Book Blog Tour: Can You Hula Like Hilo Hattie? by Tyler Colins

Thank you Tyler, for sharing your amazing book with me and for letting me participate in this book blog tour, since this was the only other book, that I managed to read in the month of November, if you discount re-reading Harry Potter! haha

Book Blurb:

The aspiring detectives of the Triple Threat Investigation Agency take their first official paying assignment: discover the secret of an elderly millionaire’s young wife.

It seems straightforward enough, until the wife is found dead in the sapphire Hawaiian oceanside. As Jill (JJ), Rey and Linda, strive to uncover the killer amidst a cast of curious, unconventional characters, they stumble across several secrets and fall over a few bodies. 

Piecing together the puzzle detours the trio – to the domains of drug pushers and informants. Does the trip possess enough savvy to beat the odds and win the game?

My Review:

I haven’t read the first book of the series. Although there are certain flashback scenes and a few references to the first case, the two stories are standalone and I didn’t feel like I missed on anything because I hadn’t read the first book. All it did made me want to do, was to go and read the first story, because the premise of the first book seemed really spooky and interesting!

Who doesn’t like a good mystery every now and then? Add to that three intelligent, sexy, feisty, resourceful and brave female detectives, and a story that is set in the beautiful Hawaiian islands/backdrop, you have a winner in your hands. This story is fast paced and interesting with its plethora of characters, suspects, victims and sidekicks. In addition, all those bits on the mouthwatering island food and cocktails that the three detectives have throughout the book, had me hooked, hungry and salivating :D.

In every scene, I felt as if I was a part of their team and was trying to uncover the secret and the murderer, while also enjoying the rains or the evening breeze, eating those pork dishes and sipping on Mai Tais or bubble teas or something or the other. On one hand I felt tense, and on the other, I felt as if I was on a vacation! I really want more of Hawaii now! I have never been to Hawaii, but I love books where the story is so well ingrained within the location and its culture, that you feel as if you are living there, without having visited there! I am definitely going to recommend this if we get a book club selection with Hawaii as the location option 🙂

The trio female detectives brought back memories of Nancy Drew days and made me smile and long for more. Although each member has a personality of their own, in this story, my favorite was Linda 🙂 JJ/Jill is the narrator for this story and her relationship with animals and her dog Button, was adorable. The scenes between JJ and Cash were interesting too, and I wonder if there will be a continuity to their story in the next book?

I don’t want to give away any spoilers, because well, this is a mystery. But what I will say is, that I really enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it, if you want a book-fix for your craving of spy or detective movies, with a book version of Charlie’s Angels 😉 It is a fast, engrossing and very entertaining read, set in a beautiful location. If nothing else, read it for the food and the many number of cocktails mentioned and tell me if you didn’t get up and order or make one for yourself right after you finished the book! Because, I know I did.. 😉

About the Author:

Tyler Colins is a fiction writer and blogger, and a sometimes editor and proofreader (books, manuals, and film/television scripts). She is also been known to create business plans, synopses and outlines and film promotion documents.

Fact-checking and researching, organizing and coordinating are both skills and joys (she likes playing detective and developing structures).

Her fiction audience: Lovers of female-sleuth mysteries. Her genres of preference, mysteries (needless to say), women’s fiction, informative and “affirmative” non-fiction.

She aims to provide her readers with smiles and chuckles, like the ever-talented Janet Evanovich and missed Laurence Sanders, the “coziness” of Jessica Fletcher, and a few diversions and distractions as only long time pros Jonathan Kellerman and Kathy Reich can craft.

Important Links:

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33023209-can-you-hula-like-hilo-hattie

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hula-Hattie-Triple-Threat-Mystery-ebook/dp/B01KEEBNOS

Barns and Nobles: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/can-you-hula-like-hilo-hattie-tyler-colins/1123106690;jsessionid=5A1AD44CF9D227B741AF366E556FCF1A.prodny_store01-atgap16?ean=2940152505412&st=AFF&2sid=Goodreads,%20Inc_2227948_NA&sourceId=AFFGoodreads,%20Inc

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OahuPIs

And Finally, wrapping up this post with some interesting trivia from the Author.

Real Trivia from the Book:

#1 Sam, a homeless fellow in Can You Hula Like Hilo Hattie?, was inspired by one of several the author met during her trip to Hawaii. 

#2 Xavier, the teenager with drug issues, was also inspired by that first trip.  Anti-drug posters at that time were quite graphic, if not horrific, and certainly thought-provoking.  

#3 The author set Can You Hula Like Hilo Hattie in Hawaii because it’s a place she’s always wanted to live in; and because – in real life – the requirements to open a pi agency in Hawaii is less strict there than in the states.