$12.99
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Wednesday, May 15 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
In Stock
$$12.99 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$12.99
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Dorothy Dunnett
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Tropical Issue (A Dolly Mystery) Paperback – April 28, 2023

by Dorothy Dunnett (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 109 ratings
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$12.99","priceAmount":12.99,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"12","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"99","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"drKjfVh%2Bkfv164cHF0CTuuvCnf3tB1EXyp8q7Kxjq1pt6drRWFAjKA9r9WNHGopyWXZJpiYaTPeZ4%2BnSrmctaeXeS7G6a%2Btc8MoH%2BYYWaJdlsZvhJLO3aneog6Up0MU7PUG6Q%2FVbYZqZUa2dntwerw%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

Rita, a small, tough Scottish make-up artist is on Madeira trying to find out who killed Kim-Jim, an American make-up supremo. Also anchored off the island is Dolly, the yacht of Johnson Johnson with whom Rita teams up to get to the bottom of this foul deed.

Rita’s fighting spirits are aroused despite her danger. She is not one for quitting, even when she learns she is caught up in an international drug-smuggling ring.

But she also discovers that dealing with the maddeningly enigmatic Johnson Johnson is, by no stretch of the imagination, plain sailing.

Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Book 1 of 7
    A Dolly Mystery
  2. Print length
    352 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publication date
    April 28, 2023
  5. Dimensions
    5.08 x 0.88 x 7.8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1788424093
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1788424097
  8. See all details
Next page
The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Frequently bought together

Tropical Issue (A Dolly Mystery)
$12.99
Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 15
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
Rum Affair (A Dolly Mystery)
$12.99
Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 15
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
Ibiza Surprise (A Dolly Mystery)
$12.99
Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 15
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Choose items to buy together.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Farrago (April 28, 2023)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1788424093
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1788424097
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.08 x 0.88 x 7.8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 109 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Dorothy Dunnett

Dorothy Dunnett

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

DOROTHY DUNNETT was born in Dunfermline, Scotland. She is the author of the Francis Crawford of Lymond novels; the House of Niccolò novels; seven mysteries; King Hereafter, an epic novel about Macbeth; and the text of The Scottish Highlands, a book of photographs by David Paterson, on which she collaborated with her husband, Sir Alastair Dunnett. In 1992 she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to literature. Lady Dunnett died in 2001.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
109 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Mary W. Matthews
5.0 out of 5 stars One of Dunnett's best novels!
Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2022
Verified Purchase
Although this is Dunnett's sixth book about Johnson Johnson, it is the first one I read, and if you are new to Johnson Johnson, I recommend that you read it first too. It provides valuable background information for the other books — most of which are stand-alone — and its heroine, Rita, is my favorite Dunnett protagonist. (Lymond is a close second, but, like Niccolò, he's a little on the hypercompetent side.)
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Laura Baughman
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent
Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2013
Verified Purchase
Glad the Johnson Johnson books are now available on Kindle. I read them when they first came out and was glad to find them again. Great reads.
Helpful
 Report
D.Banat
4.0 out of 5 stars Good read
Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2013
Verified Purchase
She writes complicated plots with many characters, but I enjoy them all. I read this one twice, once right after the other.
Helpful
 Report
Dunnett fan
5.0 out of 5 stars Won't disappoint
Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2014
Verified Purchase
This book lives up to the Dorothy Dunnett standard and introduces a new character to the series. Her settings are wonderful!
Helpful
 Report
Lynn Latimer
5.0 out of 5 stars Stands the Test of Time, Quirky and Fun
Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2023
4.5 STARS

Scottish makeup artist Rita Geddes is a tough little cookie who gets roped into some murder and mayhem by her mentor, Kim-Jim, an American famous in her field. She ends up at a London apartment helping the oddly named Johnson Johnson, a portrait artist who is recovering from some devasting injuries. Rita makes a lot of initial assumptions about Jay, as his friends and associates call him, some of which are wrong or misguided. Rita’s main work is in movies, but she also takes on rich clients who need their make-up done to perfection for social and business events. When Rita goes to Madeira with her client, Natalie Sheridan, who has a close connection to Kim-Jim, she is surprised that Johnson is there on his very well-appointed yacht called Dolly.

Rita experiences quite a bit on the island including the loss of someone dear; she is determined to track down the perpetrator with the help, although grudgingly on her part, of Johnson who seems to know everyone and has some mysterious talents and connections. After Madeira, Rita and Johnson end up in the Caribbean connected to a project of Natalie’s while they to continue efforts for Rita’s crusade, and to uncover a linked plot that involves drug smuggling and other perfidious activities.

As usual with Lady Dunnett’s complex writing, this story has a lot of perplexing clues that are slowly revealed through Rita’s first-person point of view. As someone with dyslexia, Rita has several coping strategies for dealing with the written word as well as taking messages, some of which would seem anachronistic now but are period appropriate. Rita sports an unusual style, especially for the time period, of “punk” multicolored hair and the propensity to paint stripes her face, apparently to a make-up artist that makes sense. She keeps Johnson on his toes which considering some recent events in his life, is a good thing as well as being entertaining to read.

Fans of the other Dorothy Dunnett works will be interested to note that while this series is not a version of a light-hearted Lymond or a machinating Niccolò, Johnson certainly has their intelligence, acerbic wit, and enigmatic personality. There are a lot of big and surprising reveals at the end which may cause readers to read it again to see if it is possible to figure out the clues. This book was originally published last of the Dolly tales; however, with the re-issue listed as the first in the series, it serves as a sort of prequel giving salient facts about Johnson and contextual information for the other books.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Gambytt
5.0 out of 5 stars Dunnett's Johnson Johnson mysteries
Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2012
This is the Johnson Johnson mystery, out of the series, that most of my other Dunnett friends refer to. Often. It is also a great travelog, which in my mind is always a wonderful thing.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
fanmystery
4.0 out of 5 stars An engaging exciting mystery with zany characters.
Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2023
Rita Geddes is asked by her photographer friend Ferdy to do the makeup for a photo shoot for Natalie Sheridan. He will be doing the shoot at Johnson Johnson's apartment. Johnson Johnson has recently been in a plane accident and is in bed in his room. Natalie likes Rita's work, and asks her to go to Madeira because Jim-Kim, her make up artist and the man who trained Rita, is taking time off.

On Madeira, Rita is beaten by the man who drives her to Natalie's (she catches a look at his cuff link which she later finds out is the icon for a banana company. The man has a prominent position, but something is seriously wrong with him! When Jim-Kim is found dead in the house, Rita is pretty sure he has been murdered. Rita wants to find who is responsible. Natalie and Rita fly to Martinique, and run into Johnson Johnson. Soon, Rita realizes she is involved in solving a drug case, and Johnson Johnson and his men and boat Dolly are also involved. Ferdy arrives to join the group, and Jim-Kim's family arrive in a huge boat. Can Rita and Johnson Johnson figure out who are the drug smugglers and capture them before someone else is killed?

This book is definitely very different from those in Dunnett's Lyman and Niccolo series, but it has interesting, zany characters and a lot of excitement.
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Bettym
5.0 out of 5 stars sparkling entertainment
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 26, 2024
Verified Purchase
What draws sparky Scottish make-up artist to the flat f a convalescent portrait painter and then to adventures in Madeira and the West Indies? Written with all of Dunnett’s skill and wit, you will have an exciting ride into a hurricane before all becomes clear. The first in a series, all of which are well worth reading!
Report
N. Peterson
5.0 out of 5 stars the first and maybe the best of the Dolly books.
Reviewed in Australia on November 21, 2023
Verified Purchase
I’ve read a couple of others from my bookshelf when they were called “Dolly and the Cookie Bird”, Dolly and the Nanny Bird” etc. This best because there is more of Johnson to provide glimpses into understanding who he is. The ordinal titles were 1960-70s, in US women were chicks and in UK we were birds. Dinner was attacking the diminishment of women by created strong, intelligent young women. No idea why Johnson was necessary unless publishers wanted the traditional male in charge of it all. The bifocals become both annoying and puzzling. What is the big deal about bifocals. They do not obscure or reflect light any more than single lenses spectacles. They seem to be an attempt to make Johnson even less a real relatable personality.
Report
TinaT
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely love the Johnson Johnson series so glad I could get ...
Reviewed in Canada on September 2, 2016
Verified Purchase
Absolutely love the Johnson Johnson series so glad I could get a hold of these older additions that I missed.
Report
CorinB
5.0 out of 5 stars Mystery and intrigue in the Caribbean
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 9, 2023
Verified Purchase
As a huge fan of DD and in particular the Lymond Chronicles, I dove into Tropical Issue, the first of the Dolly series, knowing I would enjoy it. I wasn’t disappointed - written with all the wit and charm to be expected from the author, plus a cast of excellent characters and a twisty plot that keeps the reader guessing until the end, this book is a breath of fresh air. So much fun and a total page turner, it’s ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ from this reader.
Now…where is book two?
Report
Bob, Fareham.
4.0 out of 5 stars Historical novelist also writes a good detective story.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 23, 2012
Verified Purchase
Having enjoyed Dunnett's historical novels for many years, I was surprised to find (through Amazon listings) that she also writes detective fiction. This is my first "read" of her dectective stories and it won't be the last, I shall be loading more through Kindle !
3 people found this helpful
 Report