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Blood Code: Mahu Investigation #14: A Cutting-Edge Crime Thriller of Tech, Genetics, and Betrayal
Hawaiian secrets meet Silicon Valley ambition
When tech entrepreneur Noah Kim is found murdered outside his office in Honolulu, Detective Kimo Kanapa'aka must unravel a complex web of academic rivalries, cultural conflicts, and family secrets. Kim's startup, Kahola.ai, promised to revolutionize medical care for Pacific Islanders through artificial intelligence, but his death exposes the dark side of mixing traditional knowledge with modern technology.
As Kimo investigates, his own family life is upended when his partner Mike is injured in a fire investigation. Suddenly juggling full-time parenting of their twelve-year-old twins with his police work, Kimo finds uncomfortable parallels between the case and his own understanding of what makes someone a father. The trail leads him from the tech startup world to fertility clinics, from sacred Hawaiian traditions to the raw wilderness of Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park.
In this fourteenth Mahu Investigation, Kimo must confront questions of identity, family bonds, and the intersection of modern science with indigenous culture. When the truth finally emerges, it challenges everything he thought he knew about fatherhood, biology, and the choices we make to protect those we love.
When tech entrepreneur Noah Kim is found murdered outside his office in Honolulu, Detective Kimo Kanapa'aka must unravel a complex web of academic rivalries, cultural conflicts, and family secrets. Kim's startup, Kahola.ai, promised to revolutionize medical care for Pacific Islanders through artificial intelligence, but his death exposes the dark side of mixing traditional knowledge with modern technology.
As Kimo investigates, his own family life is upended when his partner Mike is injured in a fire investigation. Suddenly juggling full-time parenting of their twelve-year-old twins with his police work, Kimo finds uncomfortable parallels between the case and his own understanding of what makes someone a father. The trail leads him from the tech startup world to fertility clinics, from sacred Hawaiian traditions to the raw wilderness of Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park.
In this fourteenth Mahu Investigation, Kimo must confront questions of identity, family bonds, and the intersection of modern science with indigenous culture. When the truth finally emerges, it challenges everything he thought he knew about fatherhood, biology, and the choices we make to protect those we love.
- GenresMystery
280 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 2, 2025
17 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
About the author
Neil S. Plakcy
235 books650 followersI have been a voracious reader all my life, mostly in mystery, romance, and science fiction/fantasy, though a college degree in English did push a lot of literary works into my list of favorites.
Quick note: sign up for my newsletter at plakcy.substack.com to get free prologues, epilogues and short stories.
I began writing seriously in high school after an inspiring assignment with A Separate Peace by John Knowles. I didn't know I was gay then, but I knew I was longing for an emotional connection with a best friend. That desire shows up across my writing, from romance to mystery to adventure. I am lucky to have found my special person, and I want to inspire readers to make those connections, to one person or a found family.
It took getting an MFA in creative writing to kick-start my career. That's where I honed my technical skills and began to understand what kind of storyteller I am.
I remember reading Freddie the Detective about a very smart pig inspired by Sherlock Holmes. I’ve always believed that dogs make the best detectives. They notice what humans miss — a faint scent, a subtle shift in body language, the hidden treat in your pocket. That belief inspired my Golden Retriever Mysteries, where Rochester helps his human, Steve Levitan, nose out the truth.
My passion is telling stories where community, loyalty, and sometimes love solve problems just as much as clues do. Whether it’s a cozy mystery in Bucks County, a thriller on the streets of Miami, or a romance unfolding under the Mediterranean sun, I want readers to feel the heartbeat of the place and the people.
I write because stories helped me feel less alone growing up, and now I want to give readers that same feeling: a companion, a puzzle, and maybe a laugh.
When I’m not writing, I’m probably walking one of my own goldens, teaching writing, or daydreaming about my next story.
Since then I've written dozens of books, won a couple of treasured awards, and enjoyed the support of readers.
Every place I’ve lived has made its way into my fiction: the rolling hills of Bucks County, the neon heat of Miami, the beaches of Hawaii, the cobbled streets of Europe. I love exploring how communities work — from a café where dogs guide healing, to a fraternity house in South Beach, to a police unit in Honolulu.
My goal is simple: to write stories that feel grounded in real people and real places, but with enough twists, romance, or danger to keep you turning pages late into the night.
I hope you'll visit my website, where you can sign up for my occasional newsletter, and also follow my author page on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/neil.plakcy.
Quick note: sign up for my newsletter at plakcy.substack.com to get free prologues, epilogues and short stories.
I began writing seriously in high school after an inspiring assignment with A Separate Peace by John Knowles. I didn't know I was gay then, but I knew I was longing for an emotional connection with a best friend. That desire shows up across my writing, from romance to mystery to adventure. I am lucky to have found my special person, and I want to inspire readers to make those connections, to one person or a found family.
It took getting an MFA in creative writing to kick-start my career. That's where I honed my technical skills and began to understand what kind of storyteller I am.
I remember reading Freddie the Detective about a very smart pig inspired by Sherlock Holmes. I’ve always believed that dogs make the best detectives. They notice what humans miss — a faint scent, a subtle shift in body language, the hidden treat in your pocket. That belief inspired my Golden Retriever Mysteries, where Rochester helps his human, Steve Levitan, nose out the truth.
My passion is telling stories where community, loyalty, and sometimes love solve problems just as much as clues do. Whether it’s a cozy mystery in Bucks County, a thriller on the streets of Miami, or a romance unfolding under the Mediterranean sun, I want readers to feel the heartbeat of the place and the people.
I write because stories helped me feel less alone growing up, and now I want to give readers that same feeling: a companion, a puzzle, and maybe a laugh.
When I’m not writing, I’m probably walking one of my own goldens, teaching writing, or daydreaming about my next story.
Since then I've written dozens of books, won a couple of treasured awards, and enjoyed the support of readers.
Every place I’ve lived has made its way into my fiction: the rolling hills of Bucks County, the neon heat of Miami, the beaches of Hawaii, the cobbled streets of Europe. I love exploring how communities work — from a café where dogs guide healing, to a fraternity house in South Beach, to a police unit in Honolulu.
My goal is simple: to write stories that feel grounded in real people and real places, but with enough twists, romance, or danger to keep you turning pages late into the night.
I hope you'll visit my website, where you can sign up for my occasional newsletter, and also follow my author page on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/neil.plakcy.
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 2, 2025
A Joyfully Jay review.
4,5 stars
This is the 14th book in the Mahu Investigations series, but it is very much accessible for new readers to the series. As a police procedural, this is a really awesome story, one I felt completely immersed in. Having not read the previous books, I was impressed by the author’s comprehensive knowledge of Hawaiian culture, including views on outsiders from the native islanders, and how their traditions are viewed through several lenses, as expressed by his characters. His use of authentic Hawaiian language throughout the book gave me a deeper sense of Kimo and his connection to the traditions he learned as a child, and is hoping to impart to his own kids. The clear descriptions of life on Hawai’i, including surfing culture, traditional cultural education, and chain of elder respect really set me into the day-to-day mini dramas of real life for Kimo, and that authenticity of character kept me turning the pages.
This isn’t a romantic suspense, though the ending has a fairly suspenseful climax. It’s just another week in the life of Det. Kimo Kanapa’aka, and I would absolutely read more stories about him.
Read Veronica’s review in its entirety here.
4,5 stars
This is the 14th book in the Mahu Investigations series, but it is very much accessible for new readers to the series. As a police procedural, this is a really awesome story, one I felt completely immersed in. Having not read the previous books, I was impressed by the author’s comprehensive knowledge of Hawaiian culture, including views on outsiders from the native islanders, and how their traditions are viewed through several lenses, as expressed by his characters. His use of authentic Hawaiian language throughout the book gave me a deeper sense of Kimo and his connection to the traditions he learned as a child, and is hoping to impart to his own kids. The clear descriptions of life on Hawai’i, including surfing culture, traditional cultural education, and chain of elder respect really set me into the day-to-day mini dramas of real life for Kimo, and that authenticity of character kept me turning the pages.
This isn’t a romantic suspense, though the ending has a fairly suspenseful climax. It’s just another week in the life of Det. Kimo Kanapa’aka, and I would absolutely read more stories about him.
Read Veronica’s review in its entirety here.
August 17, 2025
5-Stars for Neil S. Plakcy's Blood Code, for his definition of family, and or all families everywhere.
A terrific read.
A terrific read.
June 14, 2025
Blood Code (Mahu investigations 14)
BY Neil Plakcy
Published by the author, 2025
Five stars
I have liked Neil Plakcy’s Mahu investigations for a long time, and have known Kimo Kanapa’aka since he was a young, closeted detective with the Honolulu Police Department. Now he’s a local near-celebrity with a longtime partner and twelve-year-old twins that they’re co-parenting with a lesbian power couple.
Kimo feels like family to me, and that distinctive Hawai’ian concept of extended family, “ohana,” is at the center of this fourteenth Mahu story.
It’s a fascinating book, involving the currently trendy anxieties about AI, sperm donors, and security breaches of private databases. At the center is a brutal murder of a young man that Kimo and his partner Ray have to solve. Needless to say, there is political pressure to solve it quickly.
The constant theme in the book’s narrative is not investigative practice or even the ever-present sense of ethnic identity that are core elements of Kimo’s psychological profile. It is Kimo’s role as parent, and the importance of that role in his and Mike’s shared life. Parenthood and childhood are recurring motifs, and the impact of all sorts of factors—from crime to poverty to foster care—on the welfare of children.
Plakcy’s careful use of Kimo’s deep knowledge of Hawai’i gives the reader a rich sense of place, as the characters we know from the previous books appear to add to the depth of the story as it unfolds. It feels familiar and real, and the emotions that this murder investigation engender are real, too.
Kimo and Mike could be my sons, and given that my husband (of nearly fifty years) and I adopted two children 29 years ago (one Asian, one Indigenous), a lot of this story resonates with particular depth for me. I’ve read most of Plakcy’s novels, but it is the Mahu series that I love most.
One could easily read this book as a stand-alone; but putting it in the context of the other thirteen stories just makes the experience all the richer.
BY Neil Plakcy
Published by the author, 2025
Five stars
I have liked Neil Plakcy’s Mahu investigations for a long time, and have known Kimo Kanapa’aka since he was a young, closeted detective with the Honolulu Police Department. Now he’s a local near-celebrity with a longtime partner and twelve-year-old twins that they’re co-parenting with a lesbian power couple.
Kimo feels like family to me, and that distinctive Hawai’ian concept of extended family, “ohana,” is at the center of this fourteenth Mahu story.
It’s a fascinating book, involving the currently trendy anxieties about AI, sperm donors, and security breaches of private databases. At the center is a brutal murder of a young man that Kimo and his partner Ray have to solve. Needless to say, there is political pressure to solve it quickly.
The constant theme in the book’s narrative is not investigative practice or even the ever-present sense of ethnic identity that are core elements of Kimo’s psychological profile. It is Kimo’s role as parent, and the importance of that role in his and Mike’s shared life. Parenthood and childhood are recurring motifs, and the impact of all sorts of factors—from crime to poverty to foster care—on the welfare of children.
Plakcy’s careful use of Kimo’s deep knowledge of Hawai’i gives the reader a rich sense of place, as the characters we know from the previous books appear to add to the depth of the story as it unfolds. It feels familiar and real, and the emotions that this murder investigation engender are real, too.
Kimo and Mike could be my sons, and given that my husband (of nearly fifty years) and I adopted two children 29 years ago (one Asian, one Indigenous), a lot of this story resonates with particular depth for me. I’ve read most of Plakcy’s novels, but it is the Mahu series that I love most.
One could easily read this book as a stand-alone; but putting it in the context of the other thirteen stories just makes the experience all the richer.
May 21, 2025
I've been interested in artificial intelligence for a while, particularly in the benefits it can generate for thing like medicine and health care. I wanted to use the format of the crime novel to inform readers while entertaining them.
I've also been aging Kimo and the other characters in real time, and I wanted to focus this book on fatherhood, and what it means to Kimo and Mike. I tried to weave those two elements together into a compelling mystery.
I've also been aging Kimo and the other characters in real time, and I wanted to focus this book on fatherhood, and what it means to Kimo and Mike. I tried to weave those two elements together into a compelling mystery.
June 29, 2025
Another Mahu gem
This is the 14th Mahu book. I have read every one. I am constantly amazed and impressed that each story seems so fresh, while the cast of characters is so familiar. Another wonderful Mahu story.
This is the 14th Mahu book. I have read every one. I am constantly amazed and impressed that each story seems so fresh, while the cast of characters is so familiar. Another wonderful Mahu story.
August 4, 2025
This has been one of Kimo's better investigative procedurals in recent years. I especially appreciate the parent-child dynamics between our MCs and their biological keikis.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews