BY ERIN MILLER | WEST HAWAII TODAY
“A Game of Lies.” By Rebecca Cantrell. Tor/Forge Publicity. $24.99.
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German journalist and spy Hannah Vogel makes a new foray into her home country, this time with the 1936 Berlin Olympics as the backdrop in the third installment in the series by Kona author Rebecca Cantrell, “A Game of Lies.”
Vogel enters Germany under a false name, posing as a Swiss journalist there to cover fencing. Her real mission is to continue to uncover secrets about the Nazi regime, working with SS officer Lars Lang. An encounter with her mentor at Olympic Stadium just prior to his death pulls Vogel into an investigation of how and why he died, and what secrets he was trying to expose.
Cantrell’s story is exciting, moving readers quickly through the streets of Berlin into the world of big gambling and Nazi research. Cantrell’s writing, which was good when she began the series, has gotten even better, with tighter dialogue. The details with which she fills each book fully recreate Vogel’s Germany. And the book’s ending leaves readers waiting for the next installment, ready to pick up where “A Game of Lies” ends.
“Murder Leaves Its Mark.” By Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl. University of Hawaii Press. $16.99
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Mina Beckwith puts back on her sleuthing hat in Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl’s second mystery novel, “Murder Leaves Its Mark.” Efforts by sugar plantation workers to unionize in the 1930s provide the backdrop to this Honolulu-based whodunit.
Kneubuhl’s story builds good tension as Beckwith and her twin sister, Nyla Forrest, and Beckwith’s boyfriend, Ned Manusia, try to track down a killer. Along the way, they uncover family secrets, as well as play the role of wealthy do-gooders, finding jobs for a recent widow and two teenage girls they meet along the way.
Kneubuhl, a Hawaii playwright, brings to life Honolulu’s high society families in the years leading up to World War II, all the while taking the mystery to a satisfying conclusion.
“Anaole Polynesian Tattoo.” By Roland Pacheco. MDS Publications. $30.
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Big Island tattoo artist Roland Pacheco offers a study of modern interpretations of traditional Polynesian tattoo in “Anaole Polynesian Tattoo.”
Pacheco’s book includes more than 140 illustrations and definitions of various symbols used in traditional and modern Polynesian tattoo. His goal, when a customer enters his shop seeking a tribal tattoo, is to understand the customer’s understanding of the concept. In his years as a tattoo artist, Pacheco has undertaken significant study of the history of tattoo as a Polynesian art.
The result of that study is his book, which delves into a variety of styles and meanings behind popular modern tattoo designs. Pacheco offers early in the book the caveat that traditional Polynesian tattoos often had subjective meanings.
“In other words, despite there being a general agreement as to what the symbol of a wave looked like or meant, how and why it was used in a specific tattoo depended solely on the person executing the piece,” he wrote. “The meanings of the symbols were not set in stone and differed from culture to culture, sometimes greatly, sometimes subtly.”
His book may be found on Amazon, at his Hawi shop, Xisle Custom Tattoo, and Blue Wilderness Dive Adventures.
emiller@westhawaiitoday.com