The Deadly Ackee — Joan Hadley

A PREPPIE HOUSE PARTY IN JAMAICA IS ENOUGH TO DRIVE A BODY TO MURDER....

The last thing bachelor-botanist Theo Bloomer wants to do is chaperon his niece and her house party on la Caribbean vacation. Nevertheless, bullied by his sister and seduced by visions of rare, wild Jamaican orchids, he finds himself in a luxurious villa on Montego Bay.

But when the group's pool boy is murdered, a local edible called the ackee becomes the object of Theo's attention -- the dead man's last drink was rum laced with the pulverized plant. And Theo's not the only one interested in the death: his old CIA buddy, Sitermann, is on the scene in the guise of a Hollywood producer. Then there's the next door neighbor, Count D'Orsini, a glamorous us yachtsman.

But they don't seem quite as suspicious as one of Theo's own fractious charges, who vanishes with baffling suddenness....