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In this fourth book in the 'Kyoichiro Kaga' series, the police detective helps his cousin investigate two murders. The novel works fine as a standalone.
Police Detective Kyoichiro Kaga, who's stationed in the Nihonbashi Precinct of Tokyo, endured a traumatic incident as a child. When Kaga was twelve years old, his mother Yuriko left home.....
......leaving Kaga and his father to fend for themselves.
Kaga heard nothing more about his mother until she died sixteen years later, and Kaga was asked to collect her ashes. At that time, Kaga learned that - years after his mother left home - she developed a relationship with a man named Shunichi Watabe.
It's now a decade after Yuriko died, and Kaga is drawn into two murder inquiries that may shed light on his mother's life.
The first case begins when a woman named Michiko Oshitani, who recruits clients for a cleaning contractor, is found strangled in a Tokyo apartment.
Michiko lived far from Tokyo, but was visiting a former schoolmate in the city. Afterwards, Michiko was killed in the home of a man called Mutsuo Koshikawa, who seems to have disappeared.
A week later, an identified homeless man is found strangled and burned close to where Michiko was killed.
The fact that both Michiko and the homeless man were strangled lead the Tokyo Metropolitan Police to believe the murders are connected. One of the Tokyo homicide detectives, Shuhei Matsumiya, is cousins with Detective Kaga, who's legendary for catching killers. So Matsumiya asks Kaga to help investigate the two homicides.
The police speculate that the homeless victim might be the missing Matsuo Koshikawa, in whose apartment Michiko was found. This is hard to prove, however, because Koshikawa left nothing behind that could identify him.
A prime suspect for Michiko's murder is the woman Michiko was visiting in Tokyo, a theater director called Hiromi Asai.
Michiko and Hiromi went to junior high school together, but haven't seen each other in years.
When the investigators interview Hiromi, the theater director says Michiko had something important to tell her, and that Michiko planned to return home right after they spoke. Hiromi says she knows nothing more about Michiko's activities in Tokyo.
The Tokyo homicide squad, along with Kaga, dissect Hiromi's life bit by bit. They discover that Hiromi's mother deserted the family when she was in junior high school, and her father's subsequent death landed Hiromi in an orphanage.
Nevertheless, Hiromi's ambition and talent helped her become an actress, a writer, and a director.
In an effort to discover why Hiromi might have killed her old friend Michiko, the homicide detectives try to interview people who know (or knew) Hiromi well. These include Hiromi's junior high school homeroom teacher;
Hiromi's ex-husband;
the producer of Hiromi's smash hit play;
an actress Hiromi worked with; and others.
In the meantime, a police sketch artist produces an image of the missing apartment resident Koshikawa, drawn from descriptions of his neighbors.
Kaga uncovers evidence that leads him to think Koshikawa might also be known as Shunichi Watabe - the man with whom Kaga's mother had a romance before she died.
The dual murder investigations of Michiko and the homeless man get very complicated as various clues are uncovered. These include a calendar that lists twelve bridges in Nihonbashi Precinct, one for each month; train timetables; an extramarital affair; and a suicide.
As the story unfolds many secrets are revealed, and it's clear that not everything is as it seems. Kaga's detective skills cut through the chaff, however, and he uncovers the truth.
I enjoyed the police procedural plot and the glimpses of Japanese culture, such as the Nihonbashi bridge-washing ritual; sleeping on futons; kendo workshops; and more.
Thanks to Netgalley, Keigo Higashino, and St. Martin's Press for a copy of the book.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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