In this gripping follow-up to Kona Winds, Nisei World War II veteran and Honolulu Police Department detective Frank "Sheik" Yoshikawa is called to investigate a charred, dismembered body found in a remote sugarcane field. As he traces the victim's past, Frank is drawn into the uneasy world of a local communist study group already under surveillance, where suspicions run high and fear collides with ideology.
As Cold War paranoia builds and tensions start to simmer across the islands, Frank finds himself caught in the fault lines of race and political power in a Hawai'i grappling with its plantation past and enduring colonial legacies, while facing the uncertainties of looming American statehood. Lies are piling up, leads are running dry, and the whiskey isn't strong enough to make the double-crossing go down easy.
Red Dirt blends the brooding intensity of True Detective with the bite of classic noir, capturing the layered shadows of postwar Honolulu with slow-burning suspense, sharp dialogue, and a detective who knows better than to expect a clean case.
For fans of Naomi Hirahara, James Ellroy, and historical crime fiction that's atmospheric and morally-complex.
A product of Hawai'i Kai in East Honolulu, Scott Kikkawa writes noir detective stories set in postwar Hawai'i, featuring 442nd veteran Nisei Detective Sergeant Francis "Sheik" Yoshikawa. His critically acclaimed debut murder mystery, Kona Winds (Bamboo Ridge Press), was released at the end of 2019 and spent six months on the Small Press Distribution Fiction Bestsellers List. Red Dirt, his second full-length novel, was published two years later. Both were featured in HONOLULU Magazine's list of "Essential Hawai'i Books You Should Read." His third novel Char Siu came out in 2023.
Winner of an Elliot Cades Award for Literature and honored with a selection for one of the "Other Distinguished Stories of 2021" in the 2022 Best American Mystery and Suspense anthology, the New York University alumnus is currently a federal law enforcement officer and lives with his family in Honolulu. He serves as a columnist and an Associate Editor for The Hawai'i Review of Books.
