Māhū Vice reviews:
Reviewer extraordinaire Oline Cogdill wrote this review for the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.

Hollywood author Neil S. Plakcy keeps a tight reign on his well-plotted fourth novel in his series about Kimo Kanapa'aka, an openly gay Honolulu detective.

Plakcy dips into sexual obsession, control issues and arson while maintaining a perceptive look at gay life in Hawaii and the importance of unconditional love from family and friends in Mahu Vice.

Kimo’s investigation into a fire in a strip shopping center that kills a teenager leads to a subculture that exploits the innocent. The shopping center has a soft place in Kimo’s heart – his father used to own it, his brother keeps the landscape bright and the detective is still a customer of the hair salon. The fire appears to have started in an acupuncture business, but the boy who was killed was living in the back of the hair salon.

The case forces Kimo to work with arson investigator Mike Riccardi, his former boyfriend. Their breakup was emotional for both men, although each still loves the other. The two men must put aside their feelings to find out who set the fire. The acupuncture business had been a front for a prostitution ring that has operated under the radar. Other fires and deaths related to the prostitution ring take Kimo and Mike’s investigation to a different direction.

Plakcy’s strength in creating believable characters shines. The author shows all aspects of his characters, from their relationships to their sex lives. Plakcy contrasts Kimo’s openly gay status to Mike’s closeted life. Being openly gay has enhanced Kimo’s life – especially with his close-knit family, his partner on the police force and his friends. Mike lives in fear.

Plakcy also subtly parellels the Kimo’s vulnerabilty when he was first outed – quite publicly by the way -- with the helplessness of the victims who are being targeted by the killer.

The Florida-based Plakcy will make readers want to pack their bags for Hawaii. He captures the essence of Hawaii and the surfing culture in Mahu Vice.

Plakcy’s last novel Mahu Fire won the Hawaii Five-O award for best police procedural, presented by Left Coast Crime, and was a finalist for the 2008 Lambda Literary Award for best gay mystery.
Drewey Wayne Gunn, author of The Gay Male Sleuth in Print and Film, wrote this for the Reviewing the Evidence website.

Honolulu police detective Kimo Kanapa'aka's cases have a way of intersecting with his personal life. The present case begins when his father's former business property is torched by an arsonist. The act sets off a whole series of discoveries about illegal activities being run by a shadowy figure. Before he is brought to justice, Kimo will discover that his own backside has been displayed prominently in a sexually exploitive photograph posted on the web, that his brother is indirectly implicated in hiring illegal aliens, and that one of his father's late friend's former mistresses is deeply involved in a prostitution racket.

Not to mention that the boyfriend with whom Kimo broke up after the former refused to come out of the closet but then gave him an STD, the handsome firefighter Mike Riccardi, is the one assigned to the arson case. Or that his best friend works as a security guard at a firm newly managed by one of the suspects. There are yet other connections. None of these in the context of the novel, however, seem overly coincidental as Oahu comes across as a small village.

This is the fourth Mahu procedural (the other three are all reviewed on RTE), and in some ways it is the most satisfactory case so far. I like the details of an investigation, the way the nonessential jostles against the essential, leaving detective (and reader) to sort out which is which. Kimo is now working with a new partner, the very laid-back but quite competent Ray Donne. He has recently come to the island from Philadelphia, his wife having decided to pursue a graduate degree at the university. Unlike some of the other cops, Ray has no problem working with a "mahu" (the local word for gay).

Kimo has been wallowing in self-pity and sexual excess as the result of his breakup with Mike. The trouble is that he can't quite get Mike out of mind or heart, and he now takes the opportunity of their working together to explore the possibility that perhaps the romance is not finished. The novel explores the nature of trust and forgiveness in a straightforward manner. It also touches on the sometimes thin line between what is a momentary slipup and what is out and out criminal. I do confess that, much as I like details, there is more about Kimo's sexual activities here than I need. Quite a number of readers, however, will find there's not enough information.

The novel also becomes de facto an examination of the multi cultural diversity that is clearly the hallmark of the new America. Most of the characters come from the mingling of Asian, European, and Polynesian roots — even Ray is Italian American — and all of them are the healthier for the fact. Cultural diversity seems to promote a greater understanding of basic humanity and lead to a sense of tolerance. It is a "purebred" Chinese man who is most bigoted of all the characters we glimpse.
The ChrisChat review site gave Mahu Vice a glowing review. Here's a bit of it:

"I’ve spoken about a writer’s ‘honesty’ in their character or story telling and admit this can sound flippant; however, Kimo’s honest admittance to his own errors and what he deeply wants pulls me to him. Kimo’s a fictional character that I would like to have in reality…all due to Mr. Plakcy’s writing. Mr. Plakcy has discovered the perfect balance between police detective drama and character-driven fiction."

I'm kvelling! (Yiddish for swelling with pride.) More of the review can be found here.
From WP Book Reviews:

MAHU VICE by Neil S. Plakcy

Kimo Kanapa'aka is back, and as usual, he's neck-deep in a mystery.

The last time we saw Kimo, during MAHU FIRE, he seemed to have found true love in fireman Mike. But at the beginning of MAHU VICE, they've broken up, and definitely not under the best of terms.

Mike is deeply closeted, and Kimo is not. His outing came during a murder investigation, and was very public, but now that he is out, he doesn't want to hide. This created some tension between them, but the final blow came when Kimo finds out he's gotten gonorrhea from Mike. He knows it has to be Mike, because he hasn't been with anyone else.

Mike had a one-night stand while at a conference for arson investigators in San Francisco.

Their break-up hasn't been good for either of them. Kimo has gone on a series of rough-sex one-night stands, and Mike has begun drinking heavily.

Neither knows this about the other until they find themselves forced to work together again. A fire in a shopping strip that was built by Kimo's father (though he no longer owns it), killed a young boy who was living in the back of a hair salon.

The fire started in an acupuncture business at one end of the strip. Mike is the arson investigator and Kimo and his partner are assigned the death.

Their investigation leads to a prostitution ring and several familiar characters from past books. It also leads back to a mysterious Mr. Hu who orchestrated a series rough sex nights for Kimo. Turns out that not only Kimo, but many other men were being recorded during these nights. The closeted men involved are being blackmailed.

There are also other fires, all of which were set as sites of the prostitution business might have come under some scrutiny. It's the preferred "clean-up" method for this group.

The mystery is tight and tense, and Kimo is constantly caught between protecting the innocent and trying to get the guilty without exposing them. He also has to find a way to work with Mike.

This is probably the best yet of the Mahu series, and a welcome addition to the story of Kimo.

WP
Harriet Klausner reviews Mahu Vice at Genre Go Round and Mystery Gazette: "This is an enjoyable gay investigative tale that mixes a strong whodunit with deep caring characters. The key to this terrific entry is Kimo."
Reviews of Mahu Fire, the third book in the series.
Reviews of Mahu Surfer, the second book in the series.
Reviews of Mahu, the first book in the series.