Wiley is a professional poker player in Portland who keeps vigil on the seedy streets of the city’s darker side. He’s no stranger to violence, but he’s got a good heart and a noble streak that his friends and family know is a mile long. His enemies often see a streak of a different sort, particularly when he teams up with this best friend, Leon, and the two are simultaneously beloved and feared among those who know them.
Wiley is also a man who solves problems for his friends. The murder of a young musician who is close to his extended family puts Wiley in a vengeful frame of mind. He follows the evidence through the darkest corners of the city. When the trail points to Hawai’i, a place in which Wiley has never set foot but seems lately to be calling him home, he heads for the land of his ancestors in the hopes of finding justice for his young friend.
Reminiscent of the classic noir masters but with a modern twist all his own, Lono Waiwaiole is increasingly recognized as one of the groundbreaking masters of noir fiction.
Critical Praise:
“Waiwaiole has been praised for his mastery of the detective noir genre, but he does more here [Wiley’s Refrain] than channel Raymond Chandler. He respects the conventions of the genre but makes it more believable by making his main character more nuanced. … I found all three Wiley books intelligent, satisfying, engrossing reads of the kind that are welcome on a rainy Sunday when all you want to do is curl up and go somewhere else in your mind.” from Honolulu Advertiser
“…Fans of the series will get their fill of tough-guy talk and lurid violence, along with some pretty strange sex…” from Publishers Weekly
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