California-based private investigator Regan Reilly is all packed
and ready to join her fiancé, Jack, in New York to plan their
upcoming wedding when a monstrous snowstorm blankets the East Coast
and closes all the airports.

When Regan's best friend, Kit, calls and invites her to join her
for a weekend in Hawaii, Regan is contemplating the trip. However,
when a body washes up on the sandy shores of the resort where Kit
is staying, Regan's mind is made up. She's going!

The dead woman is Dorinda Dawes, photographer and columnist for the
Waikiki Waters Playground and Resort newsletter. In death, as in
life, Dorinda manages to create a scandal not only by turning up
dead but also by wearing an antique Hawaiian lei that was stolen
thirty years earlier.

Regan isn't in Hawaii long before the manager of Waikiki Waters,
Will Brown, asks her to look into the mystery of Dorinda's death.
While the consensus is that Dorinda's death was accidental, Will
and others aren't so sure. Someone seems to be sabotaging the
resort --- and with the "Be a Princess Ball" only days away, Will
needs to get to the bottom of these strange happenings.

While Regan is delving into the mysteries involving the hotel, Kit
is throwing herself headfirst into a new relationship with Steve, a
man who Regan finds tolerable at best. Now she not only has a
murder to investigate but also the smooth-talking, self-made
businessman who is thisclose to stealing her best friend's
heart.

While the waters in Hawaii are crystal clear, just about everything
else seems as clear as mud. What was Dorinda doing on the beach
alone at night? Who did she encounter while she was there? Why was
she wearing a stolen lei that had been missing for thirty years?
And, last but not least, it's beginning to look like the real
question isn't "Who wanted Dorinda dead?" but more like "Who
didn't?"

BURNED contains an interesting array of characters --- including a
newly engaged couple, Jason and Carla; a pushy social climbing
ex-attorney, Jazzy, who seems to have a too-close relationship with
Kit's new love interest and who works for a mysterious millionaire
striving to launch a new clothing line; a motley crew of hotel
employees; and a very strange and an unlikely group of tourists
from a rainy Pacific Northwest town called Hudville.

BURNED is a fast-paced, feel-good kind of mystery, and the
characters are fun and diverse. This eighth adventure in Carol
Higgins Clark's bestselling series is a very enjoyable read.