Don’t think that just because I live in paradise my life is all fancy umbrella drinks and pretty sunsets. Oh, no. Some people live that way, but I seem to have this knack for finding my share of trouble in paradise.

It all began a few years after I retired here in the islands. As a former LA skip tracer, I wasn’t inclined to become one of those people I’d always chased for money, so I took this job as the manager of the Sunsetter Apartments. As far as jobs go, it’s a big step up. Why? Glad you asked. Because stealing a car in the middle of the night from a guy who hasn’t made a payment in months is dicey business.

I’d never had a problem finding new tenants until I had to rent Apartment 6. Good old #6 broke my streak. It started with the guy who showed up stoned out of his mind and claiming to be some sort of super spy. When I told him he wouldn’t fit in, he got belligerent. That forced me to reach into my old bag of McKenna’s Skip Tracing Secrets to get rid of him. Number two’s pretty basic—when in doubt, lie. My little gambit paid off, but it got me in hot water with my fiancée Benni and one of my tenants. As they say, that’s another story.

One of the great things about the job is I have a lot of free time. Rather than lounging around on the beach, though, I keep getting caught up in other people’s drama. In fact, recently Benni dragged me to what I call the Meeting of Five Regrets. Okay, that wasn’t the actual name of the meeting—it was a talk about genealogy. But that’s what it turned into, a night of regrets.

The presenter was one of Benni’s clients and asked for my help in finding her dad. You see the connection, right? Former skip tracer, missing person—I’m obviously going to find him before the cops. Sure, why not?

I might have been able to worm my way out of that task if Chance Logan hadn’t walked in. Chance is a young guy who bailed out of LA so he could reboot his life. He’s decided he wants to be a PI, so when he heard about a missing person, he was ready to dive in—and he wanted me to join him.

So that’s how my days go. One minute I’m minding my own business and dealing with prospective tenants, the next, someone asks for a favor. I say no. Chance says yes. And before you know it, we’re up to our necks in bad guys and murder. In some ways, it was easier to be a skip tracer. At least when I was stealing some guy’s car, he wasn’t trying to kill me. Well, there was that one time, but that’s another story.

On the Take in Waikiki is the tenth book in the ” Trouble in Paradise” traditional mystery series, released November 11, 2020.

Honolulu philanthropist Kenji Ito has gone missing. His daughter is worried something has happened to him. So, she asks former skip tracer McKenna and his PI-wannabe sidekick Chance Logan to find her dad.

With McKenna’s wedding to Benni Kapono only a week away, he reluctantly agrees to help. But then, the unthinkable happens. Kenji’s body turns up, the victim of murder.

In addition to the murder, McKenna hears rumors about Kenji’s company. For instance, he was a ruthless businessman. Or the one about payoffs to government officials. And then there’s the supposed gang associations.

Oh yeah, McKenna’s worried. If the rumors are true, he and Chance are in over their heads. And Benni could become a widow before she’s even a bride.

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About the author
Once upon a time, in a life he’d rather forget, Terry Ambrose tracked down deadbeats for a living. He also hired big guys with tow trucks to steal cars—but only when negotiations failed. Those years of chasing deadbeats taught him many valuable life lessons such as—always keep your car in the garage.

With fifteen books under his belt, several of which have been nominated for awards, Terry has come to two conclusions about writing—a story without a theme is like a boat without a rudder, and writing is like a good barbecue sauce, if it ain’t done bold, it ain’t worth doing. Terry’s thriller, “Con Game,” won the San Diego Book Awards for Best Action-Thriller. His writing includes the Trouble in Paradise (McKenna) Mysteries, the Seaside Cove Bed & Breakfast Mysteries, and the License to Lie thriller series. You can learn more about Terry and his writing at terryambrose.com.

All comments are welcomed.