Death of a Messenger

Koa Kane Hawaiian Mystery, Book 3

By: Robert McCaw

Narrated by: Kaeomakana Tiwanak

Journey deep into the exotic locales of Hawaii's Big Island to discover its language, culture - and crime

On Hawaii Island, an anonymous 911 caller reports a body at Pohakuloa, the Army's live-fire training area. Hilo Chief Detective Koa Kane, a cop with his own secret criminal past, finds a mutilated corpse - bearing all the hallmarks of ancient ritual sacrifice.

He encounters a host of obstacles as he pursues the murderer - an incompetent local medical examiner, hostility from both haoles (Westerners) and sovereignty advocates, and a myriad of lies. Koa races to discover whether the victim stumbled upon a gang of high-tech archaeological thieves, or learned a secret so shocking it cost him his life and put others in mortal danger.

Will Hilo's most respected detective stop this sadistic fiend - or will the Pohakuloa killer strike again, with even deadlier consequences?

Perfect for fans of Michael Connelly and James Lee Burke

©2021 Robert McCaw (P)2021 Robert McCaw

Terrible pronuciation

I'm sure I'm a little biased, being from the big island of Hawaii, but I couldn't handle the pronunciation of the local town names and had to quit halfway through the book. If you don't know how to pronounce any of the hawaiian island's names or town's names, then it might not be so bad. But to a local, it's the equivalent of pronouncing Tucsan Arizona "TUK-san".

The story itself isn't too bad, but there there is some suspension of belief for some character backgrounds. I'm sure it's to serve the story, but the last Prince Kamehameha was in the 1800's. There are other royal bloodlines still around and have way more difficult names, so I assume that's why the author decided to use the this one.

I may try the next book in the series simply because the narrator is different.

Error

This is announced as book three in the series. It’s actually book one. It’s also on Audible’s site inaccurately as book 3.

Horrible voice and mispronunciations… Barely made it through 4 chapters before stopping…

Saw the reviews that Hawaiian words were mispronounced, but wasn’t ready for the sheer number of words that were off…. By far, this was the worst production I’ve heard in dozens of Audible books.