Customer Reviews

Death in Paradise: A Henrie O Mystery

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have read "Deadly Valentine", "Southern Ghosts", "Death on Lovers Lane", "Death in Paradise", and now I'm reading "The Christie Caper". I put Hart in the same category as Agatha Christie. "Death in Paradise", starts slowly, but builds to an unexpected conclusion. It's a clean, old fashioned mystery and I highly recommend it.

Remember when - you heard a noise and got behind someone else because you were afraid to go first! Well, I followed "HENRIE O",with that same feeling. BUT, as in "Lover's Lane", Ms. Hart, got me, with all the clues and the "it could be, ANYBODY", the twist was fantastic. I have purchased 3 more Hart books and will eventually read them ALL. I love to read and there are very few Gifted writers, as Ms. Hart. She writes a particular style of mystery books, as good as Christy, and I love her. Thank you, Ms. Hart. M. Strong

The opening sentence of Death in Paradise nearly leapt off the page, pulling me into the story as if I were the one who had just opened that horrible piece of mail. There was never a dull moment and there was nothing in the story that didn't belong. The plot was very well thought out, and set against a breath-taking backdrop, making the reader feel as if he/she were right there with Henri-O looking out over the Hawaiian mountainside from her lanai. Every bit of scenery had a purpose as did all of the characters, who were as easy to visualize as their surroundings. All of the characters were someone each one of us has met at one time or another. They were real. Carolyn Hart has entertained her readers exceptionally well with this story. Through Henri-O, she has not only entertained us but has also taught us that you are never too old to learn something about yourself, good or bad, and grow from it.

Ms. Hart's writing is superb. She catches you in the introduction and pulls you into the search for the truth. Her word pictures of Hawaii are breathtaking and filled my head with the sounds and scents of Ahiahi. I rarely can form an affection for a new series from an already-favorite author, but Henrie O has been a wonderful surprise and I can't wait for more. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

doesn't mean you are dead - or worse, boring.

Carolyn Hart's series starring Henrietta O'Dwyer "Henrie O" Collins is an excellent and worthy read. Why?

This mystery series offer great characters with believeable dialogue, nice little plot twists, a kiss of humor, and a heroine - Henry O - who is NOT a gal in her 20's or 30's, with a fast mouth, a clumsy foot always determined to trip over one corpse after another, and a love interest that somehow always seems to elude the final stage of commitment - have any of you noticed just how many mystery novels seem to have this same type of heroine?!?

It is difficult to find truly good mysteries where the main character is actually a woman who is over 50, intelligent, clever, sometimes humorous, and even a little grouchy; yet if you are a true fan of mysteries you will know exactly how terrific it is to stumble across heroines like: Henri O, an Amelia Peabody, Mrs. Jeffries, Agatha Raisin, OR a Mrs. Polifax!!

Henrie O still mourns the loss of her husband Richard. She has always assumed that his death was accidental, but an anonymous note to her implies that he was murdered. She can do nothing but follow up on this note and investigate Richard's death. Doing so involves trips to Texas and Kauai where she confronts Richard's friend Belle whom he was visiting at the time of his death. Henrie O had always been afraid that Richard's involvement with Belle was more than platonic and she vows to find out the truth behind their relationship, as well as the identity of the person who murdered Richard. There are no end of suspects on the island, all of them Belle's family or employees, and Henrie O has her work cut out for her trying to discern which one killed Richard. As always, author Hart crafts a well-written book and this one has an added emotional intensity because of Henrie O's love for her late husband. The setting of Kauai just adds to the ambiance of this excellent mystery.

I don't like mysteries series that are gimmicky, and Carolyn Hart is a find: classic and classy, a bright, articulate protagonist who brings emotion as well as intellect to the table. The characters are well drawn, the mystery nicely done, and the setting beautifully drawn. I'll be reading more Carolyn Hart

I thought I knew "who done it" in Paradise based on the plot of Riverwalk but I was way off the mark; refreshing in itself. I couldn't put it down. I'd think "I'll stop at the end of this chapter and go to sleep"....but I couldn't, I had to read the next chapter and the next.... A plot to keep you up late and wondering......

Six years ago, Henrietta "Henrie O" O'Dwyer Collins' beloved husband, fellow newspaper reporter, Richard, fell to his death off of a cliff in the Hawaiian island of Kauai. When he died, Richard was visiting a close friend, the legendary foreign correspondent, Belle Ericcson, a woman he had bonded with in Nam during the war. Now Henrie O learns that her beloved spouse's death was not an accident, but was apparently cold blooded murdered.

Henrie O is angry and wants vengeance on the perpetrator. She travels to Hawaii to visit Belle, who was her rival for her spouse's affections. She knows that the killer is at a family reunion being hosted on the woman's estate. No matter what she must do or who she must hurt in the process, Henrie O plans to complete her quest of identifying her husband's killer and bringing the individual to justice.

Carolyn Hart proves why she deserves all the awards (winner of the Agatha, Anthony, and Macauley awards for this mystery series) she has garnered. DEATH IN PARADISE: A Henrie O Mystery is one of the author's best mystery novels to date because the book is an enjoyable, exciting and intellectually stimulating who-done-it with a suspenseful ending. This reviewer strongly recommends the entire series, but especially this particular tale.

Harriet Klausner

Henry O visits Hawaii to try to find the cause of her husband's death. There is a conglomeration of characters, way to many for me to keep track of. Too much description of Hawaii's flora and fauna. Too much repetition of facts and events that had already occured. I skipped over a lot of the last several pages just to get this one done.