Publisher's Weekly Review
In Higashino's satisfying second novel featuring Kyoichiro Kaga to be published in English (after 2014's Malice), the Columbo-like Tokyo police detective pursues loose ends in the case of the strangulation murder of Mineko Mitsui, a divorcee estranged from her only child, whose friends insisted that "she was the last person on earth to have enemies." Kaga believes that his responsibilities as a homicide investigator extend to finding ways to comfort those traumatized by violent crime. He begins with a family that runs a store that sells rice crackers to ascertain whether an insurance salesman who claimed he was in Mineko's apartment shortly before her death on business had an alibi. Other threads include the identity of the person who bought an assortment of pastries found at the scene of the crime, and why the dead woman purchased an expensive pair of kitchen scissors. Although the solution is less elaborate than those in the author's Detective Galileo novels, the end result is a police procedural puzzle mystery that comes across as more realistic. (Nov.) c Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Library Journal Review
In this latest by seasoned suspense author Higashino (Under the Midnight Sun; The Devotion of Suspect X), Detective Kaga visits local business owners to learn who murdered Mineko Mitsui, a recent transplant to the Nihonbashi area of Tokyo. Instead of fading into the background as Kaga gets closer to the truth, these shopkeepers form the core of the novel-think a Law & Order episode dominated by the quiet dramas of the bit players. Most of their lives touched Mineko's only briefly, if at all, yet each gives Kaga a clearer picture of the woman and reveals that beneath its sedate surface, Nihonbashi bubbles with family secrets, joys, and pains. Though the discovery of the murderer's identity isn't shocking, the journey there is rewarding. Readers seeking a thriller full of abrupt twists and grisly violence may be disappointed, but many will appreciate Higashino's graceful prose and willingness to push the limits of the genre. VERDICT For fans of the author, Seicho- Matsumoto, and other writers of deliberately paced mysteries. [See Prepub Alert, 5/14/18; "Editors' Fall Picks," LJ 8/18.]-Mahnaz Dar, Library Journal © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
