The book is set for release Nov. 14 and is intended to be the first in a series.
The team behind NCIS is bringing a new book to fans of the show, true-crime followers, and history buffs alike. Mark Harmon and Leon Carroll Jr., who worked together on the CBS drama NCIS for many years, have penned the non-fiction book, Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor.
It is the first narrative non-fiction title from the pair and is set to be released by Harper Select on Nov. 14.
Harmon famously played Leroy Jethro Gibbs for 18 seasons on NCIS while Carroll served as the show's technical advisor due to his background as a real-life NCIS special agent. Harmon exited his role as Gibbs in 2021 after first appearing on the show in 2003, but his character was neither killed off nor officially retired, leaving an opening for him to make a return appearance.
The writing team's research for the book included referencing historical documents to tell the story of Douglas Wada, the only Japanese American agent in naval intelligence, and Takeo Yoshikawa, a Japanese spy sent to Pearl Harbor to gather information on the U.S. fleet. Told from the dueling stories of these two characters, the book tells this little-known story.
"I feel compelled to take part in opening up the history and real story of what became NCIS [Naval Criminal Investigative Service]. When I first started this show, there was not much information to be found by research," Harmon said in a statement. "NCIS agents are public servants at the highest level and many have come and gone through this life with no one knowing anything about who they are or what they do. And now that story gets told. All because of a TV show."
Carroll added that the book is "intended to be the first in a series," highlighting the inner workings of the organization's role in the nation's security.
"Even through all of the fascinating storylines of NCIS over the last 20 years, Mark Harmon always knew that the most amazing stories in naval intelligence were the true accounts in decades past. He had long desired to tell those stories, and we are honored to help take this first book to the world. Together with his longtime collaborator, Leon Carroll, they have brought the past alive in a true story that reads like a novel but shows the great debt we owe to so many who paved the way for our freedom," Matt Baugher, publisher of Harper Select, shared in a statement.
Ghosts of Honolulu will be available in hardcover, eBook, and audiobook. You can pre-order today.
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