Hawaiian Mysteries

An action-packed urban fantasy adventure set on the islands of Hawaii! I'm Marcus Aries, and as the duly-appointed guardian of the Hawaiian Islands, I’ve had my share of bad run-ins with the world of the supernatural. I’ve taken on demonic frogs, island witches, lightning wolves, and even battled before the famed night marchers. But not every run-in is a life-and-death struggle that threatens to leave the island in ruins. Step back into the world of Hawaiian urban fantasy with this collection of short stories from author Justin Herzog, starring fan-favorite hero Marcus Aries as he and ...

Having killed his father's nemesis and gotten away with it, Hilo, Hawai`i Chief Detective Koa Kane is not your ordinary cop. Estranged from his younger brother who has been convicted of multiple crimes, he is not from a typical law enforcement family. Yet, Koa's secret demons fuel his unwavering drive to pursue justice. Never has Koa's motivation been greater than when he learns that an elementary school was placed atop a volcanic vent, which has now exploded. The subsequent murders of the school's contractor and architect only add urgency to his search for the truth.

On Hawaii Island, a volcanic earthquake disrupts an abandoned cemetery—unearthing the body of a woman mutilated by her killer to conceal her identity. The search for her identity leads Hilo Hawaii's Chief Detective Koa Kane to a mysterious defense contractor with a politically connected board of directors. Defying his chief of police, Koa pursues the killer, only to become entangled in an FBI espionage investigation of Deimos, a powerful secret military weapon. Is the FBI telling all it knows—or does it, too, have a duplicitous agenda?

Mahu Surfer, the second book in my Mahu Investigations mystery series, sends gay Honolulu homicide detective Kimo Kanapa’aka back to his surfing past. His new boss asks the former competitive surfer to go undercover on Oahu’s North Shore to find the killer of three surfers. The catch: He can't tell any of his family or friends that he has returned to the force, causing him to lie, when he has just come out of the closet and begun to tell the truth about his life. In his return to the North Shore, Kimo discovers trouble in paradise.

A scrap of cloth fluttering in the wind leads Hilo police chief detective Koa Kāne to the tortured remains of an unfortunate soul, left to burn in the path of an advancing lava flow. For Koa, it’s the second gruesome homicide of the day, and he soon discovers the murders are linked. These grisly crimes on Hawaii’s Big Island could rewrite history or cost chief detective Koa his career. The dead, a reclusive couple living off the grid, turn out to be mysterious fugitives.

A riveting political thriller and love story. Set primarily in contemporary Russia and the United States, here is a novel that brilliantly knits together four seemingly unconnected lives: Adam, a CIA intelligence operative who suffers from albinism and searches for the Russian assassin who killed his mother, an act he witnessed as a child; Lily, a young Hawaiian Chinese journalist who falls in love with him; Bazil, an Indian intelligence operative from Mumbai who befriends Adam; and Zahira, a beautiful Afghani girl mutilated by the Taliban.

Edgar Allan "Poe" Rutherford is Maui's hottest freelance detective. When an elderly hotel mogul claims to have received threatening letters, Poe chalks it up to old age. But as the threats continue to escalate, he investigates the real possibility that one of her adult children heirs wants her dead…but which one? With the help of his sexy detective girlfriend, Alana Hu, Poe uncovers a dark family secret even housekeeping can't scrub clean. In a race against the clock, Poe must unveil the culprit's identity.

From Woodstock to communes, to Vietnam, and then on to Hawaii. Find out how it all began... Go back to the beginning and follow the Thompson twin sisters as they graduate high school and wend their way across the United States before settling on the beautiful island of Kauai. As owners of the C'Mon Inn Bed & Breakfast, their ohana encompasses those looking for missing loved ones, taking care of lost dogs, dealing with killers on the loose, and a lot more.

Kali Māhoe, Hawaiian cultural expert and detective with the Maui Police Department, has been called to a bizarre crime scene. In the recesses of a deep trench on Lana'i Island, a derelict refrigerator has been unearthed. Entombed inside are the skeletal remains of someone buried decades ago. Identification is a challenge. The body is headless, the skull replaced with a chilling adornment: a large, ornately carved wooden pineapple.

A veteran of exploring highly desirable resort sites with mysterious happenings, Carson now flirts with a thriller that involves a remote South Pacific island called AKONA, with hidden dangers and dangerous men. The island's remoteness, its Volcanic terrain, the Akona Princess Resort and a dot-com billionaire's mansion playground all conspire to entangle two young professional women from Seattle in their intrigue. Come away with me and escape to this tropical island paradise. Enjoy the respite and excitement such a virtual holiday can offer! Thank you.

When photographer Autumn Season lands the job of official photographer at the prestigious Aloha Lagoon Resort, she's ecstatic. But a lively luau suddenly turns deadly, and Autumn realizes she may have accidentally snapped a picture of a murder in progress! Now the killer will go to any lengths to protect his (or her) identity, and Autumn is clearly in their sights.

A fiery explosion sets a new course for the passengers on a charter boat. Three childhood friends decide to take a break from their stressful business lives. Together with the partners and spouses, they charter a luxury boat and go on a relaxing vacation. Nicholás Santerez watches from his dive shop as an explosion turns their boat into a fiery inferno. Enlisting the aid of his sister, Lucia, and their friends at the C'Mon Inn B&B, they rush to the rescue. A year later, the survivors gather at the C'Mon Inn and they find themselves involved in a surprising investigation into the events of ...

A jigger of tranquility is all Em Johnson wants, but now that her beloved Tiki Goddess Bar has been chosen as the location for Trouble in Paradise, TV’s hot new reality show, life is anything but tranquil. When a member of the camera crew is found dead in her kitchen - stabbed to death with Chef Kimo’s sashimi knife - the scene on the sleepy North Shore of Kauai goes from eccentrically crazy to downright dangerous.

This story begins with travel time for the entire Brewster family as they plan a trip to Hawaii. It includes Bruce (“Biff”), his Mother, and Dad, with the younger twins, Ted and Monica. It’s really exciting for the twins because they have never been outside the continent. One of Dad Tom Brewster’s chief reasons for the journey is a planned meeting with Dr. Johann Weber, scientist and staff consultant for Ajax Mining Company. They were expecting to meet Weber on arrival but a shocking surprise was ahead.

Charles “Chuck” MacKay had quite the career. Or two. From special ops utilizing his forensic accounting skills to an ordinary accountant with ordinary clients throughout Hawaii. All that ends when his wife’s car is found at the bottom of a cliff. Was it an accident, road rage, or murder? If it is someone from Chuck’s not so ordinary past, why was Carol targeted? An ex-military buddy, Bruce Levine, might have answers. Will it take the resources of Bruce’s P.I. firm, Valor Investigations, to get to the bottom of this? Chuck flies to Mapleton, Virginia to take Bruce up on his offer ...

I was in my car when the news came over the radio that Royal Blue was dead. Shocked, the world seemed to stop moving for a while. Once or twice in a lifetime there arises a star the brilliance of Royal Blue. The world would eventually become used to his loss, but like the ripples on a pond, his essence would never really die. The surface of the music world would never again be still. I drove on that day, little knowing that with the passing of years my life would become entangled with the lives of those Royal Blue had loved. Though I didn't yet know the players, they were waiting in my ...

It is World War Two in Honolulu. Jake Rawlins receives full pardon and in return is drafted into the Marines to fight in the South Pacific. His wife, Sadie tries to keep the private investigation business going in Honolulu. A friendly fire incident during the brutal invasion of Peleliu changes everything for Jake. Back in Honolulu, Sadie investigates a Japanese American bent on destroying the Peal Harbor fuel deposit with a stolen bazooka. When Jake returns home to recuperate from his wounds, he joins Sadie's investigation while a Marine officer escapes from Tripler's psychiatric ward with ...

An execution-style murder sends a message. Old cases haunt Maui’s detectives. An external force threatens Pele’s island home. Now partners, Maui PD Detective Sergeants Keone Boyd and Angela Beyers investigate the brutal murder of a local drug pusher. The body is found across the street from Maui PD headquarters, with its tongue cut out and its lips sewn together. For Keone and Angela, the murder stirs echoes of their former cases. In the midst of the investigation, Keone is summoned by his elderly grandmother. In her visions, Pele, the most powerful of the Hawaiian gods, wakes from her ...

On Kaumaha Island (est 1850), the statue of Amyas Lathrop conceals a terrible secret—a legacy of massacres and madness that infects the island itself. Some will go to any lengths to keep it hidden, others to set it free. But which of them would kill? Cultural expert Winnie Te Papa, our very own Ms. Marple, will sift through the pieces to track a ruthless murderer through a tangled maze of family alliances, greedy developers, scholars, protestors, and gangsters.

She was the girl he never forgot. Now, Dr. Rowena Shaw stands accused of murder and terrorism. Sloan Madison knows his childhood friend is innocent, and he'll go all the way to the island of Maui to prove it. But he didn't realize that helping Rowena Shaw would put a target on his back, too, not to mention his heart. With attraction and danger mounting, will Sloan and Rowena live long enough to claim their happily-ever-after?