Customer Reviews

Death on Diamond Head (A Kimo Rigg Mystery)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you have ever visited Oahu or plan to visit you'll recognize the places mentioned in this book. Kimo Riggs rings true because Madinger knows him because he knows HPD. A great read & souvenir of your time in Paradise. I hope Kimo lives as long as John Sanford's Lucas Davenport.

Great quick police procedural read! Lead character has likeability and a good sense of humor. Author clearly has solid understanding of law enforcement and the criminal justice system, specifically of the HPD and justice in Hawaii. Also weaves local flavor and geography into the story so it can be developed as a character in it's own right. Hope we see more from Kimo Rigg.

John Madinger is a Honolulu native with thirty years of law enforcement under his belt. He also has experience as a criminal investigator with the U.S. Treasury department, where he wrote textbooks and money laundering and informants. He lectures worldwide on financial crimes and investigation techniques. DEATH ON DIAMOND HEAD is his first Kimo Rigg mystery.

Kimo Rigg is not unlike the Mel Gibson's hilarious Riggs character in the Lethal Weapon movies. Rigg is a good cop who drives those around him crazy with his wise-cracking comments. Rigg has been relegated to basement quarters of the police station after he won a million dollar lawsuit against his supervisor. Serial Killings dubbed the "Double-Crosser" case have taken many young female lives, and the police thought the perp was dead. But another case crops up, and this time there are similarities to the modus operandi with two important differences: the victim died of heart failure, and the body turned up outside Rigg's new home. This puts Rigg in the unenviable position of having to prove his innocence before his supervisor can enact the ultimate revenge of pinning the murder on Rigg himself:

"'Yeah, but this ones goes deep into Paranoia-ville. Let's say there's somebody who really, really doesn't like me. They need to discredit me, but whatever they try has to be so strong it'll get past this legal shield I've got. Murder would do it, for sure, and they set it all up. I'm not the only one in the department who knows the Double-crosser's M.O., but I'm the one who lives 20 yards away from the body dump. Then all they have to do is a regular murder investigation with me as the suspect, do a warrant, find something of Stella's or a weapon in my place, and I'm toast.'"

John Madinger is in a unique position to construct the perfect police procedural sting murder on one of the department's own. Human emotions like jealousy and revenge are Madinger's vehicles for this excellent whodunit. Not only does he fool the reader until the very end, but he manages to create a character the reader can relate to and thoroughly enjoy. Kimo Rigg is a combination of the bad guy girls love with a sensitive soul.

Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer

Can't wait for a next book to see what happens with Kimo Rigg and Chief Chin. Good detective work, great setting, interesting story, all told with humor.

Enjoyed this Honolulu mystery with a police detective trying to solve a string of brutal murders in paradise. Aloha! -- from R. Barri Flowers, criminologist and bestselling author of MURDER IN MAUI (A Leila Kahana Mystery), The Sex Slave Murders: The True Story of Serial Killers Gerald & Charlene Gallego, Killer in The Woods: A Psychological Thriller, and Persuasive Evidence (A Jordan La Fontaine Legal Thriller)

I enjoyed this very much. It is a good, well developed police procedural that takes place in Honolulu; Kimo Rigg is very interesting and very funny: I laughed out loud. I would enjoy reading more Kimo Rigg novels.

This book was a very entertaining read. I picked it up at the newstand on my flight from Honolulu back to LA. The author admits this is his first novel, and in parts it showed. But I give him great credit on pulling it together for a fun read. It was however a bit short, and the ending was strangely slow... almost anti-climatic. That's why it lost a star in rating. But if you love Hawaii (and who doesn't?) and you are into mysteries, Go for it!

It's clear from the start this is written by someone who is a veteran law enforcement officer. Not only is it entertaining and keeps the reader guessing until the very end, it is has believable characters with dialog only an experienced crime fighter could write. Filled with both intrigue and humor, hopefully, Kimo will continue on in seveal more adventures.

My wife and I were recently in Honolulu, Hawaii and picked up this book and we have not been disappointed at all. In fact we are re-reading it again. We are big mystery and detective fans, so we like CSI, Monk, Psych, Inspector Morse, etc.

In "Death on Diamond Head" the author has fully developed his characters in a fiction novel, which is cleverly authentic, original and served up with a twist or two of humor. This novel (and we hope there are more coming)is nothing short of a great detective novel, which summons up thoughts of Mike Hammer or Charlie Chan, but without being dated or trite.

Wonder when we will see the movie or TV show?

I thought that this mystery was quite good, for its type...see title. (of review) Descriptions were also good, with lots of local color.

PS Author was a former employee of mine...the reason for buying this book.