While Eric Redman’s Bones of Hilo is a police procedural, it’s actually a novel that highlights the history and culture of Hawaii, and the opposition to ongoing development. All of those points can be covered in the mystery because the young, inexperienced police detective, Kawika Wong, knows very little about Hawaii’s background.

When the division chief on the Big Island requests a “Real Hawaiian” for a murder investigation, Captain Tanaka sends his protege, Kawika Wong. But Kawika only spent summers in Hawaii. He lived with his mother in Seattle for most of the year. And, he joined the police department in Seattle until he made headlines for his fumbled handling of a case. Captain Tanaka gave Kawika a position on the police force as a favor for his old fishing buddy, Jarvis Wong, Kawika’s father.

A journalist who lives at the Mauna Lani resort saw a body on the first tee, and reported it. The victim is Ralph Fortunato, a controversial resort developer, who was stabbed through the heart with an old Hawaiian spear. The police expect that Kawika will understand the cultural implications and the political issues of Hawaiian opposition to development. Wong isn’t familiar with the politics, so he turns to the journalist, who becomes his lover. For cultural background, he reaches out to a PhD candidate, his girlfriend. And, then the ethical young man spends time dithering about his choices and his morals.

That’s time he should be spending on the case, and he misses several important phone calls. First, Kawika becomes the target of a PR campaign, then of an assassin. After he’s injured, he’s sent to Seattle for his own safety, but it’s there that he tracks down the victim’s history. Ralph Fortunato was a scoundrel, a cheat, and a murderer, who left grievances behind in Washington state.

Kawika Wong really isn’t up to this investigation. The young man became a police officer because he grew up on detective stories, and he tries to see himself in them. His greatest flaw, though, is his distaste for loose ends. Captain Tanaka looks out for Kawika, but tells him it isn’t always possible to know why something happened. Just find the solution. That doesn’t always work for Kawika Wong.

While Kawika Wong is a likable detective, the mystery itself almost becomes background for the setting and story of Hawaii’s history. Redman enjoys telling those stories, and includes maps to ground the reader. If you try, and enjoy, Bones of Hilo for the setting, you might also want to try Naomi Hirahara’s Iced in Paradise.

Eric Redman’s website is https://ericredmanwriting.com/

Bones of Hilo by Eric Redman. Crooked Lane Books, 2021. ISBN 9781643857022 (hardcover), 336p.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received a .PDF to review for a journal.