Death of a Messenger

Foreword INDIES 2021 Bronze Winner for Mystery

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

While all of the novels in the Koa Kane Hawaiian Mystery Series stand on their own and can be read in any order, the publication sequence is:

Death of a Messenger
Off the Grid
Fire and Vengeance
Treachery Times Two
Retribution (coming 2023)

Robert McCaw grew up in a military family, traveling the world. He is a 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, representing major Wall Street clients in complex civil and criminal cases. 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. Death of a Messenger, a prequel, follows Fire and Vengeance and Off the Grid in McCaw’s Koa Kane Hawaiian Mystery Series. He now lives in New York City with his wife, Calli.