Death in Zanzibar

Death in Zanzibar
by M.M. Kaye

M. M. Kaye was so enamored with Zanzibar that she set two books on that island paradise. The first book, Trade Wind, is a historical novel that tells the story of Rory Frost, a slave trader and pirate. The second book, Death in Zanzibar, features Tyson Frost, the grandson of Rory. Rory Frost hid a cache of gold and left clues to its location in a document that he sent to his solicitors in Market-Lyndon, England with instructions that it not be released until 70 years after his death. Tyson asks his stepdaughter, Dany Ashton, to bring him the document when she flies to Zanzibar from London to visit he and her mother, Lorraine. Dany gets the document from Mr. Honeywood. Shortly, after she leaves office, the elderly solicitor is murdered. Then Dany's hotel room is ransacked and her passport is stolen and a gun is planted in her dresser drawer. Dany turns to a man who she has just met who is also going to visit her mother and stepfather. Dany adamantly tells Lash Holden that she will fly to Zanzibar, the island of her dreams, passport or no passport. At Lash's suggestion, Dany assumes the role of Lash's secretary, Aida Kitchell and travels with him to Zanzibar. There more trouble awaits Dany when someone attempts to frame her for another murder. M. M. Kaye was married to a British Army officer, who, in her words, "was posted to many novel and entertaining places". She kept a journal about each exotic locale. Kaye said that when she was ready to write this romantic suspense novel all she had to do was "hunt up my Zanzibar notebook, and there it all was. An exact description of everything I could possibly need, down to the advertisement painted on looking-glass in the Mombassa Airport, and the millipede crawling across the floor of the tiny, makeshift one on Pemba." Even though this book was written fifty ago, it stands the test of time fairly well. [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try books by Mary Stewart, Georgette Heyer and Victoria Holt.] -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services Department

[ M.M. Kaye on Wikipedia ]

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