Murder Casts a Shadow

✍ Scribed by Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl

• Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 288
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

New Year’s Eve, 1934. While Honolulu celebrates with champagne and fireworks, someone is making away with the Bishop Museum’s portrait of King Kalakaua and its curator. A series of brutal murders follows, and an unlikely pair, newspaper reporter Mina Beckwith and visiting playwright Ned Manusia, find themselves investigating a twisted trail of clues in an attempt to recover the painting and uncover the killer.

Honolulu in the 1930s is a unique (and volatile) mix of the provincial and the urban, East and West, islander and mainlander. Mina and Ned, both of Polynesian descent, confront the complexities and contradictions of Island life as their investigation takes them into the heart of Honolulu society and close-knit local families, whose intricate histories and relationships will have a direct impact on future lives and events. A lively cast of characters aids Mina and Ned in their search for answers: Cecily Chang, an antiques and explosives expert, steers them through Chinatown’s back alleys; Hinano Kahana, a hula chanter and dancer, brings Ned closer to solving an ancient riddle; Mina’s grandmother, Hannah, helps them unlock a secret from the past.

Prewar Honolulu comes to life in this thoroughly entertaining mystery that evokes a colorful bygone era. The Mina Beckwith and Ned Manusia series continues with Murder Leaves Its Mark, available September 2011.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents
Prologue
1. Happy New Year
2. Mina’s Appointment
3. The Fun Begins
4. How Gardens Grow
5. Anger and the Arts
6. The Watchers
7. Cocktail Hour
8. What Girls Know
9. Questions
10. Dramas Unfold
11. The Valley of Shadows
12. A Shifting Tide
13. Secrets Past and Present
14. News Travels
15. Tipsy Turvy
16. Truth Doesn’t Hurt
17. Happy Birthdays
18. Loose Ends
19. Paniolo Country
20. Grandma Hannah’s Story
21. Out Riding
22. Bulls and Birds
23. Watch Where You Step
24. A Busy Night
25. Night Reading
26. Collectibles
27. The White Glove Treatment
28. Past Present Tense
29. Hunting and Gathering
30. Meetings
31. Little Dramas
32. Missing Pieces
33. Speaking Confidentially
34. Dark Eyes Hide Secrets
35. Crossing Tracks
36. Unscheduled
37. Recovery Plans
38. A Close Wilderness
39. Doors That Open and Close
40. Curtain
Acknowledgments
About the Author