This August, BookSwell’s Read Local SoCal pick is The Killing Spell by Shay Kauwe, a spellbinding debut in which a young Hawaiian woman must solve a murder to clear her name, on a Hawaiian Homestead in a future outer Los Angeles. We’re reading it together all month, and we invite you to read along.

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About the book

In this spellbinding fantasy debut set in a future where language magic reigns, a young Hawaiian woman must solve a murder to clear her name.

Kea Petrova is dealing with more than her fair share of trouble.

At just twenty-five years old, she’s the youngest of five Hawaiian clan leaders living on the Homestead in outer Los Angeles. Nearly 200 years ago, when a catastrophic flood submerged the Hawaiian islands and unleashed magic into the world, these clans forged a treaty with the city, establishing a new Hawaiian homeland. But that treaty is about to expire.

Kea struggles to keep her small clan afloat, scraping together rent each month through odd jobs and selling her own crafted Hawaiian language spells. While her talent for language magic is her saving grace, she feels like a shadow of those who came before her. Just when she thinks things can’t get any more complicated, the murder of Angelo Reyes—LA’s most prominent Filipino activist—turns her world upside-down.

Angelo was killed by a death spell—something that, due to the properties of each school of language magic, can only exist in Hawaiian. With independent spellsmithing being technically illegal, Kea quickly becomes the prime suspect, known for her spellwork on the Homestead. To clear her name, she must unravel the mystery behind Angelo’s murder and confront LA’s most powerful (and dangerous) players, each wielding their own type of magic. The clock is ticking—can Kea save herself, her clan, and the Homestead before it’s too late?

Publisher’s description, Saga Press / Simon & Schuster.

“An absolutely fantastic debut. A fantasy steeped in language magic and a murder mystery, The Killing Spell serves as a thoughtful exploration of the consequences of colonization and the choices the colonized are forced to make in order to survive. I tore through this book and loved every second. Shay Kauwe is a talent to watch.” — Rebecca Roanhorse, New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-winning author of the Between Earth & Sky trilogy

Genre: Fantasy · Mystery. Themes: Hawaiian language magic (ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi), colonization and survival, diaspora and displacement, a reimagined Los Angeles. Published by Saga Press (Simon & Schuster), April 14, 2026.

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Meet Shay Kauwe

Shay Kauwe was born and raised on the island of Oʻahu and grew up on the Hawaiian Homelands in Waimānalo. She worked in Russia as an English teacher but was eventually drawn back home. While she has a corporate job in telecommunications, Shay continues to educate with the Hawaii Literacy Project. She resides in Honolulu with her husband, Denis, and their poi dog, Iris. Find her at ShayKauwe.com and on Instagram at @ShayKauwe.

In the author’s words

We sent Shay Kauwe six questions about language, place, legacy, and writing a murder mystery out of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi. She answered every one of them at length. Here’s what we asked:

• The magic system is rooted in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi. What drew you to build magic from language, and what does it mean to you to center Hawaiian specifically?
• You grew up on the Hawaiian Homelands in Waimānalo and work with the Hawaii Literacy Project. How did your own relationship to place and language shape the Homestead and Kea’s world?
• The novel imagines a future where climate catastrophe has displaced Hawaiians to outer Los Angeles. Why set a Hawaiian story in a speculative LA, and what does that relocation let you explore?
• Kea is a young clan leader who feels like “a shadow of those who came before her.” What did you want to say about inheritance, leadership, and living up to a legacy?
• Themes around colonization and the choices the colonized make to survive run through the book. How did you weave that into a propulsive murder mystery without losing either thread?
• For SoCal readers meeting your work through Read Local, is there anything about Hawaiian language, culture, or the diaspora you hope they carry away from Kea’s story?

A taste of her answer to the first one: Shay also named a favorite line from the novel itself — Kea’s realization that:

“Legacy wasn’t something that was handed down to you in a line of succession; it was what you chose to do in the present.”

— The Killing Spell

The full Q&A — all six answers, reproduced verbatim — runs in the free discussion guide below.

Read along with us

Every Read Local SoCal feature includes a discussion guide we send by email, designed to help book clubs and solo readers go deeper on the book’s themes and craft. Drop your email below and we’ll send the Killing Spell guide straight to your inbox, along with the rest of the Read Local August kit.

Companion reads

If The Killing Spell lands for you, here are four more books we recommend pairing it with. All links go through Bookshop.org to support indie bookstores.

• Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn. A Hawaiian family saga braided with myth and the pull of the islands.
• This Is Paradise by Kristiana Kahakauwila. Stories of contemporary Hawaiʻi and the tension between paradise and reality.
• Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse. Indigenous epic fantasy, from one of the book’s blurbers.
• Midnight, Water City by Chris McKinney. A Hawaiʻi-set future noir, also a Killing Spell blurber.

How to participate

• Follow along on Instagram. We post Read Local SoCal content on @bookswellclub throughout the month — author spotlights, pull quotes, and reader shoutouts.
• Tag us in your reading. Post a photo of the book, a favorite line, or your read-along setup, tag @bookswellclub and use #ReadLocalSoCal. We boost reader posts all month.
• Tag the author. Tag @ShayKauwe when you post and let her know what landed for you.
• Find us on Facebook. If Instagram isn’t your home, follow BookSwell on Facebook. Same content, slightly different crowd.

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About Read Local SoCal

Read Local SoCal is BookSwell’s monthly campaign connecting readers in Southern California with local authors — particularly Black, Indigenous, Asian, Latinx, LGBTQ+, women, nonbinary, and indie writers. Each month spotlights one book by one author. We provide a free discussion guide, recommend companion reads, and amplify the readers, book clubs, and creators who are already lifting these books up. The program runs through mid-November, with a new featured book on the first of every month. Want the next pick delivered to your inbox the day it drops? Subscribe to the BookSwell newsletter.