The Book Nook by Jesse Monteagudo

THE HAWORTH POSITRONIC PRESS is a new line of books devoted to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered science fiction, horror and fantasy. Edited by Greg Herren, himself a prolific mystery writer, the Haworth Positronic Press intends to publish new or classic works by the likes of Aaron Travis (Slaves of the Empire), Caro Soles, and Max Pierce.

The first two books in the Positronic series are both by gay authors who live and write in South Florida: Māhū: A Mystery (284 pages; $22.95) is the first novel by Neil S. Plakcy, who is Assistant Professor of English at Broward Community College in South Florida.

In spite of that, Māhū is set in Hawai’i and shows a great deal of knowledge, in the author’s part, about Hawai’ian people, language and culture. Māhū, the word, is a generally negative Hawai’ian term for homosexual. Māhū, the novel, introduces Kimo Kanapa’aka, a 32-year old, mixed-race surfer and detective on the Honolulu Police Department’s homicide squad.

Kimo is also a māhū, though he has yet to fully come to terms with the fact. Mâhû is, to a great extent, Kimo Kanapa’aka’s coming out story. Mâhû is also a thrilling murder mystery. Kimo, in fact, finds the body in question while visiting his first gay bar, the Rod and Reel Club in Waikîkî. As Kimo and his partner set out to solve the mystery, Kimo’s sexual orientation becomes a public issue; and Kimo is forced to deal with the unwelcome publicity as well as with fellow police officers who refuse to work with a Māhū.

It is this combination of personal drama and exciting mystery - not to mention the Hawai’ian setting - that makes Māhū such an original and interesting novel. Nor is this the last of Kimo Kanapa’aka. Plakcy has since written a Kimo short story, “Christmas in Honolulu,” which placed second in a “Bad Santa” contest sponsored by Mysterical-E, a mystery webzine. Now it’s only a matter of time before Plakcy will allow to read, and enjoy, a second “Waikiki mystery.”