A finalist for the 2007 Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Mystery, Neil S. Plakcy's Mahu Surfer is definitely worth its salt. The novel - the second in a series of Mahu mysteries set in Hawaii - features a handsome, sexy homicide detective called Kimo Kanapa'aka who struggles to overcome personal troubles and makes private sacrificies for the public good. Throw in an exotic tropical locale, plenty of aloha spirit and a dash of surf culture, as well as a slam-bang ending that puts Kimo and the people he cares about in danger, and you've got the makings of a page-turning mystery.

We caught up with the author to find out more about the man behind the mysteries. 

Tell us about Mahu Surfer.
In my first mystery novel, Mahu, Honolulu homicide detective Kimo Kanapa’aka, is dragged out of the closet while investigating a difficult case. Mahu is a derogatory term for homosexuals used in the islands, and that book began what I see as Kimo’s ongoing coming-out process.

Kimo’s also a surfer, and for him surfing represents an escape from all the bad things he sees as a cop. In Mahu Surfer, his new boss asks him to go undercover on the North Shore, returning to his roots to find out who’s been shooting surfers.

I loved the idea that after finally beginning to tell the truth about his personal life, Kimo had to start hiding his professional life—to step into a different kind of closet. For various reasons, he’s not allowed to tell his friends and family that he’s returned to the force, and this need to lie to those who’ve supported him really tears at him.

Mahu Surfer is a current finalist for the 20th Annual Lambda Literary Awards for Best Men’s Mystery. What does this mean to you?
It’s a pretty ballsy thing to believe that a character and a story you’ve made up in your head can connect to readers, and it’s always nerve-wracking when the first reviews come out. Have you succeeded - or fallen flat on your face? I was thrilled for find out that I’d made the final six, because it was a validation that what I’m doing is working. The Lambda recognition can also help me reach new readers.

Tell us about Mahu Fire, the next book in the Mahu series.
Part of Kimo’s character development is to get involved in gay causes, and one of the most important in the islands is the issue of same-sex marriage. I saw him attending a benefit for a group advocating gay marriage, and a bomb going off which put his friends and family in jeopardy.

Once I came out of the closet, and started to get comfortable with myself, and make some gay friends (as Kimo does in Mahu Surfer), I started looking for a long-term relationship, which I found ten years ago with a terrific guy. I wanted Kimo to have the same happiness, so I knew that in Mahu Fire he was going to meet a guy who might be a keeper.

Fire investigator Mike Riccardi, who helps Kimo discover who was behind the bombing, turned out to be that guy. The development of their relationship is just as important as the investigation.

"It's a pretty ballsy thing to believe that a character and a story you've made up in your head can connect to readers, and it's always nerve wracking when the first reviews come out. Have you succeeded - or fallen flat on your face?"

The hero of your Mahu series is Honolulu homicide detective Kimo Kanapa’aka. Tell us a bit about Kimo and how the character has evolved over the course of the series.
When I first began thinking about Kimo, he was a straight private eye, a former cop who spent a lot of time on the beach in Waikiki. When I showed what I had written to my MFA thesis advisor, he asked me why Kimo had left the force.

I didn’t know. As I began my own coming out process, though, I realized that Kimo had left the force because he was gay, and that the book I had to write first was one in which I understood him as a cop. By the end of the book, though, he told me that he wasn’t ready to leave the force - that his identity as a cop, and ultimately as a gay cop, was too important to him to give up so easily.

That’s when I began to see the novels as tracking his coming-out process, as he goes through the steps that all of us do—coming out first to family and friends, then to the larger world. Finding an identity, then romance. I think because I’ve had this arc in mind, Kimo keeps growing throughout the books, and readers empathize with him each step of the way.

Why did you decide to write mysteries?
I’ve always loved mysteries, and I tried to write a couple of them unsuccessfully. It wasn’t until I was in graduate school for creative writing that I started to get an understanding of plot and structure - and realize that the mystery gave me the perfect skeleton I could hang an interesting character-driven story on.

Do you have any advice for aspiring mystery writers?
The traditional advice is still good: read, and write. Read the books you like, and try to analyze them and see what works, and how you can adapt those strategies to your own work. Take apart the books and see how long the whole book is, how long each chapter is, how much time is covered, where the bodies show up, and so on. Then sit down and start writing. Take a course, or join a critique group, to give you deadlines, an audience and feedback. And then keep going, even when you think the book is terrible. The only way to make it better is to keep revising.

Are there any specific gay authors that you would name as influences?
Joseph Hansen’s Dave Brandstetter mysteries were a big influence on me. Brandstetter was one of the first openly gay detectives, and I loved the way he used the resources of his community in solving his mysteries—a lesbian at the phone company, for example, who helped him research phone numbers.

Your Mahu website features an index of both contemporary and classic mysteries featuring gay detectives. In your opinion, how do the contemporary mysteries compare to the classic ones?
Books change with their times, and mysteries are no exception. On my site, I’ve organized 'classic' mysteries simply as those that are no longer continuing series. Some of those hold up very well, like the Brandstetter books and those by Michael Nava. Others may seem a little old-fashioned, because they don’t consider contemporary issues like safe sex. Many of today’s gay mysteries are well-written and I think they’ll stand the test of time.

Who are your favourite gay detectives?
I really like Anthony Bidulka’s Russell Quant, who’s based out of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Tony and I have been talking about Russell hooking up sometime with Kimo. Dave Brandsetter, of course; Benjamin Justice, the ex-journalist hero of John Morgan Wilson’s books; and Michael Nava’s attorney Henry Rios. There are a lot more, of course, but these are among the best.

Your writing has also been published in various erotic anthologies. How does it feel to know that you’re turning men on with your writing?
I’m my first reader! If I find something erotic and fun, then I hope my readers will, too. In writing the Mahu books, I want to show Kimo’s growing acceptance of his sexuality. But they’re mysteries, so there isn’t a lot of room in them for sex. Instead, I’ve written some stories about Kimo’s sexual adventures. My first published stories were erotica, and it was great to realize that I’d written something entertaining enough to be published.

Do you have any tips for writing a good sex scene?
I generally write sex scenes from the first person - the 'I' voice - to avoid those awkward pronoun problems (he leaned down and kissed him). I start with an interesting situation. In a forthcoming story in Alyson’s anthology Island Boys, Kimo’s asked to serve as a bodyguard for a major baseball star who’s just come out of the closet before visiting Honolulu for an exhibition game. I look for interesting stuff around the story – a setting in a locker room, for example. And I try to include as much sensory data as I can - what the other guy looks like, smells like, feels like and tastes like. I’m always looking for fresh language to describe things instead of clichés.

"I try to include as much sensory data as I can - what the other guy looks like, smells like, feels like and tastes like. I'm always looking for fresh language to describe things instead of cliches".

What novels would you recommend to readers who liked Mahu Surfer?
I’ve read three of the other Lambda finalists: Stain of the Berry; Drag Queen in the Court of Death, by Caro Soles; and Murder in the Rue Chartres, by Greg Herren, and I’d certainly recommend them. They demonstrate the same kind of character development that I tried to do in Mahu Surfer.

Last year, you co-authored Paws and Reflect Exploring the Bond Between Gay Men and Their Dogs with Sharon Sakson. Could you tell us about this book?
I was out walking my golden retriever one day, and we stopped to chat and sniff with a gay neighbour and his dog. Walking home afterward, I began thinking about the relationship gay men have with their dogs, and wondering if there was anything unique about our connection. Sharon is a dog show judge and dog breeder, as well as the author of a couple of dog books, and when I discussed this idea with her, we both thought it was worth exploring. Then we started finding guys with great stories to tell, about love and loss, and the result has gotten a tremendous response from dog lovers.

What’s next for you?
It’s been a busy spring! My third mystery, Mahu Fire, was just released, so I’ve been busy promoting it. Hard Hats, an anthology I edited for Cleis Press of gay erotic stories about construction workers, just came out this month, too. In between all that, I’m working on the fourth mystery in the Mahu series.

What else would you like to say?
There are so many great books being written by gay and lesbian authors today, and I’m delighted that the Lambda Foundation brings so many of them to the notice of readers. Anybody looking for a good book with GLBT themes could make a great start with their lists of past nominees and winners. I’m delighted to be in that company - but before I was a writer, I was a reader, and I love anything that brings books to readers.

Find out more at www.mahubooks.com and www.myspace.com/mahubooks, plus read our review of Mahu Surfer.

Mahu Surfer: A Hawaiian Mystery, by Neil S. Plakcy
Publisher: Alyson Publications
Released: 1 August 2007
ISBN: 1593500076

Buy Mahu Surfer online and save some money to put towards Mahu, the first book in Neil S. Plakcy's Mahu series of detective novels.