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Thea Kozak #5
Death in Paradise: A Thea Kozak Mystery
While on holiday to attend an educational seminar in Hawaii, Thea Kozak is determined not only to make the conference a success but also to take some time to relax and enjoy some peace. What she hasn't bargained for is a dead body, none other than the conference chairwoman, strangled and done up like and expensive call girl.
As Thea struggles to keep the conference from turning into chaos, she discovers more motives for the woman's death than positive aspects of her life--and more suspects than she can handle. Throw in some overly hostile local policemen, a suspicious husband, and an old family friend who makes Thea's mother look like a saint, and it looks like Thea isn't in for any kind of peace.
As Thea struggles to keep the conference from turning into chaos, she discovers more motives for the woman's death than positive aspects of her life--and more suspects than she can handle. Throw in some overly hostile local policemen, a suspicious husband, and an old family friend who makes Thea's mother look like a saint, and it looks like Thea isn't in for any kind of peace.
352 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1998
126 people are currently reading
67 people want to read
About the author
Kate Flora
54 books125 followersKate Flora grew up on a chicken farm in Maine where the Friday afternoon trip to the library was the high point of her week. She dreamed of being able to create the kind of compelling, enchanting worlds of the books she disappeared into every week, but growing up in the era when “help wanted” ads were still sex-segregated, she felt her calling was to go to law school and get the job they told her she couldn’t have.
After law school, Kate worked in the Maine attorney general’s office, protecting battered kids, chasing deadbeat dads, and representing the Human Rights Commission. Those years taught her all a crime writer needs to know about the human propensity to commit horrible acts. After some years in private practice, she decided to give writing a serious try when she quit the law to stay at home for a few years with her young sons. That ‘serious try’ led to ten tenacious and hellacious years in the unpublished writer’s corner, followed, finally, by the sale of her Thea Kozak series.
Kate’s eighteen books will include eight Thea Kozak mysteries, five gritty Joe Burgess police procedurals, a suspense thriller (written under the name Katharine Clark), two true crime books, Death Dealer and Finding Amy (co-written with Joseph Loughlin, a Portland, Maine Deputy Police Chief), a Maine game warden's memoir, A Good Man with a Dog, co-written with Roger Guay, and a book about police shootings from the police point of view, Shots Fired: The misunderstandings, misconceptions, and myths about police shootings, co-written with Joseph K. Loughlin. Finding Amy was a 2007 Edgar nominee as well as a Maine Literary Award finalist, and has been optioned for a movie. Kate’s award-winning short stories have been widely anthologized and Redemption and And Grant You Peace, her third and fourth Joe Burgess mysteries, won the Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction.
Flora's fiction, nonfiction, and short fiction have been finalists for the Edgar, Agatha, Anthony, and Derringer Awards.
She is a founding member of the New England Crime Bake, the region's annual mystery conference, and the Maine Crime Wave. With two other crime writers, she started founded Level Best Books, where she worked as an editor and publisher for seven years. She served a term as international president of Sisters in Crime, an organization founded to promote awareness of women writers’ contributions to the mystery field. Currently, she teaches writing and does manuscript critiques for Grub Street in Boston.
She has two sons (one into film and the other into photovoltaics) two lovely daughters-in-law, an adorable eight-year-old grandson and five granddogs, Frances, Otis, Harvey, Oscar, and Daisy. When not conducting research for her novels and nonfiction—research that includes riding an ATV through the Canadian woods or hiding in a tick-infested field waiting to be found by search and rescue dogs—Kate can often be found in her garden, waging war against the woodchucks and her husband’s lawnmower, or in the kitchen, devising clever and devious ways to get the men in her life to eat their vegetables.
After law school, Kate worked in the Maine attorney general’s office, protecting battered kids, chasing deadbeat dads, and representing the Human Rights Commission. Those years taught her all a crime writer needs to know about the human propensity to commit horrible acts. After some years in private practice, she decided to give writing a serious try when she quit the law to stay at home for a few years with her young sons. That ‘serious try’ led to ten tenacious and hellacious years in the unpublished writer’s corner, followed, finally, by the sale of her Thea Kozak series.
Kate’s eighteen books will include eight Thea Kozak mysteries, five gritty Joe Burgess police procedurals, a suspense thriller (written under the name Katharine Clark), two true crime books, Death Dealer and Finding Amy (co-written with Joseph Loughlin, a Portland, Maine Deputy Police Chief), a Maine game warden's memoir, A Good Man with a Dog, co-written with Roger Guay, and a book about police shootings from the police point of view, Shots Fired: The misunderstandings, misconceptions, and myths about police shootings, co-written with Joseph K. Loughlin. Finding Amy was a 2007 Edgar nominee as well as a Maine Literary Award finalist, and has been optioned for a movie. Kate’s award-winning short stories have been widely anthologized and Redemption and And Grant You Peace, her third and fourth Joe Burgess mysteries, won the Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction.
Flora's fiction, nonfiction, and short fiction have been finalists for the Edgar, Agatha, Anthony, and Derringer Awards.
She is a founding member of the New England Crime Bake, the region's annual mystery conference, and the Maine Crime Wave. With two other crime writers, she started founded Level Best Books, where she worked as an editor and publisher for seven years. She served a term as international president of Sisters in Crime, an organization founded to promote awareness of women writers’ contributions to the mystery field. Currently, she teaches writing and does manuscript critiques for Grub Street in Boston.
She has two sons (one into film and the other into photovoltaics) two lovely daughters-in-law, an adorable eight-year-old grandson and five granddogs, Frances, Otis, Harvey, Oscar, and Daisy. When not conducting research for her novels and nonfiction—research that includes riding an ATV through the Canadian woods or hiding in a tick-infested field waiting to be found by search and rescue dogs—Kate can often be found in her garden, waging war against the woodchucks and her husband’s lawnmower, or in the kitchen, devising clever and devious ways to get the men in her life to eat their vegetables.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
December 9, 2017
DEATH IN PARADISE by Kate Flora
If any trip deserves a do-over, it would be Thea’s trip to Hawaii. “Thea will fix it” is challenged to the max by murder and mayhem while she tries to organize the many facets of a conference on girls’ education. Appropriately, her sidekick in these challenges is a self-appointed young spy, Laura. Allies are sometimes hard to identify, but possible candidates include a soul-singing sister, a pathologist and his sweet wife, and two prickly police officers . . . maybe.
I read this out of its order in the series, it would have been even better in proper order. <3 Wisdom from Thea:
#1 There is never a good reason for murder. “We have a choice in this life whether to be good or evil.” . . . if you choose evil “You’ve got to live with that.”
“Reality is that when a person dies, they stay dead. . . . light goes out . . . people . . . are left with holes in their hearts . . .”
“To the old advice about never eating at a place called Mom’s, never playing poker with a man named Doc, and never sleeping with anyone who’s crazier than you are, I always add, and never let a cop put words in your mouth.”
“They bring me in for the bad news and the hard cases. When the case calls for charm and tact, Suzanne goes . . .”
“I always had a bunch of (work-related) reading to do . . . I’d love a chance to be bored.” (I would have said that of myself in my teaching years).
On erotic reading, “not the kind of thing to read in a room full of people” (equally embarrassing is listening on audiobook and stopping or parking with people close by)
If any trip deserves a do-over, it would be Thea’s trip to Hawaii. “Thea will fix it” is challenged to the max by murder and mayhem while she tries to organize the many facets of a conference on girls’ education. Appropriately, her sidekick in these challenges is a self-appointed young spy, Laura. Allies are sometimes hard to identify, but possible candidates include a soul-singing sister, a pathologist and his sweet wife, and two prickly police officers . . . maybe.
I read this out of its order in the series, it would have been even better in proper order. <3 Wisdom from Thea:
#1 There is never a good reason for murder. “We have a choice in this life whether to be good or evil.” . . . if you choose evil “You’ve got to live with that.”
“Reality is that when a person dies, they stay dead. . . . light goes out . . . people . . . are left with holes in their hearts . . .”
“To the old advice about never eating at a place called Mom’s, never playing poker with a man named Doc, and never sleeping with anyone who’s crazier than you are, I always add, and never let a cop put words in your mouth.”
“They bring me in for the bad news and the hard cases. When the case calls for charm and tact, Suzanne goes . . .”
“I always had a bunch of (work-related) reading to do . . . I’d love a chance to be bored.” (I would have said that of myself in my teaching years).
On erotic reading, “not the kind of thing to read in a room full of people” (equally embarrassing is listening on audiobook and stopping or parking with people close by)
April 29, 2024
When Martina Pullman is murdered in Hawaii at a conference on same sex education for girls, there is no shortage of people who wanted her dead. In Kate Flora’s Death in Paradise, we learn how Martina takes credit for the work of others, casually breaks promises for funding, plays a cruel joke that ends in an attempted suicide.
Thea Kozak, helping to run the conference, has flown in from the East Coast hoping for some Hawaii sunshine but already missing the hot lover left behind. She has a habit of involving herself in murders and is on the island only one day when she discovers why Martina has not been answering her door. Thea’s hope for time off disappears.
I’m always excited to hear about a new mystery writer and Flora has given us a well plotted novel as well as a romance. On the minus side, there is too much exposition. Actions occur and then are repeated when one character tells another what just happened. She also has Thea give information about herself too often – “I’m a take charge person, a go-getter; I hold up well in a crisis.” At the end, possible murder scenarios are reviewed and discussed by the characters. This repetition does help the sleepy reader keep up, but the new-to-me author is not thumbs up or thumbs down, but in-between.
If you would like to read more of my reviews, check out my blog, Old Ladies Read and More, at www.oldladiesread.com
Thea Kozak, helping to run the conference, has flown in from the East Coast hoping for some Hawaii sunshine but already missing the hot lover left behind. She has a habit of involving herself in murders and is on the island only one day when she discovers why Martina has not been answering her door. Thea’s hope for time off disappears.
I’m always excited to hear about a new mystery writer and Flora has given us a well plotted novel as well as a romance. On the minus side, there is too much exposition. Actions occur and then are repeated when one character tells another what just happened. She also has Thea give information about herself too often – “I’m a take charge person, a go-getter; I hold up well in a crisis.” At the end, possible murder scenarios are reviewed and discussed by the characters. This repetition does help the sleepy reader keep up, but the new-to-me author is not thumbs up or thumbs down, but in-between.
If you would like to read more of my reviews, check out my blog, Old Ladies Read and More, at www.oldladiesread.com
November 10, 2024
A fun read but has a few problems.
Apparently, Thea Kozak is the only competent woman at a conference of people who otherwise run entire schools. She single-handedly saves a conference, discovers a corpse, saves a person attempting suicide, befriends police and alerts them to numerous things they should know and do. I almost forgot to mention that she survives at least 2 murder attempts herself in one afternoon and evening all while saving a 9-year old kidnap victim! It's a bit unrealistic but fun to read. I consider this book the literary equivalent of a summer blockbuster movie -- the story is good buy it really does take you through a lot to get through it.
That brings me to the real criticisms:
Some sections were repetitive and made the book seem unnecessarily long (e.g. numerous referrals to the administrative mess-up with seating on the first night of the conference and constant hotel mess-ups with room assignments, Thea's musings about the cast of characters and descriptions of people, etc. etc.) A good editor could have streamlined this.
Finally, I read the e-book version and there were so many typo's, transposed words and phrases, and missing words that I was truly annoyed. Spellcheck should have caught some of these and a good proofreader and/or editor should have caught the rest. Very. very annoying!
I almost gave the book 3 stars because of the criticisms noted above but because I felt generous and enjoyed reading about Thea, I gave it 4.
Apparently, Thea Kozak is the only competent woman at a conference of people who otherwise run entire schools. She single-handedly saves a conference, discovers a corpse, saves a person attempting suicide, befriends police and alerts them to numerous things they should know and do. I almost forgot to mention that she survives at least 2 murder attempts herself in one afternoon and evening all while saving a 9-year old kidnap victim! It's a bit unrealistic but fun to read. I consider this book the literary equivalent of a summer blockbuster movie -- the story is good buy it really does take you through a lot to get through it.
That brings me to the real criticisms:
Some sections were repetitive and made the book seem unnecessarily long (e.g. numerous referrals to the administrative mess-up with seating on the first night of the conference and constant hotel mess-ups with room assignments, Thea's musings about the cast of characters and descriptions of people, etc. etc.) A good editor could have streamlined this.
Finally, I read the e-book version and there were so many typo's, transposed words and phrases, and missing words that I was truly annoyed. Spellcheck should have caught some of these and a good proofreader and/or editor should have caught the rest. Very. very annoying!
I almost gave the book 3 stars because of the criticisms noted above but because I felt generous and enjoyed reading about Thea, I gave it 4.
June 5, 2021
Ms. Fix-it, Thea Kozak is in Maui, Hawaii for the national association of girls' schools conference. Instead, of fun, sun, and workibg on her tanlines. Thea is welcomed with murder, betrayal, deceit, and finding out who she can trust among all her colleagues.
Suzanne Merritt, her business partner came down with pneumonia, so Thea went in her place. What a mistake that was. Thea works her amateur and sixth-sense sleuthing skills like a professional. But Thea has several hapless incidents. The doctor treating her wounds, believes she is pregnant.
Neither Thea or Andre are ready for this miraculous event, and Andre has names for the baby already.
This is book 5, in the Thea Kozak Series. I am enjoying this series. The author's writing style delivers a compelling plot that grabs you right from the start.
I received this book for free from ebook discovery. I voluntarily post the review. This is my honest review.
Suzanne Merritt, her business partner came down with pneumonia, so Thea went in her place. What a mistake that was. Thea works her amateur and sixth-sense sleuthing skills like a professional. But Thea has several hapless incidents. The doctor treating her wounds, believes she is pregnant.
Neither Thea or Andre are ready for this miraculous event, and Andre has names for the baby already.
This is book 5, in the Thea Kozak Series. I am enjoying this series. The author's writing style delivers a compelling plot that grabs you right from the start.
I received this book for free from ebook discovery. I voluntarily post the review. This is my honest review.
February 22, 2019
Death in Paradise, the fifth book in the Thea Kozak Mystery series, is a solid continuation from the previous books in the series. Thea once again finds herself embroiled in a murder mystery. This time it’s the strangulation death of the director of a conference she is attending in “Paradise”. Thea is a strong inquisitive person who always seems to find herself in situations that require her to get involved. But this time around she has an 11 year old partner who is more then happy to help.
The series so far has been very entertaining. I have enjoyed reading it and will definitely continue the series with the next book, Liberty or Death.
“I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily post this review. This is my honest review.”
The series so far has been very entertaining. I have enjoyed reading it and will definitely continue the series with the next book, Liberty or Death.
“I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily post this review. This is my honest review.”
May 21, 2019
Thea partner Suzanne was to do the conference in Hawaii, but was sick.
Martina was the head chairman, and her assistant Rory, and Thea was trying to keep up with her demands. The morning conference of 180 people Coming and they find her murdered. The setting and what she was wearing, was she waiting for someone, didn’t seem like her. Rory feels it’s her fault and wants to jump off the balcony. With murder and Rory, Thea is once again trying to figure out why and what is behind it all. Full of action, deceit, and life threading attempts on Thea. A bit of humor, and Thea’s temper, the biddy system of the cops here, keeping Andre informed. Another good story.
Martina was the head chairman, and her assistant Rory, and Thea was trying to keep up with her demands. The morning conference of 180 people Coming and they find her murdered. The setting and what she was wearing, was she waiting for someone, didn’t seem like her. Rory feels it’s her fault and wants to jump off the balcony. With murder and Rory, Thea is once again trying to figure out why and what is behind it all. Full of action, deceit, and life threading attempts on Thea. A bit of humor, and Thea’s temper, the biddy system of the cops here, keeping Andre informed. Another good story.
February 6, 2019
As always, very well written and great characters, and the story is moving along all the time with very little waste. Mysteries and thrilling action very well described in incident after incident through the whole book.
I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily post this review. This is my honest review.
I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily post this review. This is my honest review.
January 24, 2019
Kate Flora's writing touches a deep visceral level!
Thea is the person we would all grow up to be!
A great story line that is extremely well written
I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. This is my honest review.
Thea is the person we would all grow up to be!
A great story line that is extremely well written
I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. This is my honest review.
January 12, 2023
Excellent
I have loved every book in this series so far, but someone should've been proofreading the digital books. The 5th book in particular had so many spelling errors I could've filled a small note book with them. But it was still wonderful!
I have loved every book in this series so far, but someone should've been proofreading the digital books. The 5th book in particular had so many spelling errors I could've filled a small note book with them. But it was still wonderful!
February 21, 2019
I love this series. I love how the author manages to suck you in. I received a copy of this book from eBook Discovery. I am voluntarily posting this review. This is my honest review.
September 9, 2019
Too much descriptive “thinking” & not enough movement. Didn’t move as well as other Flora mysteries. Not a book on my reread list.
July 18, 2021
Felt like a paint by numbers exercise - attempts to be tricky were awkward as were multiple “interruptions” throughout this never ending book.
July 7, 2022
Couldn't put book down .
I liked that it was action packed. Sometimes there was some unnecessary explanation s but couldn't wait to continue with story
I liked that it was action packed. Sometimes there was some unnecessary explanation s but couldn't wait to continue with story
June 17, 2023
Another fabulous Thea tale
The author has created an amazing and innovative plot to go with a great group of characters making this hard to stop reading
The author has created an amazing and innovative plot to go with a great group of characters making this hard to stop reading
March 8, 2008
Fifth in a series featuring Thea Kozak, a private-school consultant who keeps having to solve murders. In this outing, Thea has had to leave her boyfriend, Maine State cop Andre Lemieux, behind in Boston while she attends a conference in Hawaii which is focussed on single-sex education for girls. Then the executive director of the sponsoring association is found dead in her hotel room. Thea (who is on the board of directors) ends up not only taking over the running of the conference, but trying to solve the murder, eventually at the risk of her life. As usual, Kate Flora gives us interesting characters and fascinating plot. Recommended.
February 5, 2024
A good read! My first book in Kate Flora's Thea Kozak series, but it wasn't hard to become acclimated, even not starting in the beginning of the series. Thea Kozak is a very interesting main character and you find yourself admiring her determination and from the heart approach to having to suddenly fill in caused by her partner's illness. Who wouldn't want to have a business trip to Maui, except that she finds herself with all business and no time for a few hours of simply relaxing? They don't call her Ms Fixit for nothing, and she finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation, much to her dismay, and personal danger!
January 31, 2010
Having liked Flora's police procedural, Playing God, I thought I would try her Thea Kozak series, though I don't usually like amateur sleuth mysteries. While this is a cut above the usual in that genre, it did reinforce my feelings about why I don't care for amateur sleuth plots: way too much "inside" Thea's head as filler for not much happening; way too many contrived coincidences to make the plot work (e.g., eavesdropping). Still, the characters are likeable and if you're on the beach in Hawaii, this could be the book for you.
February 13, 2010
Not the best-written book---it could use some serious editing (and more realistic dialogue for Laura). But I like Thea and this series' enough-but-not-too-gory murders. Hey, it's fun fluff! Also, I've been on a nonprofit board and could really relate to the board dynamics---that part was very well done.
July 16, 2012
Funny! Sort of in the Elizabeth Peters romantic suspense books but without all the silly gothic-y touches. This is about a woman who is helping to run a conference in Hawaii when the organization's director is killed. The main character is then questioned extensively by the local cops at the same time as she is hunted by the killers. Good mystery?
October 30, 2007
5th in Thea Kozak series -- Martina, a mean alcoholic & also chair of a board for single-sex education is killed in her hotel room while at a confernece in Hawaii. Thea discovers the boby. All the board members had grievances w/ Martina.
August 1, 2008
Okay read.
Want to read
March 6, 2009I'm taking a writing class with this author, so I figure I should read her stuff.
January 9, 2013
Book #1 read in 2013
I enjoyed this one in the series. I think I may actually like Thea better away from Andre. The plot and setting were interesting.
I enjoyed this one in the series. I think I may actually like Thea better away from Andre. The plot and setting were interesting.
Read
May 16, 2011Thea Kozak
May 26, 2018
OK but the others were better...
February 15, 2019
Amateur detective and professional consultant Thea Kozak is off to paradise for a conference and hopefully some sun. Instead she gets murder and mayhem. I’ve read most all of the books in this series and I find myself at a loss as to how to newly describe how enjoyable they are. It is truly a treat to escape into this world and try and discover the secrets along with Thea. I do hope that you’ll read this and give the series a try. It’s well worth it! For mystery fans or book fans in general this series is a winner! I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily review this book. This is my honest review.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews