Two surfers are lost in separate incidents half way around the world . . . In WIPEOUT! when a big-wave rider vanishes under a liquid mountain at Waimea Bay on O'ahu and his life-insurance company refuses to pay, Kai Cooke is hired by the surfer's pregnant wife, Summer McDahl, to prove he's dead. Did Corky McDahl expire in the boiling soup or pull off the most daring skip-trace ever? Finding the answer leads the PI on a twisted treasure hunt involving the islands' big-wave riding and drug trafficking scenes, plus the competing claims of Summer and another woman who also claims to be Corky's wife.

In HANGING TEN IN PARIS Kai investigates the apparent suicide of surfer and study-abroad student, Ryan Song, found hanging in his room in Paris. With scant knowledge of French or France, Kai tries to piece together what happened in the City of Light, without ever leaving the islands. He interviews a half dozen students and their professor who had accompanied Ryan abroad and finds that while their stories tally, none sounds like the truth. What are they hiding? Did Ryan really hang himself, or did some dark motive among them cause his death?

Ka Palapala Po'okela - Excellence in Literature Award