I’ve started a new mystery series, this one set in Hawai’i by author Neil Plakcy (yes, Grammerly, I spelled it correctly–I double-checked).
Mahu is the Hawaiian word for homosexual, and Kimo Kanapa’aka happens to be one. He’s a detective and deep in the closet, however, when the story begins with a failed drug bust. Someone has tipped off their targets and the whole thing goes sour. Kimo stops by the gay bar near his house for a beer and a bit of guilty voyeurism. He leaves when a guy propositions him, though–just in time to see someone dragging something behind the building. When the other person speeds away in a dark car, Kimo investigates and discovers he was dragging the dead body of the bar’s owner.
Throughout the story, Kimo is forced to deal with long-buried feelings and eventually, he is outed on the local tabloid-TV show, run by one of his two older brothers no less. He ends up suspended, where he really has to think about things. Being a cop, though, Kimo can’t just drop the case without following up on a lead that comes his way while on suspension. He has a moral obligation to solve the murder and solve it he will. This is the first in a nice, long series and I’m promised a steady lover for Kimo, which will be nice. I really enjoyed the first book and am looking forward to the rest.
If you like exotic locations with your mysteries, as well as quirky families and friends, surfing, and edge-of-your-seat tension as your hero tracks down the bad guys, you should give the Mahu series a try. If you don’t like gays, what the hell are you doing on my website anyway? Have you even read my stories?