Noir Honolulu Style

Noir Honolulu Style

Bruce Von Stiers

Hawaii is a place that I've never been to, but someday will. A few of my friends have been there. One of my friends even had his honeymoon there. From their descriptions and the pictures and scenes from television and films, it seems like Hawaii is a beautiful and exotic location. Even though there are many tourist destinations among the Hawaiian Islands, the capital city of Honolulu is often a must-see locale.

But as with things that are beautiful and exotic, there sometimes is something less than glamourous and unseemly hidden just out of sight. And that often comes in the form of criminal or less than honorable activities.

With that is mind, there is a new book of noir stories from Akashic Books. This book features stories that take place in and around Honolulu. The book is simply titled Honolulu Noir.

Chris McKinney wrote the introduction to the book. He gives some history of the Hawaiian Islands colonization and how some of the criminal elements there were established and how some are still thriving. McKinney's novels have provided a glimpse into the seamier side of Hawaiian culture. He also has a well-received sci-fi noir series, Water City. McKinney has also provided a story for this collection.

Stephanie Han wrote the first story, The Swimmers. She is the author of Swimming in Hong Kong and is a contributing editor for a review publication. In this story, Kevin is going through a divorce. The ex is making almost impossible demands and there is a custody thing with their son, Connie. Kevin just wants it to be over, with things going his way for a change. A surf swim with Connie just may prove to be Kevin's salvation. Or it could be something else entirely. The end of the story adds a very satisfying noir twist to things.

Melelani wants to sit in on a card game that Wiley's been invited to. Once there, there seems to more than meets the eye to this young woman. An attempted heist of the game ends up far differently than was anticipated in this story, which is titled Melelani's Mana. It is a cool tale of criminal connectivity that is from Lono Waiwai'ole. He has a few noir novels with Wiley as the central character, including Wiley's Lament and Wiley's Shuffle.

Chris McKinney's story is The Gaijin. It involves a Yakusa crime clan in Honolulu and it's underboss who wants to make a big move. A power move leads to a murder. But all is not what it appears to be as alliances are made known as well as betrayals. This story has some smoothness mixed with noir grit that McKinney is noted for.

Vigilantism is the theme of the story Hairstyles of the Jihadi. A dad of a high school basketball player is recruited to keep tabs on a guy. This guy has been identified as a terrorist recruiter, seeking out disenfranchised youth. As with any story of this nature, things aren't as simple as they seem. This is a great story from Kiana Davenport. She is the author of the best-selling novel, The Soul Ajar.

Grifters, gullible people and consequences of debts not paid are the core elements of Diamond Dreams. This is an interesting tale that was written by Mindy Eun Soo Pennybacker. She is a surfing columnist whose articles and stories have been published by the New York Times, Martha Stewart Living and Fiction Magazine among others.

A boy plagiarizes a paper for a class and has a sexual attraction for another high school boy in the story Third Night of Carnival. The story wraps itself around an annual school carnival where two high school students feel like outcasts and find themselves in a precarious situation. The author of this story is Don Wallace, whose non-fiction works include The French House and One Great Game.

Christy Passion is the author of Still Out of Place, a collection of poems depicting life in Hawaii. Her story for this collection is titled Mercy. It is about a man in police custody who is sent to the hospital with life threatening injuries. I thought the story would be about a prisoner hospital escape, but it featured a nurse with compassion and a prisoner afraid of dying. I liked that it wasn't a typical escape story and showed some depth to the characters.

Midori is a murder mystery set in 1953. It features a police detective nicknamed “Sheik.” He must solve the murder of a club owner and his mistress. But the detective finds that all is not what it seems as he investigates the murders. It is a great throwback story with a nicely done plot twist. It was written by Scott Kikkawa whose detective novels, Kona Winds and Red Dirt are set-in post-war Honolulu.

In the future, most DNA based police investigations are performed by Artificial Intelligence known as Synthetic Intellects. It seems like AI has taken over a lot of things. This is a plot device for the story It Entered My Mind. A seasoned human detective feels that there is just something off with the murder he's investigating. And as a jazz aficionado, he keeps hearing a song that seems to be missing a musical note. But can he solve both mysteries or neither? This is a cool story that mixes noir detective lore with sci-fi and adds a nice slice of jazz to it. The story is from Tom Gammarino, the author of the novels, King of the Worlds and Big In Japan.

Apana is the real-life model for Charlie Chan. At least he is in the story, Apana's Last Case. As a detective seen as past his prime, Apana is given menial tasks in the police department. But he decides to make one last big splash with a missing person cold case. This is a delightful tale that has Apana uncovering clues that detectives have missed or overlooked, to reach a conclusion that only he could have made. Alan Brennert, who wrote the critically acclaimed novel, Honolulu, is the author of this story.

Mother's Mother's Mother is a strange story. I consider it more of a horror tale than noir. It involves three generations of women in a family, in-fighting and a strange but deadly Venus flytrap. The story was written by Morgan Miryung McKinney, a creative writing student at Bryn Mawr College.

A young man trying to save his sister from creatures of the night is what Shadows And Haoles is about. Keoni and Ke'ala are at a club. Keoni sees his sister abducted and tries to get her away from her captors. Failing to do so, he becomes mired in a war between factions of spirits and vampires. It is an interesting story written by B.A. Kobayashi, a creative writing student at the University of Iowa.

The Unknown is a narrative of a creature that inhabits the dark. Through this narrative the creature interacts with several generations of a family and a community. It has Hawaiian lore and otherworldly elements mixed together. The story is from Michelle Cruz Skinner, the author of the short story collection In The Company of Strangers.

As with all the books in Akashic Books' noir series, Honolulu Noir is full of great stories. Some are a bit out there, and some are mired deep in the noir genre. All are very good, and it was a pleasure to read them.

Honolulu Noir is available for pre-order at amazon, Barnes and Noble and Bookshop. It has a projected release date of November 5 th , 2024.

To learn more about Honolulu Noir, and other titles in the Akashic Books noir series, visit https://www.akashicbooks.com/

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