The Surfing Detective Mysteries

A slim volume from Island Heritage Publishing, Murder on Molokai has Hawaiian Private Investigator Kai Cooke looking into the suspicious death of an environmental activist. Kai is a surfer and has an emotional, almost spiritual connection to the sun-soaked, wave-washed Hawaiian Islands. The first-person narration appeals to all five senses:

Describing his first glimpse of Molokai, the tiny island on which the environmental activist died: “Sloping plateaus painted the west in cocoa brown and rust red; sheer sea cliffs in the east soared in moss green.”
Awakening on Molokai itself the next day: ‘“Errr-errr-errooooo! Err-errooooooooo!”A rooster strutting the grounds of the ‘Ukulele Inn jolted me awake the next morning before dawn.’
Describing the lei-filled floral shop above which his office is located: “The ginger’s sweet, pungent odor raised the hair on the back of my neck.”
Narrating the long hike to the spot where his client’s sister died: “We hiked through the first few canopied switchbacks, nearly every turn bringing breathtaking views of the wave-pounded peninsula. In the open stretches, the sweltering sun beat down, but to our great advantage: No rain-slick boulders or gooey red mud to challenge our footing today.”
Describing the drinks over which he reports to his client: “They even tasted like milk shakes, with a coconut and pineapple sweetness that masked double shots of vodka.”

The plot could use a few more twists and turns, but the characters are interesting, and the glimpses of setting are well-done. This book is worth reading to get yourself in an island frame of mind. (It’s the first in a series, and the only one I’ve read thus far.)

Great Book - Great Character!!, June 1, 2006
Reviewer: Horror writer from TN (Morristown, Tennessee United States)
- See all my reviews

I read this book while vacationing on the island of O'ahu, and I
simply could not put it down. This is one mystery that kept me
turning pages until I was finished, and the character of "The Surfing
Detective", Kai Cooke, is a great one. While making this character
totally unique, Chip Hughes has taken some of the better attributes
of some of our most beloved detectives and given them to Kai Cooke.
If you can picture Magnum, P.I. with a touch of a Dashiell Hammett or
Raymond Chandler, you would have Kai Cooke. I thoroughly urge you to
give this author and this story an opportunity to impress you as I
was impressed. You will finish the story with a 'Mahalo' to Chip for
one fine story! I cannot wait until further volumes about the surfing
detective become available.

Excellent book, amazing imagery and captivating all the way through. It's not excessivly long and drawn out.

Gripping story with surprising plot twists, September 29, 2005
Reviewer: K Nguyen

Murder on Molokai is a thouroughly enjoyable read. This murder mystery novel grabs your attention from the first page and the surprising plot twists keep you on your toes.

Entertaining and informative for Hawaii fans, May 15, 2005
Reviewer: N. H. Stevens (Upstate NYS)

Chip Hughes writes a very entertaining murder mystery. He also refers to many places and people on Oahu and Molokai that will pleasantly jog the memories of those who have visited there, and make those who haven't visited there want to.

Chip Hughes'novel is intelligently and sometimes beautifully written, and he's created a detective, Kai Cooke, that readers will want to read about again and again.
Reviewer: Linda W. Page (Philadelphia, PA)

Cooke is adventurous but wise enough to know his limitations, sexy but down to earth. He's the "surfing detective" who can make jokes about Magnum and Hawaii Five O. The case Cooke is working on, solving the death of an environmental activist on the island of Molokia, keeps the reader guessing "who done it" without obscuring the chase unduly or suddenly including the one needed clue.

Hughes also has done the near impossible--presenting the Hawaiian islands clearly and vividly to those who haven't yet had the pleasure of visiting them while pleasing island residents with his deft handling of a wide range of locals and their vernacular. Cooke shifts expertly between "standard" English and local "pidgin" as needed as he interviews heiresses and doctors, mule ranglers and bartenders. The characters are well drawn and appealing, especially that mule rangler.

Hughes clearly likes his detective, and readers will as well (Let's hope Cooke's next adventure is in print soon!) And Hughes obviously also knows and appreciates the islands, including the "mango-tinted water" of Lanai, the aroma of the lei shop below his office, the sheer cliffs of Molokai, and the pounding surf breaks of Wakiki (yes, Cooke really does surf).

What could be better than an armchair tour of the islands and a handsome, tanned detective solving the latest case?! "Murder on Molokai" is a good read.

Midwest Haole loves Surfing Detective story
Reviewer:Walter Nugent, Chesterton, IN

Kai, the surfing detective from Honolulu, takes on a mysterious murder on Molokai, the one-time leper island, brought him by a sophisticated and beautiful client. To solve it, author Chip Hughes takes us through the islands in an ever-intensifying series of events to an explosive (and satisfying) conclusion. There's a touch of Raymond Chandler in the book, but Hughes has created his own original, and captivating, hero and style. For a reader like me, shivering in the Chicago winter, it's a warm and exotic read.

Chip Hughes has written a murder mystery which truly captures the feel of the Hawaiian Islands. Despite the title, the action in this novel takes place on three different islands. As a life long resident of Hawaii, I can say with some authority that Mr. Hughes' descriptions of various island locations and his use of pidgin English is spot on. So much so that I found myself looking at the second floor windows above various lei stands on Maunakea Street imagining where the Surfing Detective might have his office. By the way, it's also an excellent murder mystery.

Unique location, plot and characters make this an exciting read! The pidgin dialect gives a rare touch of Hawaiian life. Chip Hughes is reminiscent of Tony Hillerman in his incorporation of mystery and culture. Hope this is only the first of a series of "Surfing Detective" novels.

The detective mystery is perhaps the most clichéd genre of all and anything set in Hawaii will bear the stale odor of Magnum PI. With that in mind, I was looking for a reason to dislike this book, but I failed. ‘Murder on Molokai’ works very well thanks to a clever plot, a quick pace, and its island-hopping sweep . . . . Books that bring together Hawaii’s various ethnic elements often either veer into stereotype or the characters sound forced. But the characters in this book and their relationships seemed believable.

Wipeout! will grasp you from the very beginning. No details have been overlooked. The characters, the events are woven together in an inextricable mystery that unfolds slowly, and it is not until the very end that you realize what has taken place. There is really no second guessing the author. Many times when you are expecting one thing to happen, the opposite occurs.

I am a big-wave surfing legend who lived thirty years adjacent to the famous Pipeline break, having the experience of nearly losing my home on a number of occasions to the huge waves that sweep the beach during winter months. I have wiped out at Waimea and all the other big-wave breaks on O‘ahu. I passed into the other world on a wipeout, but it was not my time to lose my life. I feel deeply what Chip writes and describes.

As I was reading, I totally became a part of the narrative. The scenes out at Waimea Bay happen similarly. The people who live on the North Shore are depicted in a real fashion. I have lost friends to the Waimea ferociousness--closest to me was Mark Foo, who handled Waimea beautifully but lost his life at Mavericks.

Chip was able to fully wrap me into the story by this authenticity of description. I could feel the dry throat, the anxiety of waiting for a closeout set on the horizon, the flushed face, being caught in the riptide and washed seaward after losing your board.

The relationship you feel between the board and yourself is an important part of surfing and Chip caught that, nearly making the board seem like a friend or an extension of body and mind.
Whether you’re a surfer, a mystery lover, or both, Wipeout! is a read I think you will enjoy.