by toby | Jun 30, 2023 | BOOKS, Hawaii, Paradise Crime Cozy Mystery, The Writing Life
In need of a lighter, brighter mood post-COVID, I set out to expand the Paradise Crime World in a new direction with a deep dive into a side character from the Paradise Crime Thrillers, Kat Smith, a Secret Service agent who guarded Sophie's dad, Ambassador Frank...
by toby | Apr 30, 2020 | Hawaii, The Writing Life
Grab WIRED GHOST, Paradise Crime Thriller #11, a book advanced readers say is, “Almost too hot to handle!” “Wired Ghost was a heart-stopping thrill ride that had all the feels rolled into one truly amazing story.” ~Goodreads “This is one...
by toby | Jan 7, 2019 | Hawaii, The Writing Life
Freckled: a Memoir of Growing Up Wild in Hawaii, my story of growing up on Kauai, debuted on December 30. It's been unlike any other book launch. People who know about the book have been emailing and messaging me to tell them how the book affected them, to share their...
by toby | Apr 16, 2016 | Food, Hawaii, The Writing Life
Organic farming hero of Maui chef James “Kimo” Simpliciano has an enduring quality that reminds me of the sun-hardened monkeypod logs we pass as we walk along the red dust road of his farm. Far-seeing eyes hidden under a billed cap, Kimo speaks softly, each sentence...
by toby | Jan 8, 2016 | Hawaii, Life, Parenting
There was six-foot surf goddess in my bedroom! Bethany Hamilton surfs like a girl, but moms like a woman, and last week, Bethany arrived on Maui with her hunky husband Adam, baby Tobias, father Tom, and filmmaker Aaron Lieber, to capture footage for her upcoming film,...
by toby | Oct 20, 2015 | Hawaii, Life
Skin offerings to the sun god, as I call my adventures with skin cancer, began early for me. I was born in the sixties (before the invention of sunscreen) I grew up in Hawaii, and I had red hair—the “trifecta of doom,” as the first of my many dermatologists called...