This chapter was digging into my memory banks during my college years, when Jake goes to the surf shop and jokes about buying clothes for his dad. Those were the kind of things that I used to with my dad in an attempt to force him to be cool. Dad was always a good sport about the gifts that I bought.
Writing a murder mystery that centered around Christmas time didn’t bother me. That was merely a coincidence. I was trying to be authentic with the timeframe of the storyline. When I had started working on this novel, The Pipe Masters surf contest was still being held in December. The World Surf League has since moved the contest to early part of the year, now being held in late January or early February. With surf contests they utilize what they refer to as a window—a block of two-three weeks. That allows for poor weather conditions to pass if need be. That also allows for the contest to be be held under the most favorable conditions. This provides both the surfers and spectators the best possible event to experience.
Writing a story around the island of Oahu gave me a chance to revisit, so to speak. The wife and went four times between 2017 and 2019. We became very familiar with a lot of areas of the island. It’s basically impossible to get lost on the island. But I liked using a lot of familiar landmarks to work with. There are a couple of outdoor block malls, but Kahala Mall is the main interior mall, existing in the Honolulu area.
The name of the surf shop is taken from my favorite coffee shop on the island - Island Vintage. Absolutely amazing food and beverages. To say it’s a regular spot for us would be an understatement. We’re usually there almost every morning. If you hit the islands, it’s a must visit.
For the story, using the surf shop is where we start to tie a lot of the criminal activity to the island. I know my way around a surf shop, and the basics of a surfboard. While am a surfer, I’m not a designer, nor am I skilled enough to know the ins and outs of the technology of the design and what causes a specific type of board to function a certain way. I didn’t want to go to far into the weeds and nitty gritty details of a surfboard and how they’re ridden and what the feature provide for fear of losing the reader.