My Hawaiʻi by Robert McCaw

My Hawaiʻi – a guest post for Treachery Times Two

By Robert McCaw

I first visited Hawaiʻi Island after attending an American Bar Association meeting in Honolulu and fell in love with the Big Island. I found magic in its extraordinary diversity, where lava moonscapes rise from the sea into the mountains, cattle ranches adjoin rain forests, and Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of fire, frequently erupts to reshape the land. Again and again, I returned, ultimately building a second home there.

A love of the Big Island begins

My appreciation for the Big Island deepened as I explored its landscapes and studied its history. My travels took me to the summit of Mauna Kea, where I toured the W. M. Keck facility, the world’s most advanced optical telescope, situated not far from a 14th-century adze quarry. I followed trails in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, getting close enough to active lava flows to feel their heat radiate on my face. Cattle ranches, former sugar towns, black sand beaches, isolated valleys, Buddhist monasteries, and ancient religious platforms filled my itineraries.

At the same time, I hit the books, accumulating a substantial library of all things Hawaiian from archaeology to tattoos, politics to lei-making, and seafaring in double-hulled canoes to ancient aquaculture. Working in the archives of the Bishop Museum and the University of Hawaiʻi library, I dug into all sorts of ancient Hawaiian practices, from stone-tool making to ritual human sacrifice.

An appreciation for island history

The history of the islands fascinated me. I’ve often tried to imagine those early Polynesians setting sails into the unknown in double-hulled canoes. How many such voyages ended in disaster before the first small group found its way to what we now know as Hawaiʻi? And what did those first Hawaiians think when they discovered snow, common atop the Hawaiian mountains in the winter? How did the descendants of those first pioneers develop complex aquaculture and sound environmental conservation practices?

The history of King Kamehameha’s wars to consolidate the Islands into an internationally recognized Kingdom that lasted a century presents equally challenging questions. Then western commercial interests—in sugar, pineapple, and cattle—undermined the legitimate Hawaiian government with the Bayonet Constitution (1887), the overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani (1893), the banning of the Hawaiian language in government and schools (1896), and annexation by the US (1898). Not surprisingly, that sordid history has fueled a modern sovereignty movement.

While traveling and researching, I also “talked story” with Hawaiian friends, local police officers, ranchers, Park Rangers, and others. They pointed me to stunning geography, like the Waipiʻo and Pololū valleys, historical sites, like King Kamehameha’s war camp, or shared their stories about life in the Islands.

A need to share the story

Over the years, the more I learned, the more I wanted to share my newly acquired knowledge. So, I started writing. My day job as a litigator and criminal lawyer put me in touch with many real-life government investigators and prosecutors, and I’ve always been a fan of mysteries and thrillers. Consequently, I settled on the mystery genre as the vehicle to celebrate my love of Hawaiʻi. That decision started a virtuous circle. My research led me to write, and my focus on creative writing compelled more research.

From the outset, I sought to create a protagonist who was an investigator with the power to marshal forensic resources and insights into aspects of the Hawaiian government. And while I didn’t want my protagonist to be a prosecutor, I wanted a vehicle to bring my legal experience into the mysteries. The chief detective of the Hawaiʻi police, headquartered in Hilo, working with the county attorney, seemed like a good idea.

However, an even more challenging decision followed. I planned for Hawaiʻi itself to be a character in my mysteries. The initial impetus for my writing was, after all, to share my enthusiasm for the geography, history, culture, language, and politics of the Islands. To do that, I needed a Hawaiian protagonist who could speak the Hawaiian language, relate Hawaiian myths and legends, and express native outrage at the US takeover of the Islands. Thus, Koa Kāne was born as Chief Detective, a native Hawaiian son of a sugar worker and a traditional healer from Laupāhoehoe on the northern coast of the Big Island.

Bringing it all together

A host of other characters—some drawn from my law practice and others purely fictional—soon joined Koa. He falls in love with Nālani, a native Hawaiian biologist National Park Ranger and law enforcement officer in her own right. Hook Hao, a seven-foot-tall Hawaiian commercial fisherman, becomes Koa’s trusted informant and friend. Zeke Brown in fancy black cowboy boots serves as prosecutor, guiding Koa through many intricate legal obstacles. Jimmy Hikorea, a former marine turned federal archeologist, interprets the items found at various murder sites. Makanui, who tracked down the Philippine terrorists who kidnapped her parents, becomes one of Koa’s closest colleagues.

Given my demanding legal career, it took me 20 years to complete the first Koa Kāne novel—Death of a Messenger. After I started writing full time, three more Koa Kāne mysteries followed—Off the Grid in 2020, Fire and Vengenace in 2021, and Treachery Times Two in January 2022.

Robert McCaw grew up in a military family, traveling the world. He is graduate of Georgetown University, served as a U.S. Army lieutenant, and earned a law degree from the University of Virginia. He was a partner in a major international law firm in Washington, D.C. and New York City. Having lived on the Big Island of Hawaii, McCaw imbues his writing of the Islands with his more than 20-year love affair with this Pacific paradise. Treachery Times Two is the fourth in his Koa Kane Hawaiian Mystery Series, following Death of a Messenger, Off the Grid, and Fire and Vengeance. He now lives in New York City with his wife, Calli. Learn more at robertbmccaw.com.

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