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Detective Errol Coutinho of the Hawaii County Police faces the most difficult case of his career, when his wife’s best friend is murdered. Eleanor Swieczak’s current boyfriend is a man without a past, and to Coutinho that spells suspect, But Eleanor’s own history turns up other suspects, including a revered Hawaiian musician and a legendary local drug dealer named Gustav Trondheim, who might be the key to everything.
And someone is trying to put Coutinho on the suspect list.
As Coutinho delves into the origins of the Trondheim story, what he learns reopens the most notorious cold case in the history of Hawaii County, the murders of two reporters from Los Angeles.
Coutinho’s investigation takes him to prison in Honolulu to question the worst cop in Hawaii. He travels to Montana to confront an anti-government militia, and to New Jersey for a sit-down with two of the toughest hardhats in the international construction business. And every new suspect and every piece of evidence has ties to the CEO of a Blackwater-style mercenary army.
Soon Coutinho has made more enemies than any cop needs. Someone is trying to frame him for Eleanor’s murder and also threatening his wife Lucy. In need of allies, Coutinho digs into his own past and calls on ex-prostitute Diana Andrews and her crew of elite bodyguards. He hates to do it. Andrews has survived three deadly missions to the Big Island, but the more she tries to stay away from Hawaii, the more paradise draws her back.
Who killed Eleanor and the two reporters? Who is the real Trondheim? And why does everyone in this case turn out to have a twin and a score to settle? Finding out will cost Coutinho two murderous confrontations, one on the remote island of Molokai and one in the most beautiful place on earth—the Waipi’o Valley on his own Big Island of Hawaii.
In the time of Kamehameha the Great blood fell like rain in Hawaii. Maybe those days are back.
“Another mysterious, bloody puzzle led by Hawaiian homicide detective Eric Coutinho. It’s old-school stripped-down mystery, subtle and nuanced. Author Albert Tucher puts his library of crime-tale know-how to good use in Blood Like Rain. If you love mysteries that unfold like a game of chess, this one will satisfy.”
—Elaine Ash, Inventor of the Bestseller Metrics novel-editing system
“Albert Tucher’s Blood Like Rain brings old-school sleuthing and thoroughly modern problems into sharp focus against the lush backdrop of some of Hawaii’s most beautiful vistas. Intense, fast-paced, twisty, and ultimately satisfying, this is what crime fiction is all about.”
—Jamie Mason, author of The Hidden Things
“Blood Like Rain is a terrific book! Set amidst the lush beauty of Hawaii, Albert Tucher takes us for a non-stop, white-knuckle roller coaster ride filled with twists and murder and betrayal. Homicide Detective Eric Coutinho must find the killer terrorizing this island paradise before he becomes the next victim. Think Hawaii Five-O on steroids. Highly recommended.”
—R.G. Belsky, author of the award-winning Clare Carlson series
“Tense, taut, and thrilling, Blood Like Rain moves like a getaway car. Albert Tucher takes the conventions of classic police procedurals and remixes them with Hawaiian culture and settings to create a gripping mystery.”
—Hilary Davidson, bestselling author of Her Last Breath
Albert Tucher is the creator of sex worker Diana Andrews, who has appeared in more than one hundred stories in venues including SHOTGUN HONEY and the anthology THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES 2010. Her first longer case, the novella THE SAME MISTAKE TWICE, was published in 2013. In 2017 Albert Tucher launched a second series set on the Big Island of Hawaii, in which BLOOD LIKE RAIN is the most recent entry. He lives in New Jersey, and he loves NJ Turnpike jokes.
