The HBS Author's Spotlight SHOWCASES Toby Neal's New new book: Bone Hook.
Author Toby Neal is the bestselling author of the Lei Crime Series.
Bone Hook
Lei Crime Book 10
Author: Toby Neal
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Maui’s ocean is beautiful, wild… and deadly.
It’s been five years since the events of Rip Tides, and Sergeant Lei Texeira gets into hot water much deeper than she’s used to at a crime scene ninety feet down off of the tiny atoll of Molokini, where the death of beautiful marine biologist Danielle “Lani” Phillips is anything but an accident. More suspects than a school of sharks circle a case that takes Lei into territory that hits dangerously close to home, even as husband Michael Stevens heads into his own uncharted depths.
Excerpt from Bone Hook
CHAPTER ONE
Body retrieval in ninety feet of open water wasn’t for sissies. Sergeant Leilani Texeira hoped she was up to the task as she stood with her longtime partner, Pono Kaihale, on the deck of the heavy Coast Guard Zodiac while it sliced its way across the ocean toward Molokini, a tiny half-moon-shaped atoll off the coast of Maui. A Maui Police Department ball cap pulled low and tight kept the hair out of her eyes, and in spite of their urgent task, Lei enjoyed the smack of the gusty breeze on her cheeks.
“Got to keep an eye out for whales.” Pono scanned the horizon through his trademark Oakleys, worn so constantly they’d made grooves in the brown flesh above his ears.
The water around them was the deep blue of lapis, streaked with whitecaps. Both of them watched for whale spouts, scanning the horizon. “We could run into one at this speed.”
Pono’s `aumakua, or ancestral guardian, was the humpback whale. Lei knew he worried about the many boats crisscrossing Maui’s warm waters between November and May, where the whales were calving and breeding.
They soon reached the shallow, sheltered bay of the atoll, a popular snorkeling and diving destination for the tourist industry. The Zodiac drew abreast of a snorkeling charter vessel that had called in the discovery of a body.
It took only moments for the snorkel boat, a big catamaran, to throw a line to the Zodiac so they could side tie the two boats together. The Coast Guard officers went aboard the catamaran first, Lei and Pono following. Tourists, various degrees of sunburned, clustered in anxious knots, watching as the captain, a deeply tanned young man in a blue polo shirt that read HOKUA on the pocket, approached them.
“Hey. Pretty great response time.”
“Thanks to the Coast Guard. Took us longer to get through the Kahului traffic than it did to get out here,” Pono said.
“We need to totally clear the bay here to secure the scene.” Lei spoke to the Coast Guardsman standing beside her, whose name she’d heard but missed. She introduced herself and Pono to the Hokua’s captain. “Got somewhere private where you can tell us about the discovery?”
“Yes.” The captain led them up a metal ladder to his bridge above the main cabin. “So we took out some snorkelers, and a smaller group of scuba divers. The scuba divers found the body wedged between some rocks at about ninety feet. We could tell it was a homicide.”
“How did you know?” Lei asked.
“Had a spear sticking out of her back,” the captain said flatly.
“What did you do next?” Lei worried they might have disturbed the underwater crime scene.
“We marked it with a buoy, returned to the boat, and made the calls.”
“Perfect.” She looked at Pono. “You got ahold of Dr. Gregory already, right?”
“I did. Asked him if he could scuba. He said no, just to do our own investigation of the underwater area and bring the body up.” The portly medical examiner didn’t like heights, and apparently, not depths either.
“I should warn you,” the captain said. “The body’s a little—mutilated. Sharks have been snacking on it.”
“Great,” Lei muttered. She had discovered a cache of bones underwater during a case on Kaua`i, and couldn’t participate in a key part of the investigation involving that underwater crime scene due to being unable to scuba. In the years since then, she’d rectified that by getting certified in scuba in case it ever came up again—but dealing with sharks in a deep open ocean dive was a little unnerving as her first underwater body retrieval.
“We’ll go down with you,” said a voice beside her shoulder. “We’ll bring bang sticks in case any sharks are still interested in the body.” She turned, really noticing the Coast Guard officer next to her for the first time. Crisp in his uniform, he had the tilted dark eyes of Japanese heritage paired with the olive-brown skin of part-Hawaiian blood. He didn’t have the freckles she suffered across her nose and cheeks, but other than that, he looked familiar, as if meeting a brother for the first time.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name,” Lei said.
“Petty Officer Aina Thomas. We met on the boat.”
“You’re right; we did.” She smiled, turning to the catamaran’s captain. “Well, thanks, Captain. We’ll take it from here. If you could keep all your people on board and wait for us to take some statements, we’d appreciate it.”
They climbed back down the ladder and headed for the Coast Guard Zodiac.
“At that depth we won’t be able to stay down long,” Thomas told her. “I’ve taken the liberty of calling for some additional personnel support to search the area around the body. Our teamis trained in evidence collection and scene preservation underwater.”
“Perfect,” Lei said. “We can go down, do an initial assessment, and retrieve the body, and your divers can follow up and search a grid. We need to completely clear the boats and tourists out of this whole bay.”
“I’ll make sure that happens while you’re down,” Pono said. “And I’ll take the statements from the passengers. I don’t scuba.”
“On purpose you don’t scuba,” Lei grumbled. “So you can leave me all the dirty work, like chasing sharks away from bodies in ninety feet of water.”
“You got me there.” Pono grinned. “I’ll be the one on deck having a beer until you get back.”
Author Genre: Mystery & Thrillers, Suspense
Website: Toby Neal
Twitter: @tobywneal
E-Mail: tobyneal0@gmail.com
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Author Description: Award-winning author Toby Neal was raised on Kauai in Hawaii. A social worker turned author, she says, "I'm endlessly fascinated with people's stories."
Toby credits her counseling background in adding depth to her characters, from the villains to Lei Texeira, the courageous and vulnerable heroine in her mysteries.
Over a million copies of Lei Crime Series are in circulation, and her books have won multiple awards.
Toby loves life in Hawaii with her family and dogs.
Author's Book List
Red Rain - Lei Crime Series Book 11
In Hawaii, a red rain means the death, change, or birth of a chief.
The last thing detective Lei Texeira wants to do while her husband is overseas is deal with a child homicide cold case—but she gets one anyway, and it takes her beyond her personal limits. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Michael Stevens finds himself in a world filled with every kind of threat from crocodiles to kidnappers, and just getting home alive would be a miracle.
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Somewhere in the City - A Somewhere Series Romance
Moving away and moving on are two different things.
Upon her father’s unexpected death, Pearl Michaels leaves the tropical paradise of St. Thomas to live with her sister in Boston. She finds fame, fortune, and even more trouble than she left behind. Harley-riding, enigmatic Magnus Thorne offers Pearl all the excitement she could ever want, but his past holds even more secrets than hers. Danger stalks Pearl and Magnus from Paris to Dubai, where love's not the only thing at stake.
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Rip Tides
- Lei Crime Series Book 9Surfing in Hawaii can be fame, talent and… murder.
Poised to win the prestigious Triple Crown of Surfing, Maui surf star Makoa Simmons washes up tragically dead. Detective Lei Texeira plunges into a high-profile case whose dark and tangled motives reach deep into the elite world of professional surfing on the North Shore of Oahu. Lei must follow her instincts into new territory even as husband Michael Stevens struggles with heartbreak of another kind.
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Island Fire - Island Series Book 1
In the very near future, on the tiny island of Lanai, teens from very different worlds must find a way to survive when technology is destroyed.
Bea and Sam, Hawaiian kids isolated by a paranoid, alcoholic father, are thrown together with orphaned big-city pickpocket Nick when a disaster fries all technology. Aided by a mysterious `aumakua dragon that may or may not be Bea’s imaginary friend, the kids face fire, plane crashes, gangs, pit bulls, thieves, sharks, hunger, thirst and abuse in a coming-of-age that explores a post-technology world where only the strong and connected survive.
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Dark Lava
- Lei Crime, Book 7Maui is sacred places, ancient artifacts, and the dark lava of deepest passions.
Nothing ever goes easy for detectives Lei Texeira and Michael Stevens. An investigation into heiau desecrations must take a back seat to the emergence of an enemy who targets those closest to them, leaving shrouds as a calling card. Lei and Stevens face challenges of the body, mind and heart in this seventh in the bestselling Lei Crime Series.
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Shattered Palms
- Lei Crime SeriesMaui is lush mountains, cloud forest and exquisite birdsong—but for Detective Lei Texeira, arrows break that peace.
Someone is stalking poachers that are capturing Maui’s rarest birds, and Lei pursues the case with her usual leap-first, look-later style—but will she be able to catch a killer, save the birds, and still make it to her own wedding? Shattered Palms is a roller coaster ride from the top of Haleakala to the beach and back again, with extinction at stake.
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Somewhere on Maui
- an Accidental Matchmaker NovelZoe moves to Maui to live her dream of being an independent journalist walking the beaches of paradise every day—but she never expected to be doing it with just her dog Sylvester. Divorced and heartbroken, and she ends up in therapy. Adam’s born and bred on Maui, a true “local” who surfs to stay in shape and deal with his many sources of stress: care of his mother, a busy contracting business, and a custody fight for his beloved stepkids. A workplace confrontation sends him to anger management counseling. Adam and Zoe happen to share a therapist who gives them the same advice: try Internet dating. And though their Crazy Blind Date match-up ignites sparks neither have felt since high school, finding love is complicated by car wrecks, heart attacks, dot.com millionaires, misunderstandings and fresh grief. Can Adam and Zoe find a way to live a deeper dream on Maui?
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Unsound
- A Lei Crime Companion Novel“Toby Neal weaves a spell-binding suspense that pulls you in with breathtaking scenery, flawed characters, and brilliantly twisted psychology.”
Gae-Lynn Woods, author of the Cass Elliott Crime Series
Only a volcano can cure some things.
Dr. Caprice Wilson, police psychologist, has spent her life unraveling the mysteries of the human mind—only to find herself in a deep crisis. Caprice prescribes herself a walkabout and goes hiking on Maui—but the solitary retreat she has in mind does not go as planned. Caprice faces an enemy she never knew she had and wrestles with questions of hope, identity, loss, and the nature of psychopathy in a cat-and-mouse game with survival at stake.
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Twisted Vine
- Lei Crime Series 5The island of Oahu is skyscrapers and rainforests, beaches and boutiques—but Special Agent Lei Texeira is drawn into a shadow world connected by death and the Internet.
Mysterious suicides draw Lei and her team, including tech specialist Sophie Ang, to hunt a criminal who plays with the thin gray line between right and wrong. Lei stirs up a hornet’s nest on the investigation as her past reaches out in a twisted vine of old loves, new technologies and dark vendettas.
“Toby Neal scores a royal flush in this fifth of an unmissable crime series for mystery fans!”
J.C. Martin, author of Oracle
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Stolen in Paradise
- A Lei Crime Companion NovelOne betta fish, two dead biologists, three trysts, four suspects and thirty-five pairs of shoes add up to complicated days in paradise for Special Agent Marcella Scott. Marcella gets into sand way over her Manolos investigating the death of a prominent scientist washed up on a Waikiki beach with a bullet hole between the eyes. BioGreen, a genetically-engineered algae that could solve the world fuel crisis, has been stolen from the development lab—a hotbed of intrigue where everyone on the project has something to hide. Marcella also has a secret vice, more dangerous than expensive shoes—and it leads her into arms that are too close for comfort. “Toby Neal’s usual breathless suspense plus Agent Marcella Scott’s sexiness feed this reader’s addiction!” Noelle Pierce, author of upcoming Constellation Series
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Broken Ferns
- Lei Crime Series 4The island of Oahu is warm breezes, skyscrapers and green mountains—but a daring young thief is out to make a statement, and Special Agent Lei Texeira’s new career is already on the line.
Lei Texeira has made a difficult transition from detective on Maui to the FBI on Oahu—and her first big case as an agent draws national media attention. With her typical jump-first, look-later style, she pursues her quarry from Oahu to the outer islands, rousing old conflicts and new heartbreak.
“Crisp, well-written and full of local color - Broken Ferns is another page-turner from Toby Neal.”
Greta Van der Rol, author of Morgan’s Choice
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Black Jasmine
The island of Maui is turquoise ocean, stunning vistas, and whalesong-but organized crime has a hidden hold, and Detective Lei Texeira tracks evil that hides behind a beautiful face. Lei and Stevens find a haven on Maui-until their new life as a couple is interrupted by murder. When a nameless teenage girl dies in an apparent vehicular suicide, Lei can't rest until she finds out what really happened. She blazes through all the wealth and poverty of island society in her quest for justice, rousing a deadly foe-even as she faces the personal demons of commitment and revenge that threaten the only real love she's ever known.
"Toby Neal's stories have a relentless, charged energy that heats up every page."
-- Holly Robinson, author of Sleeping Tigers
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Torch Ginger
- Lei Crime Series 2"If J.D. Robb's In Death series went on location with Kaui Hart Hemmings' The Descendants, you'd have Toby Neal's Torch Ginger."
The island of Kaua`i is remote jungle, golden beaches and ancient culture—but transients are disappearing in paradise, and only Detective Lei Texeira notices.
Lei transfers to the island of Kaua`I, where she uncovers a pattern of disappearances that may be related to a bizarre cult—or is it just one madman at work? In Lei's world, everyone is guilty until proven innocent.
In the midst of the biggest case sleepy Kaua`I has ever seen, Lei must also untangle the mysteries of her heart and discover who she loves.
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Blood Orchids
- Lei Crime Series 1Fast-paced crime mystery with a touch of romance, readers call Blood Orchids "un-putdownable"!
"Sometimes in crime fiction you stumble across a character who lives on beyond the book's end by virtue of their psychological complexity, and the richness with which the author has drawn them. Will Graham, Jack Reacher, Alex Cross, and now they have a worthy female counterpart in Lei Teixera. Blood Orchids is that rarity among debut novels, in that it satisfies on every level. A powerful new talent is on the scene, whole-heartedly recommended."
-Drew Cross, former police officer and author of BiteMarks
Hawaii is palm trees, black sand and blue water—but for policewoman Lei Texeira, there’s a dark side to paradise.
Lei has overcome a scarred past to make a life for herself as a cop in the sleepy Big Island town of Hilo. On a routine patrol she finds two murdered teenagers—one of whom she’d recently busted. With its echoes of her own past, the murdered girl’s harsh life and tragic death affect Lei deeply. She becomes obsessed—even as the killer is drawn to Lei's intensity, feeding off her vulnerabilities and toying with her sanity.
Despite her obsession with the case and fear that she's being stalked, Lei finds herself falling in love for the first time. Steaming volcanoes, black sand beaches and shrouded fern forests are the backdrop to Lei's quest for answers—and the stalker is closer than she can imagine, as threads of the past tangle in her future. Lei is determined to find the killer—but he knows where to find her first.
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