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Neil S. Plakcy

in 2018, Fiona Cleary is a retired trauma nurse who is determined to push local politicians and businesses to strengthen their response to dire situations like hurricanes and tsunamis. As an activist, Fiona has many allies—but also many adversaries. Politicians don’t like to be criticized, and businessmen don’t want to be pressured to spend money. When someone kills her, there are no shortage of suspects.

Because Maui detective Kailani Panui has gotten in trouble on a similar investigation in the past, she calls upon Honolulu homicide detective Kimo Kanapa'aka to fly into Lahaina and help with the investigation.

Samwise Books

Mahu Investigations

Maui Strong

A gay police detective investigates the dark corners of sunlit O'ahu

Mahu---a generally negative Hawaiian term for homosexuals---introduces a unique character to detective fiction. Kimo Kanapa'aka is a handsome, mixed-race surfer living in Honolulu, a police detective confronting his homosexuality in an atmosphere of macho bravado within the police force. A man of intelligence, strength, honesty, resourcefulness, and intense dedication to the people of Hawaii, Kimo is a hard-boiled hero you will never forget. Fast-paced, intricately plotted, thoroughly enjoyable, this is a sexy, surprisingly moving mystery about discovering oneself as much as catching a killer.

Kimo Kanapa'aka's world turns upside down in Mahu. At 32, the hero of Māhū has reached the pinnacle of his profession, detective on the Honolulu Police Department's homicide squad, based at the Waikīkī station. But a difficult murder case, as well as turmoil in his personal life, is about to threaten everything he has worked for.

A life-threatening drug bust in chapter 1 makes Kimo realize that it's time to stop lying to himself. He's drawn to the Rod and Reel Club, a gay bar in Waikīkī, where he has a couple of beers and begins the long process of accepting his attraction to other men. Leaving the club, though, he stumbles onto two men dropping a dead body in an alley, and he launches himself into a nightmare where his private life becomes public news.

Kimo's pursuit of this case takes him from the seamy underside of Chinatown to the elegance of million-dollar homes in Maunalani Heights, from gay bars where young men stride naked down runways to bloody crime scenes.

Joel Leslie

Mahu

Going undercover means lying to everyone he loves.

MAHU SURFER, the second book in my Mahu Investigations mystery series, sends gay Honolulu homicide detective Kimo Kanapa’aka back to his surfing past. His new boss asks the former competitive surfer to go undercover on Oahu’s North Shore to find the killer of three surfers. The catch: he can't tell any of his family or friends that he has returned to the force, causing him to lie, when he has just come out of the closet and begun to tell the truth about his life.

In his return to the North Shore, Kimo discovers trouble in paradise, from an epidemic rise in the use of crystal meth to increasing pressure on real estate prices. He also rekindles an uneasy friendship with a man whose sexual assault drove him into the police academy, and further into the closet, six years earlier. Readers will enjoy an exotic locale, plenty of aloha spirit and a dash of surf culture, as well as a slam-bang ending.

Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for best gay mystery. Perfect for fans of Joseph Hansen, Michael Nava, and John Morgan Wilson.

Stan Jenson

Mahu Surfer

Can Kimo work with the man who broke his heart?

Openly gay Honolulu homicide detective Kimo Kanapa’aka is faced with a new murder that comes dangerously close to his personal life.

About a year and a half has passed since the flames engulfed Waahila Ridge State Park at the end of Mahu Fire. During that time, Kimo and fire investigator Mike Riccardi dated for about six months, but with Kimo so visible, and Mike still in the closet, the pressures on them increased to the point where their relationship ended.

When a fire breaks out at a shopping center Kimo's father used to own, and a young boy is killed, they are forced to work together-- and to acknowledge that the embers of their relationship are still hot.

A lot stands in the way of their getting together once more, including Mike's identity issues, a mysterious man who knows how to exploit Kimo's sexual fantasies, and a deadly little thing called murder.

Mahu Vice

Kimo's Hawaiian heritage comes to the fore in this deadly investigation

Openly gay Honolulu homicide detective Kimo Kanapa’aka and his partner, Ray Donne, are on duty at a rally in downtown Honolulu organized by Kingdom of Hawai’i, one of many competing groups which seek reparations from the US for the loss of land and independence. An elderly woman is shot dead there, only a few feet from where Kimo’s mother and nephews are taking part in the demonstration, and Kimo and Ray take the case.

At the same time, Kimo’s dealing with domestic difficulties, having just moved in with his partner, fire investigator Mike Riccardi. Since both are alpha males, the transition to shared living space isn’t easy, especially because Mike’s parents live next door.

As Kimo and Mike struggle to adapt to living together, they begin to forge their own ohana—a Hawaiian term which means family, as well as community. The theme of ohana resonates through both Kimo’s personal life and his investigation of the murder as Kimo and Ray follow clues through a labyrinth of competing groups, uncovering a trail of gambling, money laundering, and mental illness.

The title refers both to the blood spilled in three murders, as well as the blood ties that link native Hawaiians to each other. People come together in many ways here—through native heritage and family ties as well as love and fellowship.