Detective Kyoichiro Kaga is a newcomer as an investigator in the Nihonbashi precinct in Tokyo. Instead of the usual trope of the tortured or flawed or divorced or somehow broken detective, Kaga is mostly…..kind. He doesn’t seem to have any of the personal problems that give other detectives a distinctive personality. He goes about his business, trying to piece together a crime solution, ruffling as few feathers as possible.
At times he buys small gifts for the people he interviews. Not just to gain their trust, although you can see that it helps, but because he is nice.
In Newcomer, he is investigating the strangulation of Mineko Mitsui.
Mitsui is, similar to Kaga, an individual who doesn’t seem to have any enemies. She is divorced and estranged from her son, and also a newcomer to the precinct where Kaga works.
In procedural fashion, Kaga visits stores in the surrounding area to talk with a variety of characters. There is a helpful list of the venues and people, with their roles set out, at the beginning of the book.
No spoilers here. The denouement is no real shocker, but more of a why-done-it.
I enjoyed the foreign setting and found it to be a quick and easy read.
My only quibble with the book was the translator. He seemed to use a lot of idioms as figures of speech. More than you would ever expect in a single book. Other than that, a quick and satisfying read that you might enjoy.
There are several other titles by this author available through the BCCLS system in English, Chinese, and Korean translations as well as in Japanese (this is the second novel translated in English to feature Detective Kaga), as well as a DVD movie, The Secret, based on one of his novels, Himitsu. The first in the series available in English Malice is also available from the Hoboken Public Library. Several audiobook versions of his work are available to stream from Hoopla.
Written by:
Victoria Turk
Reference Librarian
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