Writer
Deep Water
It’s 1971 in Coronado, a small southern California beach town. For 17-year-old Eddie Otero, a skilled waterman and avid surfer, life is simple. Then a buddy makes him an offer: Swim an illicit package across the border from Mexico. The intense workout is dangerous. Thrilling. Lucrative. And the beginning of a small business.
When the young entrepreneurs involve their former high school Spanish teacher, the smuggling adventure grows into a $100 million global operation over the next 10 years.
Soon they become fugitives. Living on the edge, they vow to return to their normal lives — right after one last run….
***
Katherine is the author of Deep Water, published by Simon & Schuster and optioned for screen adaptation. After its release (right: capacity launch event!), she completed a 25-venue book tour in California, Hawaii, and various states on the East Coast. A few media interviews are included below:
“Nichols’ gift for detail and narrative organization has resulted in a finely-crafted book that delivers the goods (and the bads), in a thoroughly compelling page-turner.”
“Deeply researched and evocative, Nichols’ narrative clearly illustrates where a single bad decision can lead. As events unfold, readers experience the emotional roller coaster inherent to dangerous, illegal activities. Readers who love true crime will find themselves engrossed in this true tale of excess.”
Published Writing
For Better and for Worse
Two weeks after my husband, E., was diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease that has no treatment or cure, he left me. At the time, we were preparing to depart on a long-planned family trip to Washington, D.C. Without warning, he declined to join us. He insisted...
Rain Forest Retreat
Town & Country Magazine
Sharks as ‘Aumakua
Honolulu Advertiser
Vera Wang Suite at the Halekulani
Town & Country Magazine
The Other Dementia
San Francisco Chronicle Magazine UCSF is at the forefront of studying frontotemporal dementia, a wasting disease similar to Alzheimer's that strikes patients at their peak. Dawn spoke with impeccable grammar until she reached her late 40s, when she began struggling to...
Racing the Tinman Triathlon
Honolulu Magazine Submerged in water up to my neck, I barely notice the first traces of light piercing the ocean. I've been awake for hours. It's 5:44 a.m., that eerie time between darkness and blinding sun. That silence between the nervous hum of voices and the crack...
Knead Me, Feed Me, Pamper Me Forever: How the One Percent do Kauai
Aloha Airlines Magazine Like most writers, I fashion theories about an assignment before ever making a phone call or stepping away from my desk. So it follows that I thought I understood everything there was to know about custom spa vacations before I ventured into...
Reading Aloud
Honolulu Magazine and Honolulu Advertiser It's not about books, really. The worn pages, colorful illustrations and printed words are important but confined to the role of catalyst. It's really about human touch. Reading to my children before bedtime is a way to...
Lost In Luxury: Profile of actor Daniel Dae Kim
HiLuxury Magazine Early afternoon sunlight radiates off the azure ocean peppered with earth tones of coral reef behind actor Daniel Dae Kim, posing beachside at the Kahala Hotel & Resort. Several hours into his HILuxury cover shoot, he’s dressed in jeans and a...
Betty Broderick Murders – TV & Podcasts
I worked with a team of talented people on projects related to Dirty John, USA Network's anthology true crime series: The Betty Broderick Story, starring Amanda Peet and Christian Slater. These included a mini-documentary that aired on USA Network and bonus podcast...
The Dirt on ‘Lost’
Working on a hit television show sounds glamorous. Until you actually do it. On this day in a jungle in Heeia, on Oahu's Windward side, slate-colored skies threaten rain. On the set -- a brief yet bumpy off-road drive from base camp, where trailers and a rudimentary...
Diminishing Returns
New York Times Magazine During the two years leading up to his diagnosis, my husband, a highly respected physician, struggled to communicate and complete work, left me in doubt about his truthfulness, accumulated debt I was unaware of and wrote a series of notes that...
Hanging with Pierce Brosnan, Dennis Quaid, and Virginia Madsen on Maui
Honolulu Star-Bulletin Nothing appears to bother Pierce Brosnan. Then again, he’s the former James Bond, with talent enough to sing and dance alongside Meryl Streep in the musical comedy “Mamma Mia,” slated to open next month. And it’s obvious that he’s venturing into...
Jimmy Buffett cures ‘boredom’ with (impromptu) concert
By Katherine Nichols When a barefoot Jimmy Buffett started his concert by singing a duet with Don Ho, the crowd of 2,200 gathered in and around Duke's Canoe Club knew it was in for a uniquely Waikiki experience. "This is what happens when you get bored on Maui," the...
Battleship Missouri
Associated Press PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — Each day, thousands of people visit the USS Arizona Memorial to pay tribute to the victims of Pearl Harbor. The Japanese sneak attack on Dec. 7, 1941, killed 2,388 Americans, shattered the U.S. Pacific Fleet, and propelled the...
Interview with “Lost” star Michael Emerson
Honolulu Star-Bulletin Like the character he plays on “Lost,” Michael Emerson is intelligent, witty, and charming. But unlike Benjamin Linus, there’s no disturbing subtext to any of these attributes. On a recent Saturday, the guest star who has become a regular force...
The Art of Traditional Tattoos
Honolulu Advertiser Tap-tap, tap-tap-tap. With each rhythmic echo of the wood, the thin, jagged comb-like edge of a boar's tusk dipped in ink pierces the skin of Daniel Reed's leg. Blood rises through the ink. But Reed, a 25-year-old former University of Hawai'i...
Hawaii’s Quiet Killer: Leptospirosis
Honolulu Magazine Damien Marks had just finished his junior year at Damien High School when he swam with his football teammates at Kapena Falls in Nuuanu. The next day, he became ill with a high fever. Because his parents resided in Kalaupapa, he lived on Oahu with...
Renaissance Woman: Model-Athlete Gabrielle Reece
HiLuxury Magazine On a long, steep, narrow, muddy road with sweeping views of the Hanalei River and Na Pali mountains, Gabrielle Reece negotiates a massive Ford truck – equipped with four-wheel drive and a toddler’s car seat – toward an excavator clearing trees where...
Actor Shia LeBeouf: Indiana Jones, Steven Spielberg, and Yale
People Magazine At 21, Shia LaBeouf may be the biggest movie star whose name leaves you tongue-tied. For the record: It's SHY-a La-BUFF—and he's currently at your multiplex, starring as a plucky surfing penguin in the animated movie Surf's Upand saving the world from...
Pure Kauai
Town & Country Travel Magazine For the ultimate in a tailor-made rejuvenating holiday, look to Pure Kauai, which plans wellness retreats on the northern shore of Hawaii's "Garden Isle" for celebrities, executives, newlyweds and others seeking pampering and...
Country Doctors
Honolulu Magazine Commuting between Oahu and Kalaupapa to treat Hansen’s Disease patients sometimes requires innovation beyond Dr. Kalani Brady’s medical expertise. The Honolulu physician flies to Molokai once a week. Yet inclement weather has prevented the plane from...
Sopranos Star James Gandolfini Ties the Knot
People Magazine James Gandolfini and fiancée Deborah Lin tied the knot Saturday in her hometown of Honolulu, Hawaii, a wedding guest confirms to PEOPLE. "There was a nice big kiss at the end with both hands on the cheeks" as The Sopranos star and Lin officially became...
Coconut Island
Welcome to a place with only one operating car. A few adventurous marine researchers try getting around on rusted bikes, but run the risk that a wheel might suddenly fly off. In one of Coconut Island's handful of tiny houses, roommates and doctoral candidates Ken...
Stars on the Water: Hawaii’s Best Ocean Athletes
Honolulu Magazine
The Art of Spa: Taking Care of Me
Aloha Airlines Magazine Interviewing Brad Pitt for the entire day might have been a better assignment. But instructions to luxuriate in several spas on the Big Island of Hawaii finished a close second. Off I went into a world of steam baths and orchid oils and "Here...
Shooting with Tom Selleck on Lanai
Honolulu Magazine
Adventure on the Back Road (with kids)
Honolulu Star-Bulletin At home in Rye, N.Y., Robbie Howard was building a $22 million house for a client. But on this day in a campground in Yellowstone National Park, the developer was in charge of laundry. He emerged from his tent, borrowed a rope and rigged a...
Classic Abs
Shape Magazine Depending on your geographical coordinates, you already may be donning chat cute little T-shirt that creeps up to reveal what you hope is a flattering sliver of midriff. If not, you will be soon enough, so consider it crunch time! Lose the gimmicks and...
Moab, Utah
Huffington Post Aside from a bevy of devoted mountain bikers who pay homage to the place every year in the 24-hour Mountain Bike National Championship, Moab, Utah doesn’t usually hover at the top of most people’s vacation wish lists. That’s a shame, because it’s one...
A Daughter’s Gift
A father loses his daughter, then runs a marathon with the man who receives her lungs.
The Beach at the Edge of the World
Aloha Airlines Magazine
Adventure & Luxury on the Na Pali Coast
Huffington Post Having Ironman Triathlon World Championship races in my recent past didn’t mean I could hike all 22 miles of the Na Pali Coast to remote Kalalau Beach and back in one day. People thought I was a little nuts. My triathlon training partner, an...
On the set with “Saturday Night Live” star Rob Schneider
Honolulu Star-Bulletin An assistant offers strips of tape to comedian Rob Schneider, who removes his pants to secure the flesh-colored stocking that amounts to less than a rudimentary loincloth. Tape anchored, he crab-walks with a pinched face, muttering “Ow!” and a...
Favorite (Encore) Wedding Spot
Associated Press HANA, Maui >> For my first wedding, a seamstress custom-made my gown and 300 people swarmed our catered beachfront dinner. The second time, everything else in our lives was so complicated that the wedding demanded simplicity. And Hana -- a small...
Find Your Balance
Runner's World Juggling multiple roles in life (including writing & modeling for Runner's World!)
Garrison Keillor behind the scenes: Genius at work
Honolulu Star-Bulletin Three hours before “A Prairie Home Companion” begins at the Blaisdell Concert Hall, Garrison Keillor starts to contemplate the 20-minute monologue he will deliver without notes on live radio to an audience of millions. Something about...
Descent into Dementia
[email protected] Experts seek to raise awareness of Frontotemporal Dementia FIRST OF TWO PARTS | LAST OF TWO PARTS A PERSON diagnosed with Frontotemporal Dementia became obsessed with winning a car, so he spent nearly $700,000 with Publisher's Clearing House...
Natural Hawaii: Ecotourism in the Aloha State
Alaska Airlines Magazine
Wood Into Art
Harvard Magazine A music stand of East Indian rosewood, with maple laminated veneers curved as delicately as a clef, stands rooted in a solid base so that it leans toward the musician with assurance. It expresses the remarkable integration of art and utility in the...
Fantasy Island: Runner’s World at the Honolulu Marathon
Why I Compete
Aloha Airlines Magazine My once strong arms are no better than two strands of pasta. I’m pulling salt water the way I have since I began swimming competitively more than three decades ago, yet viewing the same rock. I float briefly to rest my noodle limbs, clear my...
When Dementia is in the House – Needs Assessment Survey for Young Caregivers
Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences Authors: Katherine R. Nichols, David Fam, Cheryl Cook, Michelle Pearce, Gail Elliot, Sylvia Baago, Kenneth Rockwood and Tiffany W. Chow Abstract: Objective: To learn more about the needs and experiences of young carers for...
Young & Rich
People Magazine High School Musical's hot couple ... Who's richer: Zac or Vanessa? • Power Couple Real-life sweethearts Zac Efron, 19, and Vanessa Hudgens, 18, nabbed big bonuses when the Disney Channel movie scored, got raises for the sequel according to The New York...
Christina Aguilera in Waikiki
People Magazine Singer Christina Aguilera attends the Morimoto VIP dinner during the opening weekend of The Waikiki EDITION on October 16, 2010, in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Waikiki EDITION Opening Weekend - Day 3 The Waikiki EDITION Honolulu, HI United States October 16,...
Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy on Maui
Honolulu Star-Bulletin WAILEA, Maui Felicity Huffman seemed surprised to hear that her athletic endeavors inspire women. "I do?" the down-to-earth actress said, laughing. "Even though I run a 10-minute mile?" With encouragement from her trainer, Kirsten Hultgreen,...
Emmy Winner Michael Emerson
HiLuxury Magazine Playing Benjamin Linus on Lost earned him an Emmy, but actor Michael Emerson’s off-screen wit and tireless artistic dedication truly make him a star. Michael Emerson arrives early for the photo shoot at a studio in Kakaako with plenty of...
Try & Tri Again
Honolulu Advertiser I admired Vicki Viotti long before I met her. When she chronicled her loss of 20 pounds last year, I found myself riveted by her personal challenge and impressed with her honesty. She told the entire state about her goal. What if she failed? Public...
Anywhere the Wind Blows
Honolulu Magazine Ah, to be 22 and single, bronzed and fit. To travel the world half the year, making a living at your favorite hobby. To set your office hours by the wind. Such is the life of world-champion kiteboarder Martin Vari, who trains on Oahu when he’s not on...
Help on Horseback
Honolulu Magazine Since 14-year-old Jeremiah began horseback riding in Waimanalo, his mother, Laurie Kahiapo, has noticed that he behaves better, engages more appropriately with other people, and has improved his physical coordination. This kind of progress means a...
A Little Girl with Cancer and Her Beads of Courage
Honolulu Star-Bulletin Photo: FTR BEADS - Alyssa Miller, 7, held a strand of beads measuring more than 20 feet with her parents Marv and Maude at the Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children on Thursday afternoon. The beads are part of the Beads of Courage...
A First-Timer’s View of Xterra Off-Road Triathlon World Champs
Keeping up with Richard Dreyfuss
Honolulu Star-Bulletin Everyone wants to know how KHON anchor Joe Moore recruited an Academy Award-winning actor like Richard Dreyfuss to participate in “Prophecy and Honor,” about the court-martial of Billy Mitchell. Actually, the lure of a free trip to Honolulu made...
Eighteen Holes Per Hour
Read more about Bob Babbitt's wild game of celebrity Speed Golf.