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Kona Winds
Fiction. Asian & Asian American Studies. KONA WINDS is a hard-boiled noir murder mystery set in Honolulu in 1953, when Hawai'i was changing from a racially stratified, near-feudal plantation colony to the multi-ethnic 50th State. This debut novel by Japanese American author Scott Kikkawa was written with the firm belief that Hawai'i is more than just a pretty backdrop for the mischief of tourists. It can be, and was, a terrifying, sodden place whose social realities were ugly not so long ago and continue in some respect to go unresolved. In addition, the novel provides a glimpse into the police work of postwar Honolulu, which has been rarely written in this way before.
288 pages, Paperback
Published January 16, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
December 23, 2019
Enjoyed this publication by Scott Kikkawa. Am wondering if he is related to my classmate, Jeanne Kikkawa. A murder mystery written from the point of view from a Japanese detective in post WWII Honolulu. The writer includes Japanese and Hawaiian adages in painting the story. He spends a lot of time on lyrical description and I suspect he may be a poet. The story itself gives a view of the many levels of the Hawaiian society from the moneyed to the moneyless. The double twist at the end will make you say, "What??" Naruhodo...ahhh, I understand.
October 15, 2024
I really couldn't put this down - I've been wanting something plot-driven yet still thoughtful and reflective. it was so cool to read something written in the historical. context of my hometown - the labor unions and their strikes, the relationships between different ethnic groups, wealth, corruption, etc.
Even just reading the mentions of street names and neighborhoods I know was cool. local literature is cool
Even just reading the mentions of street names and neighborhoods I know was cool. local literature is cool
May 24, 2021
Took a bit to get into it but once I did it was a very enjoyable read. It’s not your typical murder mystery and I love Kikkawa’s writing style. His descriptions were sometimes hilarious. Here’s one example......
“His scraggly hair was yellow-gray like thecrotch of an unwashed dog”
Will be reading more of his books for sure.
“His scraggly hair was yellow-gray like thecrotch of an unwashed dog”
Will be reading more of his books for sure.
July 22, 2023
Hard-boiled detective fiction set in pre-statehood Hawaii.
Kikkawa, who is himself about 20 years removed from the time period, brings territorial Honolulu To Life through lots of lots of specific local details. Anyone interested in this time period will be interested in reading this book.
I had just finished watching the noir episode of "After Party" Season 2 (Ep3) when I opened up Kona Winds, so I was open to the borderline camp of this genre.
The details are just so good though, I was completely pulled in.
The novel features a never-ending cast of characters, each of whom could be involved in the murder in some way, a surprise ending, and then an--Oh my!--even more surprising twist and a pile of dead bodies at the end.
Undergirding the book are Hawaii's class and race issues that persist today. True to the time period, the characters use dated terminology like "Oriental" and "Jap" which are a little cringe-worthy but unfortunately historically accurate. Similarly, true to the hard-boiled form, every female character is a tall glass of something, but wait for the ending!
Kikkawa, who is himself about 20 years removed from the time period, brings territorial Honolulu To Life through lots of lots of specific local details. Anyone interested in this time period will be interested in reading this book.
I had just finished watching the noir episode of "After Party" Season 2 (Ep3) when I opened up Kona Winds, so I was open to the borderline camp of this genre.
The details are just so good though, I was completely pulled in.
The novel features a never-ending cast of characters, each of whom could be involved in the murder in some way, a surprise ending, and then an--Oh my!--even more surprising twist and a pile of dead bodies at the end.
Undergirding the book are Hawaii's class and race issues that persist today. True to the time period, the characters use dated terminology like "Oriental" and "Jap" which are a little cringe-worthy but unfortunately historically accurate. Similarly, true to the hard-boiled form, every female character is a tall glass of something, but wait for the ending!
June 4, 2025
Randomly found this book hidden in a stack of books in Brooklyn and I really really enjoyed this one; felt catered towards my tastes in an insane way. It’s a pulp detective novel set in Hawaii prior to statehood. It’s got a vivid imagery of the island in the 50’s sprinkled in with the use of pidgin and Hawaiian. It captures a lot of aspects of the island I love, so you read it with a sense of nostalgia, all while you’re desperately trying to figure out who murdered a local girl and why. 10/10.
December 11, 2021
Scott Kikkawa's debut novel will get its hooks into you within the first ten pages and never let you go. It is a tribute to detective noir set in Honolulu, Hawaii in the 1950s, just before statehood. While the pacing and dialogue read as detective noir, there are some welcome updates to the genre here. Kikkawa's protagonist is the Japanese-American hero of the 442nd Regimental Combat team, Francis "Frankie" Yoshikawa, who brings his experience with World War II in Europe, an erudite education, and being Japanese in 1950s America to bear on solving a grisly murder. Kikkawa's writing is excellent. The book is a roller-coaster ride, and the cast of characters is as diverse and interesting as anything you can find anywhere. Kikkawa turns over stereotypes faster than Frankie burns through cigarettes. If you want to see a Hawaii that tourists don't see, this book will give you the view you're looking for.
July 24, 2025
Firmly noir, this surprising (to me) tale of Detective Frankie Yoshikawa of Honolulu in the 1950s was far more entertaining and intriguing than I first gave it credit for (perhaps because I'm not not who is naturally going for noir). First, this novel is historically interesting (Kikawa did his research) as Frankie explains his own past and the Honolulu enclaves and plantation camps of the previous two decades; Frankie signed up to fight in World War II while his father perished under incarceration because he taught Japanese calligraphy and Frankie carries survivor's guilt when so many of his friends died and lost limbs. Under the G.I. Bill, he studied at Columbia and became obsessed with Dante's Inferno, which he constantly references as he goes through his case. Currently, he rose through the HPD ranks quickly to become a detective in Homicide. The case this book centers around is the death of his old high school sweetheart, a young Japanese girl drowned off the pier.
The novel dives into both the racial and class politics of the time, which brings the book to another level. Frankie is the only Japanese homicide detective on the force, which puts him in a unique position, but often has to work with a haole partner who can question and get into places that Japanese aren't allowed, such as golf country clubs. Frankie's sister and the case itself is also hugely involved in labor union politics--class unites many of the characters in the novel, as even Frankie's haole partner is likeable because he is class conscious, and not one of the landed, missionary descended haole elite of the islands. McCarthyism, the fear of communism, as well as the rise of labor unions and the largely Japanese Democratic party rise of the 1950s also lurks in the background of this case. Frankie's love interest meets him precisely because she wants to report on the dashing Japanese detective who is willing to investigate an Asian woman's death--someone's death that many of the elite could care less about.
Frankie gets into a lot of action, but as noir heroes go, he is not without faults. He's a typical detective, constantly smoking, but he's also addicted to alcohol, in part a symptom of PTSD from the war. Frankie's experience, however, shows that as usual, it's about who you are and who you know in Hawai'i. Highly recommend this to anyone interested in seeing a different side of Honolulu.
The novel dives into both the racial and class politics of the time, which brings the book to another level. Frankie is the only Japanese homicide detective on the force, which puts him in a unique position, but often has to work with a haole partner who can question and get into places that Japanese aren't allowed, such as golf country clubs. Frankie's sister and the case itself is also hugely involved in labor union politics--class unites many of the characters in the novel, as even Frankie's haole partner is likeable because he is class conscious, and not one of the landed, missionary descended haole elite of the islands. McCarthyism, the fear of communism, as well as the rise of labor unions and the largely Japanese Democratic party rise of the 1950s also lurks in the background of this case. Frankie's love interest meets him precisely because she wants to report on the dashing Japanese detective who is willing to investigate an Asian woman's death--someone's death that many of the elite could care less about.
Frankie gets into a lot of action, but as noir heroes go, he is not without faults. He's a typical detective, constantly smoking, but he's also addicted to alcohol, in part a symptom of PTSD from the war. Frankie's experience, however, shows that as usual, it's about who you are and who you know in Hawai'i. Highly recommend this to anyone interested in seeing a different side of Honolulu.
September 21, 2022
On my recent trip to Hawaii I visited Da Shop HNL in Kaimuki which I had heard had a good amount of local authors and books about local history and topics. I was no disappointed. That’s where I found about this series by Scott Kikkawa which follows Honolulu Detective Frankie “Sheik” Yoshikawa in post WW2 Hawaii.
I love a good mystery, love a well done noir too (just enough misogyny to be period accurate but not enough to turn my stomach, which this one fits perfectly, and tbh has great female characters in addition to some typical noir ones). So I really loved the plot here and it kept me guessing. But I loved the details of post war Hawaii. Loved the characterization. And I love that this book is so unapologetically Hawaiian. They have tons of references and vocabulary that are very accurate to the characters and that maybe readers would have to look up if they aren’t familiar with the culture. And that’s a good thing. We need more of that. No italics here. Just google it if you don’t know.
Before my trip was over I ran back to Da Shop and got the next title in the series. The third comes out soon. Honestly this is the type of series I’d love to see done up by BBC or something. While they are making Grantchester and trying to be woke by having POC guest stars, here we have a real authentic voice in noir mystery period lit, creative and fresh and real. Would love to see this one brought to screen.
Four stars only because it’s a first work and there’s some rough patches here or there. But wow I was so pleasantly surprised. This is a great book that you really get lost in.
Additionally, this book introduced me to Bamboo Ridge Press which is a local Hawaiian press dedicated to promoting Hawaiian prose and poetry. I found several other good titles they put out while I was shopping around. And an article on Hawaiian books that you should read that came out for Honolulu Magazine by Don Wallace features many of their titles.
Love a good mystery series with great characterization. And for once to have a protagonist whose problems make sense in context, but who also isn’t some Batman type who is resigned to them, is refreshing. This series is surprising and excellent.
I love a good mystery, love a well done noir too (just enough misogyny to be period accurate but not enough to turn my stomach, which this one fits perfectly, and tbh has great female characters in addition to some typical noir ones). So I really loved the plot here and it kept me guessing. But I loved the details of post war Hawaii. Loved the characterization. And I love that this book is so unapologetically Hawaiian. They have tons of references and vocabulary that are very accurate to the characters and that maybe readers would have to look up if they aren’t familiar with the culture. And that’s a good thing. We need more of that. No italics here. Just google it if you don’t know.
Before my trip was over I ran back to Da Shop and got the next title in the series. The third comes out soon. Honestly this is the type of series I’d love to see done up by BBC or something. While they are making Grantchester and trying to be woke by having POC guest stars, here we have a real authentic voice in noir mystery period lit, creative and fresh and real. Would love to see this one brought to screen.
Four stars only because it’s a first work and there’s some rough patches here or there. But wow I was so pleasantly surprised. This is a great book that you really get lost in.
Additionally, this book introduced me to Bamboo Ridge Press which is a local Hawaiian press dedicated to promoting Hawaiian prose and poetry. I found several other good titles they put out while I was shopping around. And an article on Hawaiian books that you should read that came out for Honolulu Magazine by Don Wallace features many of their titles.
Love a good mystery series with great characterization. And for once to have a protagonist whose problems make sense in context, but who also isn’t some Batman type who is resigned to them, is refreshing. This series is surprising and excellent.
June 27, 2024
I picked this one up (along with its two sequels) on a recent trip to Hawaii. I enjoy reading books about places I travel to because it helps me connect more deeply to the places I go. Unfortunately, I didn’t finish it before I left, or I would likely have been doing a tour of Honolulu to locate all the settings in this book. I had to settle for Google Maps.
The novel is set in the early 1950s, before Hawaii became a state, and is a noir mystery. The main character is Francis “Sheik” Yoshikawa, a Japanese American police officer who has returned to his childhood home of Honolulu after a stint in the Army, serving on the front lines in Europe during World War II, and then an Ivy League university using the GI bill. He’s a smart, moral, intelligent and literate officer. He is dragged out of bed early one morning to investigate a murder, a young woman found drowned at the docks. When he arrives, he realizes that he knows the victim—it’s his girlfriend from high school, with whom he had lost touch. As he investigates the death, he works with a whole host of characters: the parents of his ex, classmates from high school, an intrepid young journalist, his colleagues at the police department (both honest and sleazy), and the moneyed foreign (non-Hawaiian) interests that dominate the island.
The island itself becomes another character, the vivid descriptions bring its humid atmosphere and lush foliage to life, along with the racism, classism and sexism that existed in the territory, along with the politics of being a colonized island but not a state. It has a classic LA noir vibe but is much more multilayered with a distinct multicultural bent. The writing is straightforward and the storytelling moves along at a good pace, quick enough to keep my interest, and the twists the story takes are good. There are several Japanese words in the book, many of which this native Californian had to look up, but they add to the atmosphere of the story. Author Scott Kikkawa is a native Hawaiian who attended college on the mainland but clearly has deep roots and love for his home state. I can’t wait to start the sequels.
The novel is set in the early 1950s, before Hawaii became a state, and is a noir mystery. The main character is Francis “Sheik” Yoshikawa, a Japanese American police officer who has returned to his childhood home of Honolulu after a stint in the Army, serving on the front lines in Europe during World War II, and then an Ivy League university using the GI bill. He’s a smart, moral, intelligent and literate officer. He is dragged out of bed early one morning to investigate a murder, a young woman found drowned at the docks. When he arrives, he realizes that he knows the victim—it’s his girlfriend from high school, with whom he had lost touch. As he investigates the death, he works with a whole host of characters: the parents of his ex, classmates from high school, an intrepid young journalist, his colleagues at the police department (both honest and sleazy), and the moneyed foreign (non-Hawaiian) interests that dominate the island.
The island itself becomes another character, the vivid descriptions bring its humid atmosphere and lush foliage to life, along with the racism, classism and sexism that existed in the territory, along with the politics of being a colonized island but not a state. It has a classic LA noir vibe but is much more multilayered with a distinct multicultural bent. The writing is straightforward and the storytelling moves along at a good pace, quick enough to keep my interest, and the twists the story takes are good. There are several Japanese words in the book, many of which this native Californian had to look up, but they add to the atmosphere of the story. Author Scott Kikkawa is a native Hawaiian who attended college on the mainland but clearly has deep roots and love for his home state. I can’t wait to start the sequels.
October 31, 2020
Kikkawa has created a unique main character in Frankie Yoshikawa. I loved the noir voice, even from the beginning pages. The setting, both in time and place, was done admirably.
The only minor hiccups I had were following along with the Dante references and feeling like the love interest portion moved very quickly.
I really enjoyed this gritty dive into historical Hawaii. The Honolulu presented felt so vivid and vibrant for me. Moreover, this is a novel that pierces psychological and external dramas for many of the characters in the story.
A gripping and atmospheric read that explores a little-known but needed look into 1950s Hawaii through the perspective of a bold, new detective protagonist.
The only minor hiccups I had were following along with the Dante references and feeling like the love interest portion moved very quickly.
I really enjoyed this gritty dive into historical Hawaii. The Honolulu presented felt so vivid and vibrant for me. Moreover, this is a novel that pierces psychological and external dramas for many of the characters in the story.
A gripping and atmospheric read that explores a little-known but needed look into 1950s Hawaii through the perspective of a bold, new detective protagonist.
June 28, 2021
So this was my first venture into the Noir mystery genre, and I throughly enjoyed it! The setting is unfamiliar to me but Kikkawa does a great job of creating the atmosphere and definitely makes you feel that Hawaiian heat. The main character Frankie Yoshikawa is really fantastic, and a truly good character. His love interest Ellen Park is a good match for him, though I did feel like their romance was a little rushed, but I didn’t mind so much since I really liked their relationship. The pacing at the beginning might be a bit slow for people, but it does a good job of setting up the foundations for the mystery. Overall a really great read, and if Kikkawa releases any more mysteries involving Detective Yoshikawa I’d be more than happy to read them!
February 18, 2023
Fellow Hawai'i author Scott Kikkawa does a fantastic job of illuminating a transitional period in our state's history through the lens of a gritty, informative, and entertaining neo-noir read that gives the reader insight into Honolulu life on the eve of statehood and beyond. As an academic, I've done some archival research on Hawai'i during and immediately after World War II, particularly on the labor movement, so this resonated with me. I loved the bits of dry humor which complemented the darker themes, and the ending surprised me. I really enjoyed it.
March 18, 2021
This was a great novel that surprised me in the end. Since I grew up in Hawaii, there was a lot of familiarity in the novel which made it interesting to read and enjoy. I first thought this was a book about a private eye rather than a detective with HPD. I enjoy crime mysteries, so this was up my alley. It was enjoyable and made me wanting to know what came next. Looking forward to Kikkawa's next novel!
December 4, 2022
A bit slow to start but really builds momentum as you get more and more into it - my first noir novel and if I had to guess, probably a positive modern spin of such a novel despite being set in the 1950s. I look forward to reading other novels by this author.
June 23, 2020
Rating: 4.5/5
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July 12, 2024Picked this up several times but never could get into it and just moved on.
September 7, 2022
Detective fiction set in 1950s Honolulu. Japanese American WWII veteran detective. Perky Korean American journalist as love interest. Towering Hawaiian as superior officer. Great story and culture. What’s not to love!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 28, 2023
Scott Kikkawa is a writer from the island of Oahu, Hawaii, which is where he penned a series of three, fictional, noir police investigations, all of which take place in 1950s Honolulu. The cars, styles and mores are certainly from that era, but if you are familiar with current-day Honolulu, many of the locations Kikkawa takes the reader will sound familiar. I was drawn to these tales as a fan of the Hawaiian Islands. I continued to read them as a new fan of the author.
Kikkawa weaves historical Honolulu/Hawaii with all its splendor and warts included. He covers corruption in pre-state Hawaii's politics and police, the spread of organized crime along with the cultural conflicts between native Islanders and the influx of Japanese, Chinese and the American military.
This book might have been called "The Adventures of Francis 'Sheik' Yoshikawa, the honest, but hard-drinking Detective Sergeant who is the focus of these stories. He grew up in Honolulu, attended McKinley School, has innumerable relatives and friends in the city and beyond, all of whom add flavor to the story telling.
In this first novel, Yoshikawa is called upon to investigate a dead body but learns that she was his old, high-school sweetheart. Who did it and why is what Sheik unravels, much to his consternation!
Kikkawa weaves historical Honolulu/Hawaii with all its splendor and warts included. He covers corruption in pre-state Hawaii's politics and police, the spread of organized crime along with the cultural conflicts between native Islanders and the influx of Japanese, Chinese and the American military.
This book might have been called "The Adventures of Francis 'Sheik' Yoshikawa, the honest, but hard-drinking Detective Sergeant who is the focus of these stories. He grew up in Honolulu, attended McKinley School, has innumerable relatives and friends in the city and beyond, all of whom add flavor to the story telling.
In this first novel, Yoshikawa is called upon to investigate a dead body but learns that she was his old, high-school sweetheart. Who did it and why is what Sheik unravels, much to his consternation!
January 22, 2021
I have been on a quest to read more local authors so when the local bookstore in Honolulu had an author talk with Scott Kikkawa I picked up this book. I don't usually read mysteries and have never read a noir detective novel before. While I the realism with the language of the time really did put you in the 1950's it also made is cringy to read reference to people of Asian decent as "oriental" or a housekeeper as a "filipino housegirl" (to name a few examples). It was an interesting story that held my attention even if a bit formulaic. I loved the writing style - some of the prose felt so cliché Dick Tracy - I LOVED that! I wish the female characters were more well rounded. It is a very male-centric story.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews