March Words and Wine Event at Kona Stories

March’s Words and Wine Event will take place on Tuesday, March 7, at the Kona Stories Book Shop at 6 p.m.

The monthly event is free to the public and includes an informal meet and greet, followed by a formal book presentation from each of three presenting authors and concludes with a question and answer session.

This month’s authors include Leslie Karst, Carol Thorsness and George John Douvis.

Leslie Karst

“A Measure of Murder,” by Leslie Karst. Photo Courtesy

Karst, the daughter of a law professor and a potter, learned at an early age the value of both careful analysis and the arts— ideal ingredients for a mystery story.

She now writes the “Sally Solari Mysteries,” a culinary series set in Santa Cruz, California. An ex-lawyer like her sleuth, Karst also has degrees in English literature and the culinary arts. She and her wife and their Jack Russell mix split their time between Santa Cruz and Hilo, Hawai‘i.

In her debut novel, “Dying for a Taste,” Karst serves up a funny, feisty heroine, Italian family drama, a charming coastal California town, and clues tangled up like a plate of spaghetti carbonara.

In a stew of suspects and restaurateurs, trouble boils over in the second in her Sally Solari mystery series, “A Measure of Murder.”

Sally Solari is busy juggling work at her family’s Italian restaurant, Solari’s, and helping Javier plan the autumn menu for the restaurant she’s just inherited, Gauguin. Complicating this already hectic schedule, Sally joins her ex-boyfriend Eric’s chorus, which is performing a newly discovered version of her favorite composition: the Mozart Requiem. But then, at the first rehearsal, a tenor falls to his death on the church courtyard–and his soprano girlfriend is sure it wasn’t an accident.

Now Sally’s back on another murder case mixed in with a dash of revenge, a pinch of peril, and a suspicious stack of sheet music. And while tensions in the chorus heat up, so does the kitchen at Gauguin–set aflame right as Sally starts getting too close to the truth. Can Sally catch the killer before she’s burnt to a crisp, or will the case grow as cold as yesterday’s leftovers?

Carol Thorsness

“Big Island Ohana,” by Carol Thorsness. Photo Courtesy

Carol Thorsness is a retired middle school teacher who enjoys writing, working on home projects, playing bridge, gardening, and enjoying her beautiful granddaughters. She lives in northern California and Kailua-Kona. This is her second novel.

“Big Island ‘Ohana” is subtitled “An Unintended Romance” because the main character, Megan, has no intentions of getting a divorce, of moving to Hawai‘i, of buying an enormous house, of renting out rooms, or of falling in love with one of her housemates.

Megan, a high school English teacher, and her 9-year-old daughter move to the Big Island after her “surprise’ divorce. She intends to rent a sensible townhouse, but instead ends up purchasing a house on the hill that is too big, has chartreuse walls, “rough plumbing” and a magnificent view.

The book begins in July with Megan attempting to deal with a somewhat unexpected $3296.45 property tax bill. She decides to rent out a room in her home. After placing an ad on Craigslist and screening out the wackos, she ends up with Peter, a young Filipino gardener, who loves to cook, but hates to garden, and Dan, a contractor who is arrogant, annoying and very good looking, as her new housemates.

“Big Island ‘Ohana” is a great, fun read to teachers, retired teachers, tilers, plumbers, painters, do-it-yourselfers and anyone who loves the Big Island.

George John Douvis

“Crossing More Karma Zones,” by George Douvis. Photo Courtesy

In this exciting, inspirational sequel to “Crossing Karma Zones,” author George Douvris shares how his personal quest expands to include his wife and children, becoming a family odyssey to find a new homeland.

When George and his wife decide to take his aging mother back to her ancestral village in Greece, they understand they’ll need to adapt to unfamiliar customs, interact with new people and work diligently to follow their children’s correspondence-based educational regimen.

But grasping an idea and living it are two very different things.

The Douvris clan chooses to embrace every opportunity to explore the countries around them, including Bulgaria, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Czech Republic. And when, after eight years in Greece, George’s one-hundred-year-old mother passes away, the family packs up once again, continuing their mission to find “home.”

Over the next several years, the Douvris’ visit India, Thailand, Bali, and Fiji; live in New Zealand and Australia; and finally, end in Hawai‘i, where they began.

Through it all, George and his family seek and find bliss by learning how to be citizens of the world, living with open hearts, treasuring each moment, and respecting and valuing each other’s hopes and dreams.

The only son of Greek immigrants, George John Douvris grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was in high school when the counterculture movements of the 1960s brought changes that no one could have imagined, and he was eagerly swept up in the political and cultural upheaval.

The event starts at 6 p.m. with an informal meet and greet merging into a more formal book presentation from each author and concluding around 8 p.m. after a Q&A session.

Dress is casual aloha wear.

Kona Stories is located in the Keauhou Shopping Center, for more information call Brenda or Joy at 808-324-0350.

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Words and Wine Event on March 7