Introducing Kats Takemoto
In 1958, San Francisco was in the midst of an economic, demographic and cultural growth. Yet many still felt like outsiders to that prosperity and when they needed help, they turn to Kats Takemoto, the Nisei private detective known as a friend to the underdog communities of the Bay Area. Kats will be drawn into a deadly environmental coverup involving the US Navy, the government and the West Coast underworld. The massive naval base at Hunter Point is far more than it appears and the work there threatens the entire region with deadly consequences.
The story takes us to Hollywood movie sets, Beat poetry readings, the industrial heart of San Francisco and the battlefields of Europe during the Second World War as Kats and his friends search for the answers to who is poisoning the waters of San Francisco Bay and why land is being secretly being acquired in the Bayfront Heights neighborhood.
This rousing tale weaves real events and real people into an all too plausible tale of cover-up, betrayal and blackmail.
EXCERPT 1 Here. EXCERPT 2 Here.
Reviews
“The knockout first entry in Kageyama’s detective series starring Kats Takemoto… Arresting plotting and suspense, Hunters Point becomes a vital vessel to illuminate the past and those who lived there… This stellar San Francisco noir novel boasts rich characterization and a vital connection to the past.”
– Editor’s Pick, Booklife from Publishers Weekly. Full review here.
“Well researched… immersive setting… striking cameos. A fun and captivating historical noir.”
– Kirkus Reviews. Full Review Here.
“City politics rules in Peter Kageyama’s debut mystery featuring a fully realized Japanese American detective, Kats Takemoto, during the height of the Cold War era. San Francisco, the center of the arts, naval history, and Asian American communities, is the perfect setting for P.I. Takemoto to encounter sharp turns and dangerous inclines in his investigations. A very intriguing beginning of a promising series.”
– Naomi Hirahara, author, 2022 Mary Higgins Clark Award winner, Clark and Division, a Japantown Mystery
“To the long line of memorable private eyes who work the mean streets of fictional San Francisco, add a very cool newcomer: Kats Takemoto… Kageyama has done his San Francisco homework, and some of the city’s legendary places and characters make wonderful cameo appearances here. You’ve got to love a novel in which Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady barrel out of a Beat poetry reading and kick some bad-guy ass, and the heroes use the off-menu delicacies of Chinatown to fight the forces of evil. Hunters Point is a fun, well-plotted page-turner that lovers of San Francisco, and good detective yarns, will enjoy.”
– Gary Kamiya, bestselling author, Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco and Spirits of San Francisco: Voyages Through the Unknown City
“Navigate a thrilling noir San Francisco world as Kageyama weaves fact and fiction into a story packed with social awareness and mysterious wonder.”
– Justin Eisinger, co-author, New York Times bestseller, They Called Us Enemy
“In his debut novel, Peter Kagayama conjures up 1950s San Francisco and packs it with famous names from the era, including two beat icons who deliver an actual beating, but the magic of this compelling tale is his fictional creation, Kats Takemoto, a wily detective who combines a little ninja, a little Marlow, and even a little MacGyver. He’s a character worthy of a dozen sequels.”
– Paul Wilborn, author of Florida Hustle