. Their fourth friend, Ben Farrell, had been killed in action. Swede had been engaged to Mary Cather, but broke off the relationship abruptly and is now engaged to Ben's widow; causing hard feelings all around. 

Mrs. Grace Latham, our narrator, has been sent from Washington to duty  in Honolulu. A friend of Mary, she is staying with Mary and her parents, Alice and Harry Cather, in their remote hillside home. Grace is stalked by a man in leafy camoflage who turns out to be Harry's estranged brother, Roy Cather. She also meets Harry's sister, unstable Norah Bronson. There is ill will in the family, as the home had been left equally to the three siblings but Harry and Alice have essentially taken ownership.

Alice Cather has been harboring brother-in-law Roy in their fallout shelter, and it turns out he is a spy from Japan, which puts him on the very-wanted list. Then he is found dead.

Review: At first I thought I was in a Mignon G. Eberhart novel, with its exotic setting, remote household, lurking killers, and love triangles. The wartime setting of Hawaii is done well, and revealed to me many aspects of that time and place of which I was unaware. 

There are twists in the story, as some characters are not who them seem to be. But all is explained.  A great read which puts you right in the home front during World War II.