Murder on Moloka'i

By: Chip Hughes

Narrated by: Scott Ellis

When Boston heiress Adrienne Ridgely strides into his Honolulu office, Surfing Detective Kai Cooke likes what he sees but doubts what he hears. Adrienne's sister, environmental activist Sara Ridgely-Parke, plunged to her death from a mule on Molokai - the first fatal incident on the soaring cliffs above Kalaupapa's fabled leper colony.

Murder, cries Adrienne, perpetrated by Sara's ex-husband, developer J. Gregory Parke. Cooke flies to Molokai, tracking tantalizing leads to an unlikely murder in which, despite himself, he starts to believe.

Was the mule prodded or spooked or drugged? Did Parke do it for vengeance, or Adrienne for an inheritance, as Parke alleges?

Soon, Kai uncovers a motive more noxious than either of these, entangling him in the shady dealings of big-time developers, corrupt politicians, and underworld thugs. As he hops from island to island seeking a pivotal clue, the clock ticks down on more than the PI’s case or even his own life. The future of Molokai itself is at stake.

©2004 Robert S. Hughes, Jr. (P)2018 Robert S. Hughes, Jr.

Murder on Moloka'i

After her sisters death, Adrienne is desperate to find out what really happened to her. The surfing detective comes highly recommended to her. They both find themselves in a lot of hot water, people will do a lot to cover up this murder. Kai will have to work extra hard to uncover the real fact to get to the bottom of this. Nice narration.

Good series

Mules are to be sure footed on cliffs, the death of a woman who falls. Was there something that distracted the mule. Ot because she was an environmental activist, Surfing detective has questions was it for inheritance, drugs. Good series, given audio for my voluntary review and my honest opinion

Good detective mystery

This was an interesting detective book with a great narrator. It was easy to listen to and I liked that this detective used surfing to ground himself and relax! I was voluntarily provided this review copy audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator.

Great Story

Great story. Scott does great voices and is easy to listen to. I highly recommend

The 'Surfing Detective' Gets a Great Start

'Murder on Moloka'i' is the introductory mystery story of the 'Surfing Detective' series. The surfer/detective is Kai Cooke, a resident of Honolulu, who takes on cases between surf sessions. Kai accepts the case brought to him by Adrienne Ridgely. She asks Kai to prove her activist sister, Sarah Parke, was murdered on Moloka'i while on a mule tour of the sea cliffs to the leper colony,at Kalaupapa. Was it her ex-husband enacting revenge or is something more nefarious afoot?

This book has an appealing premise, and when I saw it on an audiobook review list, I requested a free copy. This is my voluntary opinion.

As the book opens, the reader gets introduced to the two aspects of Kai's life: surfer and detective. The author has several scenes explaining how Kai uses his love of surfing to balance the stress he experiences from his work. Kai uses his time while surfing to mull over his cases. The surfing scenes are woven into the mystery plot seamlessly.

The character of Kai is a straight-forward kind of guy. He is honest and will do the job he is hired to do. He is thorough in gathering clues and interviewing witnesses to accomplish that end. Even though he starts out not sure that there is actually a murder to solve, he approaches it as if there is. He is also shown to be intelligent, not needing serendipity in the plot to solve the case. He uses old-fashioned gumshoe smarts to find out the facts.

I would consider Hawaii to be a character as well. The story is uniquely Hawaiian. The author uses the history of Hawaii to tell parts of the plot. I like when an author makes the locale just as important as the characters and plot. I hoped for this when requesting the book.

Scott Ellis' narration of this book was really fantastic. I have no expertise with accents, but I would not be surprised to find out that Mr Ellis is either native Hawaiian or grew up around Hawaiians. I love the pidgin English scenes he interpreted from Hughes' writing. Shows what you can learn from the fiction you read; I had no idea Hawaiians spoke with pidgin among other natives.

Included at the end of the book are some deleted and original scenes from the author. I like when authors show the evolution of a character and plot.

Highly recommended.