Robert McCaw. Death of a Messenger. Oceanview, 2015.

Chronologically, this is apparently the first of the Koa Kāne Hawaiian Mysteries. We have reviewed a couple of the sequels to this one. As with the other two stories, McCaw takes us into the island culture by telling a gripping tale.

In the first chapter, an anonymous caller to the police describes a dead body in a volcanic cave in the middle of the Big Island of Hawaii. The cave itself is in the middle of an Army firing range. The body has been disfigured as if it were some kind of ritual murder. The first chapter is grim, but it does not foreshadow the rest of the story. This is a mystery, not a horror story.

It turns out that this cave was used in the distant past by native Hawaiians and contains some artifacts and shards of historical interest. Around the same time as this discovery, the son of an old friend of Detective Koa Kāne was picked up unconscious on the island of Kaho’olawe. That smaller island has been uninhabited since World War II when the Navy began using it for target practice. However, it is known to have had some sites of archaeological interest to people.

The Army firing range is near the Saddle Road which runs across the middle of the island between the two main cities of Kona and Hilo. It is about six thousand feet above sea level, a little less than halfway to the highest peak in the islands, Mauna Kea. Mauna Kea is known for its astronomical observatory. When the body is finally identified, it turns out to be that of a young astronomer from the observatory.

There are numerous interesting characters. Some show us something of the social and ethnic makeup of Hawaii. Some are suspects. Some are both.

We meet “Hook” Hao, father of the young man rescued from Kaho’olawe, a fisherman and seafood broker who has his ear to the pier. There is Prince Kamehameha, wealthy descendant of his namesake king. He is interested in preserving the Hawaiian culture, but not necessarily at the expense of what makes money. There is Akiu ‘Ōpua, a native activist promoting Hawaiian independence. He is a friend of the Prince and was also apparently on Kaho’olawe when Hook’s son Reggie was injured there.

There are the various astronomers: Thurston Masters, head of the Mauna Kea Observatory; Gunter Nelson, who may or may not have had a grudge against the young victim; Julie Benson, Masters’ assistant and paramour; Charlie Harper, another observatory worker; and the victim’s girlfriend, an astronomer currently working in Chile. For some reason, though, the astronomer had a plane ticket to California for the day he died.

There are also a few other possible criminal types who could have been involved such as Skeeter Slade, helicopter pilot whose ‘copter was mapping the area where the cave was; Garvie Jenkins, a convicted criminal connected with both missing antiquities and equipment from the observatory; and Starfish Shipping, whose shipping container had an extra compartment.

There are lots of trails to follow, but they all seem to be leading to a single place. There are also some interesting side notes. Masters has been hailed for making a discovery about the red shift that will change the way people interpret distant astronomical events. And even though Kāne himself is a native Hawaiian, we learn much more about the indigenous Hawaiians through characters like Reggie, ‘Ōpua, and their friend Prince Kamehameha. The prince is true Hawaiian nobility, but even he might be a suspect when it comes to stealing archaeological artifacts.

Without giving too much away, some of the action takes place in a blizzard. Yes, Hawaii may be a true tropical paradise, but there is a reason Mauna Kea got its name. It means “White Mountain” in Hawaiian. Winter at over 13,000 feet above sea level can be brutal even in the tropics.

Death of a Messenger is another Koa Kāne thriller. It has a wild, yet believable plot, with the backdrop of the exotic island culture, and a distinctive professional subculture of astronomers. McCaw has done it again! Enjoy!