A friend of mine recommended a mystery series with a golden retriever. I’m not a huge fan of doggie books, but I checked the author out and noticed he also had a series set in Hawaii – one of my favorite states!
Mahu is the Hawaiian word for a homosexual, and Kimo Kanapa’aka is one. He’s also a police detective. Those two categories don’t mix well in Kimo’s mind, so he’s never come out to anyone on the force. Then, when leaving a gay bar, he witnesses a body dump. Terrified of being found out, he calls in the crime without leaving his name–forgetting he checked the pulse of the body before dialing 9-1-1 at the payphone, thus leaving a fingerprint for the forensics team.
The author, Neil Plakcy (yes, I spelled it correctly), does Hawaii right: just enough of the unique culture and language to be informative, without being touristy. He also doesn’t dwell on the police procedural parts of the book, so it’s not Aloha-CSI. Kimo is a complicated man with a complicated life, and Plakcy keeps us on the edge of our seats wondering what he’s going to do next.
After being outed on the local expose-TV (run by his older brother!), Kimo must face some hard choices. Chief among these is whether or not he’s going to be allowed to keep his job. His boss is a notorious homophobe, as is most of the department. Then, there’s that matter of not calling in the crime properly… What’s a gay guy to do?
Neil Plakcy writes about the gay life convincingly, but without getting sappy or preachy. I’m enjoying the series (on Book 6 already) and looking forward to seeing what’s in Kimo’s future. There’s also a couple of anthologies about the character — one is mystery stories and the other is erotica. The latter is called Mahu Men in case you want to head right over (or avoid it entirely). I haven’t read that one (yet)…
