Bet your bones, but never bet your heart.

A wedding on the edge 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 that he believes will set him and his new wife up for life. But Hawaii is a tinderbox of ancient myths and modern conflicts over who should control the land so cherished by its native people. A group of native Hawaiians claims that the sacred bones of an ancestral king are buried on the land that the groom plans to sell, and one of them has vowed do whatever it takes to stop him.

On top of this, a blackmailer is conspiring to cash in on the groom’s suspicious past, Claude Ann’s ex-husband is stalking her and rigging booby traps, 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. Then, when somebody shoves a member of the wedding party into a flow of molten lava, 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, even if she has to walk through fire to do it. If Dinah and Claude Ann are to get out alive, they’ll have to face down an angry goddess and a ruthless killer.

A Poisoned Pen Press Mystery