Kona Winds

Kona Winds is a hard-boiled noir murder mystery set in Honolulu in 1953, when Hawaii was changing from a racially stratified, near-feudal plantation colony to the multi-ethnic 50th State. This debut novel by Japanese-American author Scott Kikkawa was written with the firm belief that Hawaii is more than a pretty backdrop for the mischief of tourists: it can be, and was, a terrifying, sodden place where social realities were ugly not so long ago, and continue in some respect to go unresolved. In addition, the novel provides a glimpse into the police work of postwar Honolulu, which has been rarely written in this way before.

Honolulu Police Department Detective Sergeant Frankie “The Sheik” Yoshikawa, a Nisei veteran of World War II, is assigned to a case of a young local Japanese woman whose body was found in Honolulu Harbor. His investigation uncovers dark motives tied to a recent dock and sugar strike and a forbidden relationship between the scion of a prominent kamaaina haole family and a young woman from a growing immigrant community. Hindered by limitations of race and class, haunted by the specter of his combat experiences in Europe and his resulting dependence on alcohol, Yoshikawa nonetheless resolves to bring the case to a successful conclusion.

Scott Kikkawa is a product of Hawaii Kai in East Honolulu. The New York University alumnus is currently a Federal law enforcement officer and lives with his family in Honolulu. Kona Winds is his first full-length novel.