Book Review: The Masked Baron

The Masked Baron starts out with such a great setting and atmosphere, it almost came across as a gothic mystery. There were some elements of a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but the author definitely made the story her own. I was interested to find out how the mystery of the witch would unfold and who would ultimately solve it and really enjoyed seeing how the secondary cast of friends and servants rallied around the hero and heroine. (I hope the author does another story that gives Ellison's best friend a book of his own!)

Unfortunately, I had a really hard time enjoying the romance in this one. "Annie" is Ellison's ward and she seems very young throughout the story. The romance with her guardian, who seems much older, just didn't work for me at all. There were also quite a few story elements that just didn't make sense and were not believable, which I think could have been solved with one more thorough edit. With that said, however, I do have to say the author does a wonderful job with the mystery and the setting portion and I wouldn't mind trying another book by her.

Get your copy here

Here is the back copy:

Andalin is accustomed to her father’s frequent travels—and to being left behind. So when he returns home and instructs her to pack her belongings, she is bewildered—but there is no time for questions as she is whisked away on a mysterious journey under the cover of night. When their tense flight leads them into the forbidding Black Forest, the pair quickly finds themselves in great peril. With little hope of escape, father and daughter are spared when rescue appears in the form of the mysterious Dark Rider, a notorious deadly highwayman feared by all he meets. But his assistance does not come without a price: he is taking Andalin with him. Now her fate rests in the hands of the enigmatic masked man whose secrets are inescapably tied to the beautiful young woman now in his charge.

Hawaii Five-0 Recap & Review: The One With the Hatfield & McCoys!

We start out with Frank Bama making a really yummy breakfast. (Is Steve running a hotel now? Is Frank staying there?) Junior comes in to see him pouring bacon grease into the flour for flavor and Frank tells him that doing that helped him land someone special. Junior confesses that he used to lie awake hoping for something more, but now he's awake seeing all the ways he can screw this up and since the waffles are Frank's get out of jail free card, Junior gets the recipe. Super cute scene!

Adam and Quinn just finished surfing together (and she can't say Noshimuri, haha!) and he's thanking her for inviting him out since it's tough to be away from Five-0. (You kind of made your own bed there, Adam.) Quinn hopes Steve puts him back on the team. He's fair and smart, but just needs time. She gets a phone call and tells someone named Olivia to calm down and stay where she is, Quinn is on her way! And she's out. Bye Adam!

Cue music.

Steve and Danny meet up with Tunior on a horse ranch where Tani has stepped in cowpies with her boots. LOL Last night HPD got a call that four men rode through on horses with bandannas over their faces, and then they found the vic, a guy named Daniel. The cause of death was a gunshot wound to the back of the head, and there were four sets of hoofprints leading up to door, which was kicked in, and poor Daniel had rope burns on his wrists, gravel in his wounds, and lacerations on head. So he was dragged behind one of the horses. (Which they show! Ew!) The house is undisturbed so it wasn't a robbery. Maybe it was revenge or he had info of some sort.  But what did he know that would make this worthwhile?

Quinn pulls up in front of a house and a teenager answers. They hug and she goes inside to a messy house. Quinn checks out the fridge, just water and soda. Apparently Olivia's dad hasn't been around for the last three days, but he left money for food and calls every night to check in. Except for last night. Quinn doesn't look convinced and tells her to get her stuff, she'll drive her to school. On the way, they're talking about softball and cheer and Quinn finds out Dad took the money Quinn gave Olivia for her uniform. Sad! She says she'll find him.

Back at HQ, Lou is reporting on Daniel's financials. The guy was flat broke, with multiple liens, and overdue mortgage payments, and had been trying to get a loan from every bank. Maybe he ran out of places to borrow money and turned to more unsavory places. But why not take his valuables if recovering a debt? They're going to keep digging. Junior reports that the vic had a high blood alcohol level and there's a bar not too far away called the Cattle Prod. Tani knows it, so they're going to check it out and see if anyone saw him or if trouble followed him home. Junior wants to know how she knows the bar and is guessing  that she was in a biker gang or dated a ranch hand. She says no. The bartender recognizes her though he can't quite place her. He does tell them that Daniel was in there last night celebrating and buying drinks for everyone with top shelf liquor. He'll hand over all the credit card transactions and security footage. Bartender finally remembers where he knows Tani from---the came in for the Sunday night roundup, which is a line dancing competition and she won four weeks in a row! She hasn't been back so someone else could win and she broke up with the cowboy who introduced her to the place.

Security footage shows no one followed Daniel home that night, but Lou figures out that Daniel got a small business loan from a credit union and bought some digging and trenching equipment so he could make his ranch a macadamia nut farm. He hired some ranch hands and three days ago, Daniel was digging by himself, then suddenly sent them all home. So he must have dug something up on the property! They find out what it was pretty quick. Two sets of human remains. But why would two old skeletons get a guy tortured and killed?

Quinn goes to Adam to see if he'll help her track down the deadbeat guy who turns out to be her ex-husband. He used to play in a lot of local card rooms, so she's hoping Adam can get her in. He says he'll make some calls. (Good old Adam. He knows all the shady places!)

Lou reports that the bones are between 130-140 years old, one male one female. Male shot once in head, female shot twice in chest. It's not a murder suicide, though, because they were killed with different caliber weapons. And thanks to property records, they find out that a guy named Abel owned the ranch back then. He worked as a ranch hand, then went to the mainland, came back and bought the homestead and settled down with his wife. But finding skeletons wouldn't be a cause for Daniel to celebrate because he'd have to shut everything down so the state can investigate. Weird. They found a familial match to Abel, who is on his way in.

Quinn is apologizing for pulling Adam in, but he understands wanting to keep the past in the past. She says she never saw herself falling for an older, divorced guy, but he was charming and had Olivia and she loved the family they made. She realized four months into the marriage that he had a problem when he emptied out their joint bank accounts, but promised to pay it back. No more trust after that. She stayed longer than she should have for Olivia and it was hard to leave her, but she still keeps in touch. But he's reached a new low stealing from his daughter. Adam assures her they'll find him. She also mentions that no one knows she was married, not even Steve. She's not a sharer. (Yeah, we don't know much about Quinn at all.)

Adam gets them into a game and shows the JaketheEx's pic. Apparently, Jake came around quite a bit until a few days ago when he had a bad streak and no one's seen him since he went bust. Quinn is worried because Jake gets desperate when he's chasing a loss. Adam has another idea for someone to help them.

Lou is interviewing Abel's cowboy-hat-wearing-descendant. He didn't go into ranching since land is too expensive and is an accountant instead. He tells Lou that his father always said that land was cursed and that's why their family sold it. Apparently, in the 1870s, Abel set off to the mainland with his friend Buddy McCoy to seek out their fortunes. They made it to Colorado and legend has it they came into a small fortune of Civil War era gold coins. They brought the money home and bought adjoining ranches, but problems started when they couldn't agree on what to do with the rest of the gold. That disagreement turned violent and Abel's wife was killed by one of the McCoy family. Abel grabbed the rest of the coins and took off to the mainland and was never seen again. To this day there is bad blood between the two families. Lou informs him that it turns out his uncle never made it to the mainland. A real-life Hatfield and McCoy story!

 Back at the Chatting Table everyone is talking about how poor Abel didn't flee with the gold, his bones revealed he shot himself standing in the same grave he dug for his wife. So, Daniel probably found the gold coins now worth millions, which is why he was celebrating. And his killers were trying to get out of him where he stashed the coins. Tani remembers seeing the name Buddy McCoy, he was in the bar with Daniel! And he would definitely understand the significance of finding the gold on Abel's property. And guess what? Raymond McCoy's ranch is under three miles from Daniel's property, accessible by a road and horseback!

The team goes to the McCoy ranch with guns drawn, but it's empty, though there are a lot of missing guns from the gun racks. Lou spots three or four guys on horseback on a ridge. Steve is going after them on horseback, but no one else wants to go. Lou has a bad back, Junior doesn't mess with horses, Tani's boots are made for dancing, not riding. Danny volunteers since he's been taking riding lessons with Grace. Everyone else will cover the route behind the mountain to organize a roadblock or stay behind at the ranch in case they double back. (Steve and Danny on horses? Yes, please!)

While they are riding, they chat about Steve doing a James Coburn cowboy thing and arguing over who would be Kris Kristofferson in Billy the Kid. Someone has them in their gun sights as they ride along. (Dun, dun, dun.) Danny brings up that Steve is pacing back and forth at night and he's not sleeping. Steve doesn't want to talk about it. He's got a lot on his mind, that's it. Danny says he's there if he wants to talk. Steve appreciates the offer. They see footprints and realize the men split up here and Steve knows why. The gunmen sees their riderless horses and then Steve is behind him with a knife to his throat. Stand up slow and turn around. Cuff him, Danno. They shoot the guy's gun off a couple of times and when someone on his radio asks what's going on, Steve forces him the guy to say he saw two cops and shot them both. "Uncle Ray" tells him to grab the weapons and meet him at the cabin. Now they're all going to go to the cabin!

Quinn and Adam go to see Kamekona who makes a call to get them into people with bad credit games. Quinn goes to stare at the beach and reminisces about Jake taking her on a date to see Olivia's soccer game and how he could be such a good dad, warm, loving, kind---all the things her own father wasn't. Maybe that's why she was drawn to him. Adam tells her, "See? Sharing isn't so bad is it?" Quinn gets a call from Olivia and tells her everything will be okay and she'll keep her posted.

Steve and Danny get to the cabin and tie the gunman to a tree, then gag him. They're going to go have a look-see when someone starts shooting at them and we've got a gunfight! They get inside the cabin and Steve only has three bullets left. Uh oh. Not good, since there's seven of them outside. Steve has a plan, though. He gives Danny his gun with the three bullets to lay down cover while Steve improvises. Danny does not like this plan and calls him a nincompoop. Steve runs outside with a rope while bullets are coming through the cabin walls, but none of them hit Danny. Meanwhile, Steve lassos a guy and breaks his neck to get his gun. He picks off a bunch of the other guys and Danny gets one, too. Uncle Ray fights with McG and Steve is thrown to the ground and hits his head on a rock so things go fuzzy and there's ringing in his ears. Uncle Ray has a log over his head to bash Steve with when Danny shoots him. Steve wants an apology for calling him a nincompoop, but Danny just calls him that again. Luckily, Steve is okay.

The team meets up with them and Lou is surprised they did all that, but they say they improvised, ha! What happened to the gold? Well, the scout they tied up told them they came up here to stash it, but never told Steve and Danny where and now everyone is dead. So there's millions of dollars in gold coins up there, so hopefully word doesn't get out or a bunch of wannabe Indiana Jones will come looking for it. Steve and Danny have to ride the horses back down and everyone else leaves on ATVs.

Quinn gets into a game with Adam and sits down by Jake. He tells her he can explain, but she takes him outside. He just lost track of time, but she informs him he left his daughter alone for three days! The cops are there to book him on a misdemeanor gambling charge, but she'll make sure he gets probation if he enters a program and sticks with it this time. He is begging her not to do this, but Quinn says she's doing it for Olivia and he's lucky she's not charging him with child endangerment. If he messes up again, he'll go to jail and lose custody of his daughter. He's yelling don't do this Quinn as she drives away crying. Adam reaches out to comfort her and it was a really sweet scene.

Steve and Danny are on horseback and there's a beautiful sunset in the background. Steve stops to look at it and says, "You know I've always taken sunsets for granted. Probably because I figured I'd see a million more. Just cause you see something every day doesn't make it any less special. In fact, I think those are the thing that yo're going to miss the most in the end, you know?" Danny isn't feeling sentimental and says the sun going down means it's going to be dark soon and they'll have to sleep in the woods. Steve wants him to let him have this moment and Danny says, sure, I'll just go find a squirrel to grill for dinner. Steve sort of sighs and says, in ten years have you ever seen a squirrel Danny? Because there aren't any, how have you not learned that? Danny says he's a slow learner because if he wasn't he would have gotten a new partner a long time ago. Steve says, "Admit it, you're going to miss this when it's done." (*sniffle* I know I will!) Danny says, yeah, but he'd never say it out loud. (It truly is a beautiful sunset and I'm so sad at the symbolism that the show is nearly over!)

What did you think? Did you watch?

Freebie Friday for Historical Romance Fans!

If you want to get in the spirit of St. Patrick's Day, you can get Heidi Ashworth's historical romance, O'er the River Liffey for free today!

Get your free copy here

Here's the back copy:

Irish heiress Caroline Fulton knows this house party, ostensibly celebrating the victory of Waterloo, is really an audition: will she make a suitable wife? Her host, an English lord, has already won over her father, who’s determined to buy a title with Caroline’s dowry. She is far from taken with the baron, however, especially once she meets Niall Doherty, the impoverished, perceptive tutor to her host’s younger brothers. He shares her love of Irish fairy tales and seems to guard a troubled past…but neither quality will earn Caroline’s father’s approval.

In The Non-Fiction Corner: Enlightened

In the Non-Fiction Corner
With Lauren

Enlightened is about one woman's personal journey in studying the scriptures. The author does have some good ideas and it's an interesting read. However, I found that many of her stories didn't really fit with the point she is trying to get across and would likely be better as an addition to her personal family history. She also had very consistent reminders for readers to take notes on what she was saying, but the repetition made me think of an elementary school teacher's constant reminders to follow instructions. With that said, however, I did enjoy the overall message of the book that we should all find our own unique way to study the scriptures. 

You can get your copy here

Here is the back copy:

Is it Time?

Kathryn Elizabeth Jones has been a lover of journaling since the time she was a teenager. But the journaling that began as a keeper of secret thoughts, daily activities, and hopes and dreams of the future, one day changed direction in focus and feeling the moment she realized what personal revelation could truly mean for her.

Although personal scripture reading began at about the same time, it was much later, while Kathryn was reflecting on the power of the Kirtland Temple dedication, that the Lord’s voice was heard, and Kathryn wrote of the experience.

Connecting personal revelation to scripture study and prayer as a conduit for an even stronger relationship with Jesus Christ, is the premise of this book.

May it enlighten your life and may your own path be made clear as you take the Lord’s hand, listen to His words, and follow His voice.

Book Review: Willa and the Whale

Willa and the Whale is a tender and poignant story about Willa, a twelve-year-old girl who has lost her marine biologist mother and is now living with her father and stepmother. She's trying to deal with the ocean of grief she's swimming in, but is struggling, until she meets Meg, a whale who can talk to her. (I loved Meg! So fun.)

I really enjoyed Willa's voice in this story. It's so authentic! The authors have done a magnificent job of really portraying the life of a young girl dealing with grief and family and school issues. I loved all the symbolism with the ocean, the secondary characters, especially Willa's friend Marc. Chad Morris and Shelly Brown just have such a way of touching a reader's heart.

I loved Willa's journal entries and how she begins to learn to cope with her grief with the help of Meg. The authors address difficult topics in such a sensitive way and combine it with just enough lightheartedness that it doesn't feel heavy. I think this is the perfect book to read with tweens and teens, not only for the entertainment value (who hasn't wanted to talk to a whale!) but it is sure to spark some good conversations about how to deal with grief and loss and that there is always hope, no matter what.

This is another one for our keeper shelf!

Get your copy here

Here's the back copy:

Can a whale talk to a human? Willa thinks so . .

After losing her mom, Willa is grieving and having a hard time living with her dad and his new family on an island off the coast of Washington State. Her dad tries to cheer her up by taking her whale watching, something Willa's mom used to do.

While all the passengers are on one side of the boat, Willa encounters a humpback whale on the opposite side. Willa feels so lonely that she starts to talk to the whale—and the whale talks back!
The whale, named Meg, quickly becomes a trusted friend and confidante Willa can speak to whenever she's by the ocean.

Meg offers sound advice Willa needs about dealing with a nemesis at school and trying to figure out why her friend Marc is keeping secrets about his family life.

Before the story ends, it will take all of Willa's courage and connections to tackle a problem that's as big as a blue whale!

About the Authors: 

SHELLY BROWN was born in the Northwest and grew up near the ocean. It’s a part of her. She can surf and point out all sorts of sea creatures and plants (though not necessarily at the same time.) Now that she lives in the mountains, she has saved money, planned, and taken Chad and their five kids to both coasts to swim, surf, search tide pools, snorkel, and watch sea lions, seals, turtles, whales, and more. Her soul speaks ocean.

Growing up, CHAD MORRIS was fascinated by blue whales. He read books about the world’s largest creature and did grade school reports on them. He drew pictures of them and taped them to his wall (the pictures, not whales—that would be impossible). He would love to see a blue whale in real life, but he’d rather not meet a Bobbitt or zombie worm. Seriously, he’d prefer his bones not become jelly.

Hawaii Five-0 Recap & Review: The One With The Dead Pirate

We found out last Friday that Hawaii Five-0 won't be returning next season. I am so sad! It seems sudden and I'm worried they won't have a chance to wrap up the storylines in a satisfying way. Not to mention I'm going to miss this show. I've watched from the very first episode and it doesn't seem like it's already been ten years. The show had a great run and I will definitely miss it.

We start out with Adam in the previouslies again, showing his footage of Kenji killiing Haru and Endo and  Kenji lying, saying he sent them to Japan, then cut to the masked SUV guys coming for him with guns.

Our next scene is at McG's home, where he is ironing again and Danny is watching. Our SuperSEAL likes ironing and just wants to iron in peace, but Danny can't resist needling him, telling him to invest in wrinkle-free clothes. McG brushes him off with, "Is it boring being as predictable as you are?" (Oddly, he says he's going on a date with Emma now, but isn't she the vet who said she was dating someone during Eddie's PTSD ep? Weird. And last week it was Brooke. Something's fishy there.) Junior comes in and asks McG to leave the iron out because he has a date, too. McG thinks it's great Junior and Tani are giving it a go. Steve gets a phone call that shots were fired at Adam's building and Grover is on the way. Uh oh.

Grover gets to Adam's place and sees the Yakuza dead bodies near the door. Adam is bloody, but okay. (Since Adam took out most of the Yakuza sent after them when they kidnapped Tamiko, I would think when the henchmen found out they were assigned to go over to Adam's place, they would be, um, hey, can I have a different assignment? Please. Ha!) Adam tells Lou that Kenji sent them and they need to take Kenji and his crew down now. Lou wants to get him somewhere safe, but Adam grabs his SD card and admits that he's been trying to dismantle Kenji's operation for months and finally has the evidence to do it.

Cue music.

SWAT is on their way to Kenji's. Kenji is bailing, grabbing money and passports and a gun out of his safe while SWAT rolls up. His terrible-decision-making crew opens the door and start firing while Kenji runs away. Adam gives chase to Kenji (and he's already cleaned up and changed clothes. Maybe in the SWAT truck?) However, Adam has a light on his gun that announces his position to Kenji so Kenji nearly picks him off. Junior and Lou are holding off the other Yakuza back at the house and Kenji is running across a stream and up a hill. (You know, I'm wondering where Tamiko is. We haven't seen her for ages? Did they break up?) Adam is right behind him, but when he gets to the top of the hill, Kenji tackles him. They fight, each trying to grab the gun and Adam wins and shoots Kenji in the shoulder. Kenji tells him to finish it, but Adam wants to hear him say Masuda. Kenji smiles and says, yeah, I killed Masuda and you and your girlfriend would have been next had Tokyo not intervened. Adam is shaking, but doesn't pull trigger and instead, calls for EMTs. He taunts Kenji that he was playing him, working for Five-0 the whole time and now he has footage of Kenji executing Endo and Haru. He's going away and will never get out! Kenji doesn't look worried and says he'll talk and he has a lot to say about Adam, so how can he let him live? Adam says he'll take his chances. (Well, he's pretty, but no one said he was smart.)

Back in Maui Noelani is headed to her uncle's wake. She briefly talks to her parents who accept a donation to her uncle's church from a councilman since the uncle was a pastor who helped a lot of kids get out of gangs and get clean. Her parents think her profession is weird since she works with dead bodies and they sort of just woodenly stand there through the whole thing. Noelani gives up and goes to pay her respects. While looking at the body in the coffin, she notices a red rash on her uncle's wrists.

Adam has been called to the boss's office. Steve is sitting there with him, dumbfounded about Adam's plan to dismantle the Yakuza from within and spy on Five-0. Adam assures Steve he only gave the Yakuza morsels to keep them on the hook while he gathered evidence. Steve seems more upset that Adam lied to him multiple times, even though he had several chances to come clean. Adam is all, yeah, you would have said it was too dangerous and shut it down, so he did what he had to do. Steve is feeling a bit of righteous anger and tells him that wasn't his call to make because Adam risked the reputation of the entire unit and that's something Steve has to answer for. Adam says Steve can take his badge if he wants, he'll understand, but Steve snaps back with, "if I want your badge, I'll take your badge!" He tells Adam to go down to HPD and debrief the organized crime division and tell them everything he knows. (Steve is wearing a very nice blue shirt for this scene.) Before Adam leaves, Steve gets a call. A freighter two miles off coast was attacked and the crew were taken hostage. The captain was shot dead and, according to crew, it was the Coast Guard who attacked them! Dun, dun, dun.

Steve, Danny, Junior, and Tani fly out there and interview a crew member. He thought it was a routine check, they had Coast Guard uniforms and badges, and their skiff was skinned to make it look like the real deal. But once they were on board it was guns out and they ordered them on the ground. They locked the crew in the cabin and ordered the captain to take them down to the safe, so that's where everyone heads to next. There are some shell casings near the captain's body, so he got a couple of shots off before he was killed. There was payroll and petty cash in the safe, but only around 20-50 grand. The crew member gets dismissed so the team can spitball possible reasons a gang would go to so much trouble for less than fifty grand when the cargo was worth millions. Maybe they were just getting started with the safe when the captain fired and they bailed? Right in the middle, Noelani calls Steve and says she needs his help. The family was told her uncle died of a heart attack, but a rash on his arm doesn't jive with a cardiac event and it wasn't mentioned in the coroner report. The coroner won't give her the time of day and she wants the truth. Steve will send Quinn to help her out so they can get to the bottom of it. (I was surprised his cell phone worked in the bottom of the ship.)

Junior finds a fresh blood trail and shows Steve. If the captain fired his weapon and hit one of the pirates, his crew could have left him for dead and he could still be hiding on the ship. They split up to go look for him, guns drawn. Tani and Junior are going door to door and he's sorry he had to cancel their date. They were both looking forward to it. Tani goes into a kitchen area and gets a knife thrown at her, then attacked with a fire extinguisher. She fights with the pirate and the door closes and locks so Junior can't get to her. He's yelling for Steve, quickly escalating from Boss! to McGarrett! while Tani is getting her head pushed toward a hot grill. She whacks the guy with a pan, and while she's going for her gun he throws her around, she kicks him and breaks a coffeepot over his head. (In the real world she wouldn't have stood a chance. That guy was huge compared to her.) McG and Junior work together to kick the door in and hear shots fired. They rush in and Tani is standing there, saying she found him. (Loved Junior's emotion and protectiveness in the scene.)

Noelani and Quinn go visit the CrankyCoroner. He's not happy to see him, but Quinn shows her badge and they start asking questions like how did he fail to notice an obvious rash on the pastor uncle's body? When Quinn threatens to arrest him, he caves and said he saw the rash, but someone approached him in the parking lot and said if he didn't say the uncle died of a heart attack, something bad would happen to him. Since he was too scared to go to the police, he just didn't mention the rash. The rash indicates carbon monoxide poisoning, but if it was a suicide, then why cover it up? They're going to need a description of the man who threatened CrankyCoroner and footage of the parking lot.

The gang is back at the Chatting Table, and Lou tells them he got satellite images of the freighter during the attack and guess what? The pirates loaded a crate from the ship! But HPD went through the ship's inventory and it was all accounted for, so something was smuggled onto the freighter with legit cargo. Well, if the pirates knew there was something smuggled onto the ship, they had to have an inside man. Since they ID'd the pirate Tani killed, Kyle Munoz, they're going to look for any connections he had to someone on the crew. And Tunior will also look into boats that fit the pirate boat description.

Quinn easily finds the man who threatened the coroner and it's Eke, a guy who just got out of prison for trying to kill Noelani's uncle a decade ago. They go see him and he says that back in the day they ran with bad crews and when someone was a rival gang member, you retaliated and thought of them as the enemy. He was shocked that Noelani's uncle wrote to him in prison that he forgave him and turned his life around told him so could he. It gave him hope, but why did he threaten CrankyCoroner? Well, the day Uncle died, he invited Eke over, but didn't answer the door. Eke went around back and could hear the car running in the garage. Uncle was in the driver's seat with a hose from the tailpipe to the window. Eke cleaned up the evidence and insisted CrankyCoroner declare it a heart attack so that his legacy wouldn't be suicide. He gave so many people hope, how would they feel knowing he took his own life? Noelani doesn't believe Uncle would commit suicide, so they're going to his house to check it out.

Lou found a link between dead Kyle and the crew member they talked to, Karl Lawson. Karl and Kyle! Besties! They went to high school together and phone records confirm they were in touch last week and Karl was getting wire transfers from overseas accounts for the last three years. So, in a confusing twist, Steve tries to explain that Karl calls Kyle to put a crew together and pull off the heist, then Karl tells his smuggler friends the boat was hit by a pirate attack. They want to talk to Karl, and we see him in the back of an HPD squad car when they are rammed and Karl is kidnapped by masked men. Poor dumb Karl. When the team looks at footage of the kidnapping, with the way Karl is struggling it obviously wasn't a rescue attempt (how did they know when he would be transferred?) But the team guesses the kidnappers are the smugglers Karl was working for and they want their stuff. Oh, and Tunior didn't have any luck looking for the boat the pirates used so now they're going to look for the people who gave it a makeover.

Back at her uncle's house, Noelani is looking at pictures and remembering good times. CSU is running the garden hose for prints while Noelani is confiding to Quinn that her parents already don't approve of her job, how will they react if her looking into this reveals that her uncle really did commit suicide? Quinn tells her that her brother Brian committed suicide and her family never talked about it at all and it made things worse. Brian's life was so much more than the way he died and the same thing goes for the uncle. No matter what they find, she should remember that.

Tani is at the Magnum PI friend's bar, (what was his name again?) anyway, the guy is sad that Quinn didn't come. Tani will put a good word in for him in exchange for the favor of calling Oz the Boat Makeover Guy down. She tells some story to Oz that she's been dating a guy and things aren't working out so she wants to secure his boat and have it skinned for ten grand. He agrees and she pulls out her handcuffs and puts him under arrest. She asks him for info on a client that made him skin a boat to look like the Coast Guard. He doesn't remember at first, but when she threatens him with a holding cell, he suddenly recalls that she's looking for Michael Garcia.

Quinn tells Noelani that there was only one set of prints on the hose and they are Eke's but that's weird her uncle's weren't on it. Unless someone wiped down the hose before Eke found the body. They can't think of anyone that would want to kill the uncle, so they find a kid named Lewis through phone records that Uncle helped. Noelani tells the kid she just wants to find out what happened to her uncle and the kid says he told the uncle too much and that's why Uncle is dead. There's a guy on the city council who is big in the drug game on the island and Uncle knew him. It was the councilman who gave the donation at Uncle's wake! The councilman tells the gangs where to sell and the cops won't bother them and in return they cut him in. Lewis wanted out of this life and Uncle made him feel like he could change, but because he talked Uncle is dead and he's next. Quinn assures him they're going to do their jobs and make sure the councilman can't hurt anyone ever again.

Steve, Danny, Junior, and Lou are all approaching Michael Garcia's house with guns drawn. They go in and find all the dead pirates still in Coast Guard uniforms. It looks like their mouths were foaming and they don't have any gunshot wounds. The powder all over the table and cupboards probably isn't heroin, so Steve calls for backup and a HAZMAT team. But instead, they get black SUVs and gunmen that start shooting at them! The guys duck under the table, but powder is floating into the air with the bullets and Danny doesn't want to be in the room with the powder that killed the people. LOL Back up is ten minutes out so Steve and Junior start picking off the smugglers. They get out of the house and Danny is coughing on the ground when another smuggler shows and Steve shoots him, nearly deafening Danny. When the EMTs get there, Steve gets some oxygen and they talk about how Lawson thought he was ripping off a little heroin, but that stuff is actually a synthetic opiod with a really long name that is ten thousand times stronger than morphine and was banned from the chemical weapons convention. It's that dangerous, which explains Steve's pounding headache. So the pirates went to all that trouble to steal that booty only to have it kill them. Tani lightens the mood with a little joke: Why are pirates called pirates? Cuz they ARRGGGH. No one laughs and she says, "Come on. That was solid." (Cute scene.)

Quinn and Noelani meet up with the CrookedCouncilman and show him the donation envelope he gave earlier. It's evidence now and the DNA on it matched the DNA on the teacup found in Uncle's kitchen. The second teacup had traces of roofies in it, so when Uncle found out the councilman was dirty, he confronted him and told him he needed to come clean and he would help. The councilman drugged him instead, then helped him to the car and ran the hose from the exhaust pipe to the window to make it look like a suicide. But he didn't count on Uncle having helped so many people that some of them were willing to help him in return. CrookedCouncilman gets cuffed and taken away. Noelani's parents awkwardly come up and pat her on the back and say they're proud of her and Uncle would be, too. Then we get a cemetery scene with Lewis and Eke there, too, and people laying roses on the coffin.

Back at the Magnum PI guy's bar, Quinn brings Noelani for just one drink and the team is there! It helps her feel better. Danny says Steve is buying the next round and Steve says he will he just needs to go home and get his wallet. Ha! He's been saying the same thing for ten years. Aww. The band takes a break and Backstreet Boys come on, which was Quinn's jam in fifth grade. The Magnum PI guy comes up and gets introduced to everyone and he offers the next round on the house. He and Quinn talk about the dinner he owes her and Noelani suggests they dance. Apparently, he's a much better dancer than dart player, so Quinn says to show her what he's got. Tunior are watching, think they can take them with dance moves, but they won't give away their best stuff right off. So everyone is on the floor dancing to Everybody Rock Your Body while Steve, Lou, and Noelani watch. A very sweet scene.

I thought it was a good episode overall, I'm mostly just sad that this is one of the very last ones ever! Did you watch? What did you think?

It's Dr. Seuss Day!

Are you celebrating Dr. Seuss today? I love that he has his own day. He was such an influence on kids and young readers and his stories are so timeless!

What is your favorite Dr. Seuss book? I think mine is Horton Hears a Who. There's just something so sweet about that story. They're all just fun, though, and ones I don't mind reading twice for a bedtime story. What about you? 

(And if you are looking for my Hawaii Five-0 review, that will be coming tomorrow!)