A Death in the Islands: The Unwritten Law and the Last Trial of Clarence Darrow

(Hardback)

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Lies, murder, and a legendary courtroom battle threaten to tear apart the Territory of Hawaii.

In September of 1931, Thalia Massie, a young naval lieutenants wife, claims to have been raped by five Hawaiian men in Honolulu. Following a hung jury in the rape trial, Thalias mother, socialite Grace Fortescue, and husband, along with two sailors, kidnap one of the accused in an attempt to coerce a confession. When they are caught after killing him and trying to dump his body in the ocean, Mrs. Fortescues society friends raise enough money to hire seventy-four-year-old Clarence Darrow out of retirement to defend the vigilante killers. The result is an epic courtroom battle between Darrow and the Territory of Hawaiis top prosecutor, John C. Kelley, in a case that threatens to touch off a race war in Hawaii and results in one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in American history.

Written in the style of a novel, but meticulously following the historical record, A Death in the Islands weaves a story of lies, deception, mental illness, racism, revenge, and murdera series of events in the Territory of Hawaii that nearly tore apart the peaceful islands, reverberating from the tenements of Honolulu to the hallowed halls of Congress, and right into the Oval Office itself, and left a stain on the legacy of one of the greatest legal minds of all time.

Reviews

The best part about this very engaging book is its riveting portrait of Clarence Darrow. He is of course one of historys most famous lawyers, but I didnt feel that I really knew him until now.
S.C. Gwynne, New York Times bestselling author of Empire of the Summer Moon, and Rebel Yell

The Hawaiian sun is the only thing that shines bright in this compelling narrative. I couldnt put the book down.
Laurence Leamer, author of The Lynching: The Epic Courtroom Battle That Brought Down the Klan

An enthralling tale of rape, murder, and injustice in 1930s Hawaii that starts out as a police procedural and evolves into a courtroom drama starring one of the greatest lawyers who ever livedand hes not even the best one in the courtroom. Irresistible.
James Donovan, bestselling author of A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn, the Last Great Battle of the American West

This spellbinding book reads like a novel but has been meticulously researched to reveal the truth about one of Hawaii's and Clarence Darrow's most controversial cases. Mike Farris opens the lid on this real-life legal thriller with a brilliant command of the facts and a captivating writing style.
William Bernhardt, author Challengers of the Dust

What a cast of characters: heavyweight trial attorneys, headstrong military leaders, grandstanding politicians, a scheming socialite, and five young men falsely accused of rape. And its all set in paradise: Hawaii in the 1930s. It's hard to find a story with such narrative drama and courtroom excitement, but Mike Farris has done it.
Skip Hollandsworth, author of The Midnight Assassin: Panic, Scandal and the Hunt for America's First Serial Killer

Take an exotic setting, a hidden mystery, courtroom theatrics and an engrossing cast of characters, and you have all the elements for a terrific yarn. Mike Farris combines a lawyers knack for meticulous research with a novelists gift of dramatic storytelling. The result is a fascinatingand outrageoustale that was lost until now. Farris brings it all to life wonderfully.
Doug J. Swanson, author of Blood Aces: The Wild Ride of Benny Binion, the Texas Gangster Who Created Vegas Poker

Mike Farris has written an absolutely riveting book about a 1931 Hawaiian case that is remarkably analogous in many ways to the far better-known Scottsboro Boys. It, too, featured dramatic false charges of gang rape that played on the racial divisions. Most surprising is that one of the villains was Clarence Darrow; equally surprising, at least for some readers, will be the courage not only of a local judge, but also of police officers who recognized that those charged with the crime were in fact being framed. Farris draws on extant trial transcripts and newspapers, but he adds to these a novelistic recreation of the unfolding of the events in the lives of their participants.
Sanford Levinson, author of Our Undemocratic Constitution

This compulsively readable tale reads like a legal thriller but is, in fact, a shocking look back to an era we must never forget. Even today, we hear echoes of this injustice. The names and faces may change, but the sad truth remains that we are not all judged equally under the law.
Tess Gerritsen, New York Times-bestselling author of the Rizzoli & Isles series

A riveting page-turner where a wife of a Navy officer falsely claims she was raped by several Hawaiians. Its Scottsboro in Honoluluboth in 1931. After a hung jury the commanding admiral at Pearl Harbor proclaims the trial in my opinion and many others was a stupid miscarriage of justice which could have been avoided if the Territorial Government had shown more inclination to sympathize with my insistence of the necessity of a conviction. Then the story gets even better.
Lucas A. Powe, Jr., author of The Supreme Court and the American Elite, 17892008

This book is better than the best crime fiction I have read and more informative than the best criminal justice non-fiction I have studied. The real-life characters, historic truths, and lessons learned in this book about our criminal justice system and its flaws, are extraordinary and meaningful, but even they are overwhelmed by the sheer joy and suspense of this wonderful book. Bravo.
Joe Cheshire, defense attorney in the Duke Lacrosse Case

With a writers touch for mystery and suspense, and an attorney's keen insight, Mike Farris documents a gripping true story of lies and deceit and injustice that I dare you to put down. A Death in the Islands will surprise you, grip you, and keep you up reading late into the night. Put this one on your must list, clear a weekend, and start turning the pages.
Robert Dugoni, #1 Amazon and New York Times bestselling author of My Sisters Grave

A Death in the Islands is a gripping story of injustice and legal misconduct, a compulsive page-turner that reads like a true-life film noir. An accomplished attorney himself, Michael Farris casts a sharp light onto issues of sex, race and class in 30s-era Hawaii that continue to resonate in todays troubled political times. His unsparing portrait of an opportunistic Clarence Darrow is only one of several major surprises in a narrative of sustained suspense. The story of the Ala Moana boys is more than a cautionary tale; it's an indictment of an entire society that leaves you brimming with outrage.
Kirk Ellis, writer/co-executive producer, HBOs John Adams
The best part about this very engaging book is its riveting portrait of Clarence Darrow. He is of course one of historys most famous lawyers, but I didnt feel that I really knew him until now.
S.C. Gwynne, New York Times bestselling author of Empire of the Summer Moon, and Rebel Yell

The Hawaiian sun is the only thing that shines bright in this compelling narrative. I couldnt put the book down.
Laurence Leamer, author of The Lynching: The Epic Courtroom Battle That Brought Down the Klan

An enthralling tale of rape, murder, and injustice in 1930s Hawaii that starts out as a police procedural and evolves into a courtroom drama starring one of the greatest lawyers who ever livedand hes not even the best one in the courtroom. Irresistible.
James Donovan, bestselling author of A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn, the Last Great Battle of the American West

This spellbinding book reads like a novel but has been meticulously researched to reveal the truth about one of Hawaii's and Clarence Darrow's most controversial cases. Mike Farris opens the lid on this real-life legal thriller with a brilliant command of the facts and a captivating writing style.
William Bernhardt, author Challengers of the Dust

What a cast of characters: heavyweight trial attorneys, headstrong military leaders, grandstanding politicians, a scheming socialite, and five young men falsely accused of rape. And its all set in paradise: Hawaii in the 1930s. It's hard to find a story with such narrative drama and courtroom excitement, but Mike Farris has done it.
Skip Hollandsworth, author of The Midnight Assassin: Panic, Scandal and the Hunt for America's First Serial Killer

Take an exotic setting, a hidden mystery, courtroom theatrics and an engrossing cast of characters, and you have all the elements for a terrific yarn. Mike Farris combines a lawyers knack for meticulous research with a novelists gift of dramatic storytelling. The result is a fascinatingand outrageoustale that was lost until now. Farris brings it all to life wonderfully.
Doug J. Swanson, author of Blood Aces: The Wild Ride of Benny Binion, the Texas Gangster Who Created Vegas Poker

Mike Farris has written an absolutely riveting book about a 1931 Hawaiian case that is remarkably analogous in many ways to the far better-known Scottsboro Boys. It, too, featured dramatic false charges of gang rape that played on the racial divisions. Most surprising is that one of the villains was Clarence Darrow; equally surprising, at least for some readers, will be the courage not only of a local judge, but also of police officers who recognized that those charged with the crime were in fact being framed. Farris draws on extant trial transcripts and newspapers, but he adds to these a novelistic recreation of the unfolding of the events in the lives of their participants.
Sanford Levinson, author of Our Undemocratic Constitution

This compulsively readable tale reads like a legal thriller but is, in fact, a shocking look back to an era we must never forget. Even today, we hear echoes of this injustice. The names and faces may change, but the sad truth remains that we are not all judged equally under the law.
Tess Gerritsen, New York Times-bestselling author of the Rizzoli & Isles series

A riveting page-turner where a wife of a Navy officer falsely claims she was raped by several Hawaiians. Its Scottsboro in Honoluluboth in 1931. After a hung jury the commanding admiral at Pearl Harbor proclaims the trial in my opinion and many others was a stupid miscarriage of justice which could have been avoided if the Territorial Government had shown more inclination to sympathize with my insistence of the necessity of a conviction. Then the story gets even better.
Lucas A. Powe, Jr., author of The Supreme Court and the American Elite, 17892008

This book is better than the best crime fiction I have read and more informative than the best criminal justice non-fiction I have studied. The real-life characters, historic truths, and lessons learned in this book about our criminal justice system and its flaws, are extrao

Author Bio

Mike Farris is a commercial litigator and entertainment lawyer in Dallas, Texas. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, and is on the faculty at the La Jolla Writers Conference. His books include Front Row Seat: A Veteran Reporter Relives the Four Decades that Shaped America and Call Me Lucky: A Texan in Hollywood. Farris lives in Sunnyvale, Texas.