Artie Harper is a former Marine, dismissed LAPD cop and single mother of a teenaged girl who has left the mainland for a new start as head of security for an Oahu 4-star hotel. Then the battered body of a Marshallese man is dumped at the hotel and one of her staff is arrested for murder by the HPD's Sergeant Ma. In order to clear him and avoid being indicted herself, Artie realizes she has to solve the homicide on her own. A hurricane hits the island and causes widespread damage and chaos, and also unearths the long buried skeleton of a baby on the beach. Artie doggedly uncovers plenty of unsavoury activities involving hotel staff, prostitutes, blackmail and connections with some VIP hotel guests. She becomes the target of several nasty attacks but isn't deterred from snooping by either the HPD, her tedious boss Larry or the Feds's lusty Katie Kyler.

I received an eARC via Netgalley and Black Rose Writing with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book and provided this review.

Artie Harper is a strong female main character, a former marine and police officer, she is now Head of Security for a small chain of hotels. There are various times when Artie reflects on life with her daughter, who has Aspergers and has recently come to live with her. A calm existence suddenly changes when a body is discovered at the hotel and Artie's deputy is accused.
I enjoyed the story, time is taken to explore the background of the different nationalities on the island and the back story of how Artie came to be at the hotel. I felt that Artie was a great character, who took everything on the chin and still came up fighting. Aspergers was covered sensitively and led to additional depth in the characters. The plot kept up with plenty of twists and turns, there were several parts that led to some completely unexpected conclusions.
A great read.

I wanted to like this book. The description drew me in. Unfortunately, the main character was not someone I could relate to. Seemed shallow, not connected to her teenage daughter with Aspbergers , dissmissive of her ex husband's cancer diagnosis. On the other hand there was good use of humor. Weird interactions between the security chief at a hotel and HPD.