The Barefoot Detective

It's 1934 and Duke Kahanamoku—Olympian, lifeguard hero, movie star and surfing legend—has just taken on his hardest role yet—Chief of the Honolulu Police. Duke must his charm and cunning to unravel five terrifying mysteries: a Presidential visit shadowed by a potential assassin; a dubious suicide in the middle of the Pacific Ocean; a poisonous tiki turned loose on a millionaire's estate; a serial killer stalking the ghostly Waipio Valley; and a movie shoot in Waikiki that grinds to a halt after its director is found drowned in his own toilet. Doug Burgess seamlessly weaves historical events and persons with gripping narrative fiction. Individual stories, on the model of James Runcie's Grantchester and John Mortimer's Rumpole series, allow readers to fully experience the astonishing array of celebrities and events that made up Duke's singular life.