Hunters Point:
A Novel of San Francisco

By Peter Kageyama

1958 – San Francisco is in the midst of an economic, demographic, and cultural explosion, yet many feel like outsiders to that prosperity. When the Bay Area’s underdog communities need help, they turn to Kats Takemoto, Nisei war hero and private detective.

Kats is drawn into a deadly environmental cover-up involving the US Navy, the government, and the west coast underworld. The massive naval base at Hunters Point threatens the entire region with deadly consequences.

The story takes us to Hollywood movie sets, Beat poetry readings, and the industrial heart of San Francisco as Kats and friends search for who is poisoning the waters of San Francisco Bay and why Bayfront Heights is quietly being bought out.

$18.95

Praise for Hunters Point

“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 of the 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 a**, 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 overs 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

“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

“Well-crafted, carefully researched, and written with insight and understanding of the lives of the people and the world they live in, this is a strong debut novel.”

— Judy Alter, award-winning author, Kelly O’Connell Mysteries

Meet the Author

Peter Kageyama

Author

Peter Kageyama is a third generation Japanese American – sansei. He is a former Senior Fellow with the Alliance for Innovation and the author of four nonfiction books on cities and urban development. Peter lives in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. Hunters Point is his debut novel.

www.peterkageyama.com

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