cover image Game Face: A Ben McMillen Hawaiian Mystery

Game Face: A Ben McMillen Hawaiian Mystery

Mark Brown. Ox Bow Press, $19.95 (297pp) ISBN 978-0-918024-92-3

Ben McMillen, sometime detective and triathlete-in-training, makes his debut in this lively mystery set in the Polynesian paradise of Hawaii. Ben, the happy proprietor of Swift Benny's, a surf shop on Maui, since leaving the Kona police force two years ago, is summoned back to the Big Island to help solve the rape and murder of his ex-partner's wife. Three more women are killed before the clues fall into place and the identity of the rapist/strangler is revealed in a fiery finale. The backdrop elevates the book a notch, while Hawaiian folklore and bits of Eastern philosophy give the text an exotic flavor. Ben and his cronies, however, fall just short of becoming three-dimensional, never really cementing any genuine relationships with one another, and the murderer's motive is somewhat contrived. But the strengths outweigh the flaws here, and Brown and Ben McMillen are an appealing duo. (June)