Review: Bet Your Bones; Dinah Pellerin Mystery by Jeanne Matthews

• Author:  Jeanne Matthews
• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press (June 7, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590588991
• ISBN-13: 978-1590588994

Product Description

A wedding on the lip of a Hawaiian volcano sounds risky to Dinah Pelerin, the bride’s best friend and maid of honor. The bride, Claude Ann Kemper, has bet her heart that she’s found the right man at last. The groom has gone all in on a real estate deal he believes will set him and his new wife up for life. A group of Native Hawaiians claims that the sacred bones of an ancestral king are buried on the land the groom plans to sell and one of them has vowed do whatever it takes to stop him. Claude Ann’s ex-husband is stalking her and rigging booby-traps. A blackmailer is conspiring to cash in on the groom’s suspicious past. And Pele, the local fire goddess, is rocking the island with a series of earthquakes. It seems as if the stakes can’t get any higher. And then somebody shoves a member of the wedding into a flow of molten lava and all bets are off.

 

True friendship is never easy and Dinah and Claude Ann have had their misunderstandings. But when danger threatens, Dinah is determined to protect her friend and repay the loyalty Claude Ann has shown to her if she has to walk through fire to do it. Hawaii is a hotbed of ancient myths and modern conflicts over who should control the land so cherished by its native people. If Dinah and Claude Ann are to get out alive, they’ll have to face down an angry goddess and a ruthless killer.   

About the Author

Jeanne Matthews was born and raised in Georgia.  She graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Journalism and has worked as a copywriter, a high school English and Drama teacher, and a paralegal.  She currently lives in Renton, Washington with her husband, who is a law professor, and a West Highland terrier, who is a prima donna.

 

My Review

Bet Your Bones was well written and a good read. I loved the setting of Hawaii...who doesn't love Hawaii!  I did find the main character Dinah to be flaky.  Flaky in that she seemed to be drifting around and not settling on a career path.  And that she even went to Claude Anne's wedding in Hawaii in the first place when she and Claude Anne had a falling out years ago.  

Besides being flaky, Dinah is a student of cultural anthropology.  This allowed for the recounting of a number of very interesting Hawaiian myths.  The belief system of native Hawaiians also figured into the plot of the book.  A lot of what was happening in the present was based upon events that had occurred in the past between the partners in a land development deal that was central to the story line.

All in all a good, enjoyable mystery.  Perfect beach read!!