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Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com Looking for a fast-paced murder mystery? Look no further than DEATH BY BIKINI! I know if nothing else, the title alone should make you stop and consider the book. Aphra Connolly and her father live on a tropical island. Her father left his resort in South Carolina to open the remote hotel four years ago. Most people would envy Aphra's life at the beach. But Aphra has no friends, no social life, and little to occupy her time except for the day-to-day operations of the hotel. The most her father can do to punish her is dock her pay. It's not like he can ground her. Where would she possibly go? To make life even more miserable for Aphra, her mother opted not to move to the island with them. She's had no contact with her mother in the four years they've been there. Enter the Smith family. It's late at night and a family arrives, without reservations. Being such a remote location and requiring a helicopter to arrive, this is more than unusual. Aphra has the reservation system computerized, but her father insists on handling these new arrivals. Following up the next morning to ensure her father has entered everything properly; Aphra can find no record of them. And to confuse matters further, her father has supposedly put them in the one villa that is being renovated. It's off season, and many other options would be available for them. It makes no sense. When the girlfriend of a frequent rock star guest is found dead on the beach, the intrigue picks up. From that point on, the action in the story is nonstop, rushing to the conclusion on the (expected) dark and stormy night. Mysteries surrounding her mom's departure and the strange guests all are revealed by the end of the story. With a token love interest for Aphra in the form of the Smith's teenage son, Seth, there is plenty in the story to satisfy anyone that will pick it up. There is romance (though very clean), mystery, murder, tropical locales, and espionage. What more could anyone ask for? It was a pleasant surprise to be so engrossed in DEATH BY BIKIN by Linda Gerber. I wasn't sure what to expect, having read her STUDENTS ACROSS THE SEVEN SEAS contributions. DEATH BY BIKINI is a totally different genre. But in all honesty, I believe that Ms. Gerber is much more suited to the thriller story than the S.A.S.S. series. I for one am eager to pick up the sequel, DEATH BY LATTE, to find out what Aphra is going to encounter next.