In 1931, Nate Heller--on a leave of absence from the Chicago P.D.--goes to Hawaii to work as an investigator for family friend Clarence Darrow. One of five Honolulu natives accused of the rape of recent bride Thalia Massie has been murdered; facing murder charges are Thalia's naval officer husband and her socialite mother. Something doesn't seem right, and Darrow has brought Heller in to get to the bottom of it.

A first-rate detective thriller, Max Allan Collins' Damned in Paradise shimmers with authenticity as it drives inexorably towards its grave conclusion. Heller--aided by Chang Apana, the real-life model for Charlie Chan--determines that while Thalia surely was raped, the identity of her attackers are in question, and the lush tropical setting cannot dispel the morass of bigotry, lies, and revenge through which the young detective must wade to reach the bitter truth.