March 15, 2022
A ritualistic murder draws a resolute detective into the murky world of Hawaiian legends and mysticism. Maui Police Capt. Walter Alaka'i and his niece, Detective Kali Māhoe, are called to a rugged mountain crime scene in the Kula Forest Reserve, where the body of a tortured young woman has been found hanging from a rainbow tree. A missing person's report leads Kali to identify the victim as 24-year-old Maya Louise Holmes, an employee with the Center for Marine Mining and Research. With the help of dedicated young Officer David Hara, Kali's investigation proceeds incrementally and methodically, moving from Maya's brother, Charles, to her missing car to the interrogation of her co-workers. Haunted by the crime, Kali's thoughts keep returning to the strange position and condition of the body. Bizarre reports from nearby residents that a band of witches regularly flies through the trees and prowls the beaches echo stories of sorcery that Kali remembers being told as a child by her grandmother, a historian. Was Maya's murder related to her research or to the occult? Recurring potential love interest Elvar Ellinsson provides more legends of Hawaiian witchcraft, accompanies Kali on her reexamination of the murder scene, and plays bodyguard when Kali is the victim of a break-in. Bokur's formula is familiar but effectively executed, without flash but with admirable clarity and economy. The straightforward, linear structure and slow roll of her third Dark Paradise mystery (following The Bone Field, 2021) allow the story's abundant local color to take center stage. A cool police procedural with engaging characters and fascinating components.
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Starred review from April 11, 2022
Bokur’s stellar third Dark Paradise mystery (after 2021’s The Bone Field) takes Det. Kali Mahoe of the Maui police to a grisly crime scene in the Kula Forest Reserve. A corpse, later identified as that of 24-year-old Maya Louise Holmes, hangs from a tree, her hands bound, her neck in a noose, and the soles of her feet partially burnt, possibly from having been forced into a firewalking ceremony. The autopsy reveals that the victim, who was reported missing two days earlier, was tortured and then suffocated with fine lava dust. Kali pursues numerous angles, including the possibility that the killing was linked to Holmes’s work for the Center for Marine Mining and Research related to robotic technology. Meanwhile, a witness claims to have seen “a band of witches” flying through the trees where the body was displayed and heard noises that sounded like someone was being tortured, testimony that forces Kali to review the supernatural legends she learned growing up in Hawaii to see whether they have any relevance to her inquiry. This procedural keeps readers guessing all the way to the gratifying solution. Fans of Tony Hillerman will be enthralled. Agent: Shannon Hassan, Marsal Lyon Literary.