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Book Cover for: Kona Winds, Scott Kikkawa

Kona Winds

Scott Kikkawa

Francis Hideyuki Yoshikawa, a Nisei veteran and homicide detective with the Honolulu Police Department, tries to keep the war behind him and a glass of whiskey in front of him. It's the summer of 1953, and a young Japanese woman is found dead in Honolulu Harbor--the kind of case that could kill Frank's career, with pressure from the top to leave it alone and let the investigation sink.

A twisted trail of clues takes him through old money, political secrets, and the fallout from a bitter dock and sugar strike. From smoky bars to mansion-lined hills, and from union halls to club halls, Frank uncovers a forbidden romance, an influential kamaʻāina haole family desperate to protect its name and legacy, and the hidden levers of privilege that hold the class divide in place.

In a city where the struggle between labor and power threatens to pull everything under, Frank finds himself weighted by a past he can't wash down. The deeper he dives into the case, the darker it gets--and somebody's hoping he won't resurface.

If you like moody, character-driven noir with a historical lens, Kona Winds delivers a layered mystery shaped by race, class, and silence in postwar Hawai'i.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Bamboo Ridge Press
  • Publish Date: Jan 16th, 2020
  • Pages: 288
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.90in - 6.00in - 0.70in - 0.85lb
  • EAN: 9781943756025
  • Categories: Mystery & Detective - Hard-BoiledAsian American & Pacific Islander

About the Author

Kikkawa, Scott: -

A product of Hawai'i Kai in East Honolulu, Scott Kikkawa writes noir detective stories set in postwar Hawai'i, featuring 442nd veteran Nisei Detective Sergeant Francis "Sheik" Yoshikawa. His critically acclaimed debut murder mystery, Kona Winds (Bamboo Ridge Press), was released at the end of 2019 and spent six months on the Small Press Distribution Fiction Bestsellers List. Red Dirt, his second full-length novel, was published two years later. Both were featured in HONOLULU Magazine's list of "Essential Hawai'i Books You Should Read." His third novel Char Siu came out in 2023.

Winner of an Elliot Cades Award for Literature and honored with a selection for one of the "Other Distinguished Stories of 2021" in the 2022 Best American Mystery and Suspense anthology, the New York University alumnus is currently a federal law enforcement officer and lives with his family in Honolulu. He serves as a columnist and an Associate Editor for The Hawai'i Review of Books.