Synopsis

The Cold War and the Beat Poets of North Beach collide in 1958 San Francisco in Peter Kageyama’s noir thriller about a Japanese American private eye investigating the mysterious goings on at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard.

SAN FRANCISCO, 1958. World War 2 veteran, Katsuhiro, “Kats” Takemoto is a Nisei, second generation Japanese American and the private detective for those who don’t get noticed by the police or get the attention of traditional private eyes. The city is exploding with population growth and creative expression as the Beat poets and artists fill coffee shops and galleries. When a young Beat poet enlists Kats to keep his family from being pushed out of the Bayview Heights neighborhood by a shady developer, Kats learns that the conspiracy to take over the land around Hunters Point runs deep into Cold War fears and politics. Kats takes on the US government, the Navy, unscrupulous businessmen and the west coast mafia as he and his friends race to find the truth.

Award winning author Peter Kageyama’s debut novel brings the post-war San Francisco scene to life with historic characters including Jimmy Stewart, Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, Alfred Hitchcock and Shig Murao, along with the dynamics of racial identity for Japanese Americans finding their footing again in America following the war and internment.

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Excerpt

Katsuhiro Takemoto watched the man who was watching the woman. Voyeurism wasn’t unusual for Kats. As a private detective, he spent too much time quietly observing the lives of others. Today was different. Today he knew the man he was watching.

Fort Point, under the Golden Gate Bridge, was where tourists, lovers, and even the locals came for the spectacular view of the bridge and the bay. It was unusually empty today, but Kats wasn’t looking at the scenery. The tall man in the dapper gray suit and brown hat kept his distance as he watched the woman walk toward the embankment’s edge. He didn’t need to conceal himself, as the woman was focused on the bouquet of flowers she held in her white, gloved hands. Even at this distance, Kats knew she was beautiful. Her hair was platinum blond and swept up, and she wore a dark blue dress that flattered her high-heeled walk.

She stopped at the elevated edge and began to slowly pick apart her bouquet, throwing the flowers one at a time into the cold water below. The gray-suited man shifted back and forth as if he was trying to puzzle out the meaning of this gesture. As the last of the flowers fell from the woman’s hands, she purposefully turned toward the bay and jumped into the water.

The man stood stunned for a moment but then rushed forward to where she had stood. Throwing off his coat and hat, he approached the water and prepared to leap.

“Cut!” came the voice over Kats’s shoulder. Instantly the empty park was filled with activity. Production assistants rushed forward, the stuntmen and stunt women crawled back up the embankment, and costumers grabbed the coat and hat as the park transformed into a Hollywood movie set.

Kats turned his attention to the gray-suited man who had turned and was walking back toward the camera and the large presence sitting there. Alfred Hitchcock, the acclaimed film director, sat talking with his cameraman and his assistants. “That was fine, James. I believe we have what we need,” Hitchcock said in his unmistakable voice. Never one to lavish praise on even the finest actors, everyone knew that was Hitch’s way, especially the man in the gray suit who was an old hand at dealing with the demanding director.

Jimmy Stewart, America’s favorite male actor for over a decade, smiled as he approached the director. Even though the reshoot of this scene could probably have been done with a stand-in, Stewart was happy to reprise the scene and the character he had inhabited since late summer. “How about some b-roll of me swimming in the bay?” quipped the actor with a smile.

Hitch elongated his already elongated face, “Thank you, James. We are quite done with San Francisco.” Production delays and these reshoots had put Hitchcock behind schedule, and everyone knew he was feeling pressure from the studio. He was anxious to return to the controlled confines of Paramount Studios in Hollywood to finish his film.

Kats quietly stood back as several folks approached the actor and attended to various bits of business. Eventually Stewart broke away and, turning to Kats, smiled and said, “What do you think?”

“I thought I was going to have to jump in after you.” Stewart laughed, and Kats smiled at the face familiar to everyone in America. Kats was still amazed that he and this American icon had become friends over the past several months. The movie had brought them together.

reprinted with permission

About the Author

Peter Kageyama is the author of For the Love of Cities: The Love Affair Between People and Their Places, the follow ups, Love Where You Live: Creating Emotionally Engaging Places, and The Emotional Infrastructure of Places. In 2021, he released For the Love of Cities REVISITED, a revised and updated version of his award-winning book.

In 2023, his debut novel based on the post-internment life of his parents was released by St. Petersburg Press.

Peter is a special advisor to America In Bloom and was a Senior Fellow with the Alliance for Innovation, a national network of city leaders. He is an internationally sought-after community development consultant and grassroots engagement strategist who speaks about bottom-up community development and the amazing people who are making change happen around the world.

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