What can I say? Murder, rape, sex, and famous people. This is a classic scenario for a Nathan Heller story. A naval officer’s wife accuses four Hawaiian natives of raping her. When it looks like the men will not be charged the woman’s mother, husband, and a few of his men kidnap one of the accused rapists to try and get a confession. In their interrogation the man is killed. For the defense the family is able to get the famous lawyer Clarence Darrow to come out of retirement. For an investigator Darrow arranges the Chicago detective Nathan Heller to take a leave of absence and join him in Hawaii. Heller encounters a beautiful woman, dangerous crooks, and a legendary Hawaiian detective.
I am not familiar with the Massie case that is the basis for this book so I can't say much about the historical nature of the book. As a story it is great. When I was a kid my grandfather showed me several Charlie Chan movies that he had seen as a kid. I did not know that Chan was based on a real character who appears in this novel.
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