Bones of Hilo

By: Eric Redman

Narrated by: Kurt Kanazawa

A young, inexperienced detective from the wet, working-class side of Hawaii's Big Island, Kawika Wong faces an uphill battle to gain the respect of his more seasoned colleagues. And he has the chance of a lifetime when Ralph Fortunato, the Mainland developer of an unpopular resort on the island's tourist side, is found murdered on a luxury golf course, an ancient Hawaiian spear driven through his heart.

With the other detectives desperately trying to solve another string of grisly killings, Captain Terry Tanaka has no choice but to send Kawika to investigate. As Kawika joins forces with his father and girlfriend to help read the signs and make sense of the ritualistic murder scene, they uncover a cache of secrets reaching far back to the Island's ancient past. And the journalist who found the body has her own theories about Fortunato's demise - but do they line up with the evidence?

On a perilous journey that stretches from the Big Island to Washington State and back, Kawika finds danger at every turn. But he still has much to learn about Hawaii, and about the rugged terrain of the North Cascades. And he'd better learn it fast, because his instincts may not be enough to catch a killer who's closing in even faster.

©2021 Eric Redman (P)2021 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Better in print

artifact, family-dynamics, fraud, friendship, framed, fanatics, Hawaii, historical-places-events, historical-research, historical-setting, history-and-culture, law-enforcement, linguistics, murder, murder-investigation, relationship-issues, Washington state*****

Detective Kawika Wong has a Hawaii cop for a father and a mother from Washington state married to a judge, which meant that he spent his school years on the mainland and summers in Hawaii. And he loves the old school mystery detectives and Poe. The imagery is to die for (sorry) but some of the gore and minimal erotica is disquieting. But the exceptional and quite realistic characters as well as the plot make it all to the good. I was riveted despite the length! I geek history and this one is just full of well researched cultural and social history with a side order of the linguistics of the islands' language. I came for the mystery (and Hawaii) but stayed for the mystery, characters, history, and some intangibles.
I requested and received a free temporary copy from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. Thank you!
That was at the end of January so I hurried to pre-order to get the pronunciations right. Didn't work out that way.

A great read - full of action

Bones of Hilo was a ton of fun with a plot that accelerates as it goes along. It is full of twists and turns and conflicted characters. I especially loved the Hawaiian history blended in with the story

Complex mystery

The story begins with a bang and remains fast paced from there. The characters continue true to themselves throughout which made for a surprisingly personal flavor, especially for a mystery novel. There are fascinating quotes from prior mystery genre writers. And I loved all of the Hawaiian history, well woven into the story. We can now hope to follow future Kawika investigations and yes, complications of his love life.