by Cynthia Chow
This week we have a review and giveaway of the debut mystery of Jennifer K. Morita, along with a fun interview with Jennifer. Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of the book and a link to purchase it from Amazon.
Ghosts of Waikiki by Jennifer K. Morita
Review by Cynthia Chow
After the closing of a struggling newspaper in San Francisco, reporter Maya Wong has to return home to Oahu despite not having been back since she left to attend graduate school in California. Now living in a “condotel” in Waikiki, Maya has taken on a well-paying ghostwriting job for the wealthy developer Parker Hamilton. The scion intends to publish a biography documenting his family’s “legacy” to Hawaii, a controversial one that will definitely be one-sided and focus on the Hamiltons’ developments of Native Lands. Maya needs the job and the money, but she wonders just what she may have gotten into when Parker’s 83-year-old father drowns not long after she meets him on the Hamilton estate. This has the unfortunate result of bringing Koa Yamada back into her life, as the lead Honolulu police homicide detective was once the boy whose heart she broke when she fled the islands so many years ago. Maya’s friends and family are more than enthusiastic about reuniting the couple, but his protectiveness and her interest in a Hamilton family attorney have her wanting to run in the opposite direction. An attempted mugging, break-in of her room, and the suspicion over Charles Hamilton II’s death make this impossible though, so instead she finds herself in the middle of an investigation while learning more about the complicated, politically ambitious Hamilton family.
Whenever I read a novel set on my home island of Oahu, I am both excited and anxious. As much as I love seeing the focus shine on Hawaii, too often authors miss the mark on details and completely throw me out of the story. That never happens in this debut novel though, as Jennifer Morita’s experiences and upbringing here successfully depicts island life and completely submerges readers into this world. Shoes are always left outside of the house and parties are outside, start late, and are filled with potluck items such as teriyaki chicken, macaroni salad, rice, and butter mochi. Not to mention of course, the delicious malasadas from Leonard’s Bakery, pastries from Deelite bakery, or the ubiquitous snack of Spam musubi.
Maya herself is a compelling character, diverted from her intended life path and adjusting to being back with her family and island home. She also has yet to decide whether staying on Oahu is something she can emotionally and financially handle, something that is very relatable to those who have grown up on what is the most populated but still very insular island where everyone does seem to know and be in everyone else’s business. Her biracial family is overly involved but always loving, with her beloved Popo just hoping that her granddaughter will meet a nice Chinese boy. Very timely topics critical to the Islands, such as the insane housing prices that make it impossible for locals to buy homes, controversial shopping developments, and the “helpfulness” of colonial families, are all introduced naturally and handled empathetically. I absolutely loved this novel, which is filled with accurate island settings and local traditions and customs. This author’s next return to the Islands just can’t come soon enough.
Interview with Jennifer K. Morita:
KRL: How long have you been writing?
Jennifer: I’ve always been a scribbler, but I’ve been writing professionally since graduating from college. I was a reporter covering mostly municipal government, development, and education stories for papers up and down Northern California for several years, and then I freelanced for a while. Now, I work for University Communications at Sacramento State writing stories for the website that amplify the great things our faculty, staff, and students are doing in the community.
I played around with ideas for a mystery novel for a long time before I started writing Ghosts of Waikiki in the fall of 2020 while we were sheltering in place during the pandemic.
KRL: I believe this is your first published novel right? What has your journey been like to get to this place?
Jennifer: Cindy Fazzi, whose thriller Multo was originally published by Agora Books in 2023 and will be re-released as Danger No Problem in September 2025 by Thomas & Mercer, uses a picture of a twisty road to describe her journey to publication. She pretty much nails it.
Ghosts of Waikiki is my first novel. In retrospect, my journey hasn’t been as bumpy, but when you’re in the thick of querying, revising, or on submission, it feels like you’re hurtling down Saddle Road on a foggy day with Kilauea erupting behind you.
I found my agent Lori Galvin through a Twitter pitch event called HivePit in 2021, then spent the next two years reworking my manuscript so it was ready to go on submission to publishers. I took just about every single Sisters in Crime Guppy online class they offered and watched a ton of webinars to figure out how to fix my book.
Jennifer K. Morita
I tried to be “zen” when we went on submission in June 2023, but I’ve got to be honest. There isn’t a zen bone in my body. We went to Japan for two weeks while I was out on sub, and I hung lucky omamori prayer charms at every temple we went to. It worked because while I was there Sara Henry from Crooked Lane expressed interest. I took the deal on my birthday in August.
It’s not all hearts and flowers just because you signed with an agent or landed a book deal. If you want to keep publishing, you have to keep pushing yourself and growing and learning. There are a lot of ups and downs in this business, and I’m learning to brace myself and hang on for the ride.
KRL: What a great birthday present! I believe you have written short stories before. Have you always written mysteries/suspense and if not, what else have you written?
Jennifer: I’ve written two short stories – both mysteries. Only one has been published. “Cranes in the Cemetery” was selected for the Capitol Crimes 2021 Anthology Cemetery Plots of Northern California. Technically, it’s my first published Maya Wong story, although I wrote it after I wrote Ghosts of Waikiki.
I love mysteries. It’s really the only genre I’ve ever wanted to write aside from mysteries for kids. I briefly considered writing an Asian American version of Nancy Drew for either Middle Grade or YA.
KRL: What brought you to choose the setting and characters in your latest book? Will this be a series?
Jennifer: I got the idea for a mystery with an Asian American reporter years ago when I was working at a weekly community paper covering local government. At the time I was reading Naomi Hirahara’s Mas Arai series as well as Jan Burke’s Irene Kelly mysteries and the Rei Shimura books by Sujata Massey. (I love a good mystery series.)
I ended up setting my book in Hawaii because my family lived there when I was a kid in the 1980s, and it always felt more like home to me than any of the other places we lived. So even though I originally started out thinking my book would be set in Sacramento, it really didn’t come together until I moved it to Honolulu.
I’m hoping Ghosts of Waikiki will be the first in a series.
KRL: Do you write to entertain or is there something more you want the readers to experience from your work?
Jennifer: I started out writing for entertainment, much like the books I loved to read. Writing was an escape from the crazy times we were living in – sheltering in place while wildfires burned in California. But as an Asian American woman, I have a certain perspective and the more I worked on Ghosts of Waikiki the more I realized I could explore issues of culture, family, and social justice through fiction. It feels good to right wrongs in fiction when you can’t in reality.
KRL: Do you have a schedule for your writing or just work whenever you can?
Jennifer: I have a loose schedule. I need the structure of at least telling myself I write at a certain time every day, but I have to be flexible because I have two kids and a full-time job. I set aside time almost every day to write, but I also squeeze in extra time when I can.
KRL: What is your ideal time to write?
Jennifer: In a cruel twist of fate, I have discovered that I write best in the morning even though I am a night owl. I used to stay up very late to write, but I’d get stuck on something and it was like banging my head on the wall. So I’d go to bed, and when I woke up in the morning the answer would come to me.
I asked James L’Etoile how he manages to write so many books, and he said he wakes up at 5 a.m. every day. So that’s what I do now, too. However, I refuse to drink pod coffee. I grind the beans, measure water and put it on the kettle the night before.
KRL: Do you outline? If not, do you have some other interesting way that you keep track of what’s going on, or what needs to happen in your book when you are writing it?
Jennifer: I’m a plotter, but I don’t use your typical outline. I write what I guess you’d call very long scene summaries. It’s not a very efficient way to plan a book, and I think someone once called it a stream of consciousness outline … but it works for me.
KRL: Did you find it difficult to get published in the beginning?
Jennifer: I got a lot of rejections, both from agents and publishers. Tears may have been involved. But because of our amazing writing community, I knew I wasn’t alone.
KRL: Do you have a great rejection/critique or acceptance story you’d like to share?
Jennifer: I applied for the Sisters in Crime Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for emerging writers of color in 2021 while I was querying for an agent, and I didn’t get it.
A year later, I was in the middle of revising when I saw a post about the looming deadline for the award. I’d recently read an article by Yasmin Angoe about how she almost gave up writing until she applied for the award and won. The deadline for the ETBA was later that week. I hemmed and hawed for a while before getting my submission in just under the wire.
I didn’t win, but I was a runner up. It was a sign that the revisions I’d made were working. And then Pat Canterbury, one of the founders of my local Sisters in Crime chapter, emailed me to say that Eleanor Taylor Bland had been her friend, and I would’ve made her proud.
It meant the world to me.
I also learned: if at first you don’t succeed … try again.
KRL: Most interesting book signing story-in a bookstore or other venue?
Jennifer: I had my official book launch at a great independent bookshop called Face in a Book in El Dorado Hills, where a lot of the Capitol Crimes authors have signings. Claire Booth, author of the Sheriff Hank Worth series, interviewed me, and I talked a little bit about another book idea I have for a mystery set in Sacramento’s Japantown about a woman who owns a mochi shop with her grandmother.
Later when I was signing books, a couple people shared their own memories of Japantown and Osaka Ya, the mochi store there. I left my launch with more ideas for the book, and the names of people to interview for research.
KRL: What are your future writing goals?
Jennifer: I’m hoping to publish more Maya Wong books, but I’ve also got a couple of other ideas I’m excited about including the mochi shop mystery. The other one is about a bartender in San Francisco Chinatown, whose customer confesses a terrible secret and then ends up dead in Portsmouth Square.
KRL: Who are your writing heroes?
Jennifer: Yoshiko Uchida, Amy Tan, Naomi Hirahara and Deborah Crombie.
KRL: What kind of research do you do?
Jennifer: I’m not an exhaustive researcher, but I once stopped writing to figure out what sort of pastries one of the characters would bring to a friend. I scrolled through the Instagram feed for a local Hawai?i bakery and decided on mochi waffles. Of course, that meant I had to make a batch.
While I was making them, I thought up the mochi mystery idea and then ended up spending a day at Osaka Ya to see what it’s like to work in one.
I’ve also participated in a special Writers Range Day event put on by another writer Karl Henwood to learn what it’s like to shoot a gun. I figure if you’re writing about murder, eventually one of the characters is going to have to get shot.
KRL: What do you like to read?
Jennifer: Mysteries. I like police procedurals a lot.
KRL: What are your favorite TV shows or movies?
Jennifer: I love British mystery series. Some of my favorites are Unforgotten, New Tricks, and I’m loving the new season of Shetland with Ashley Jensen. I’m also a huge fan of Kim’s Convenience, the Great British Bake Off and Top Chef.
The most recent movie I’ve seen in the theaters is American Fiction, which was great. I’ve also really enjoyed Crazy Rich Asians and Joy Ride.
KRL: Kim’s Convenience! Have you any advice for aspiring or beginning writers?
Jennifer: Just do it. Don’t be what stops you from writing.
KRL: What is something people would be surprised to know about you?
Jennifer: I’m terrible at math.
KRL: Do you have any pets?
Jennifer: We have a Boston terrier named Mushu.
KRL: Is there anything you would like to add?
Jennifer: You covered a lot!
KRL: Where can our readers find you online?
Jennifer: I’m on Instagram, Bluesky, and TikTok. I also have a Facebook author page and website: jenniferkmorita.com.
You can click here to purchase this book from Amazon.
To enter to win a copy of Ghosts of Waikiki, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “ghosts” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen January 4, 2025. U.S. residents only, and you must be 18 or older to enter. If entering via email please include your mailing address in case you win. You can read our privacy statement here if you like.
Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section. And join our mystery Facebook group to keep up with everything mystery we post, and have a chance at some extra giveaways. Also listen to our new mystery podcast where mystery short stories and first chapters are read by actors! They are also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify.
Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.
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