At no time did I think I was reading anything other than the author’s direct words, always the sign of a great translation. I was unfortunately unable to find out who translated this book but whoever it was did a fantastic job. He looks further into it, going back into the past of the murderer and the victim, looking for inconsistencies and false trails to finally arrive at the truth. His bosses are keen to wrap up the case but he is sure there is more to the murder than it seems. The culprit is revealed quite early in the book.
As the story progresses, the clues are laid out for the reader and more information about the past of Hidaka and Nonoguchi is revealed. The story is told from the viewpoint of Nonoguchi, the murdered man’s friend and Detective Kaga, alternating between the two. He soon has his suspicions but when Nonoguchi confesses, he realises his investigation has only just begun.
Detective Kyochiro Kaga arrives at the scene. Returning later that evening he finds his friend dead, his body in a locked room. Nonoguchi goes to visit his friend, acclaimed author Kunihiko Hidaka before Hidaka moves to Canada. Which one of the two writers was ultimately guilty of malice? In a brilliantly realized tale of cat and mouse, the detective and the writer battle over the truth of the past and how events that led to the murder really unfolded. Nonoguchi confesses to the murder, but that’s only the beginning of the story. There he finds evidence that shows that the two writers’ relationship was very different than the two claimed. But Kaga thinks something is a little bit off with Nonoguchi’s statement and investigates further, ultimately executing a search warrant on Nonoguchi’s apartment. Kaga went on to join the police force while Osamu Nonoguchi left to become a full-time writer, though with not nearly the success of his friend Hidaka. Years ago when they were both teachers, they were colleagues at the same high school. Police Detective Kyochiro Kaga recognizes Hidaka’s best friend. His body is found in his office, in a locked room, within his locked house, by his wife and his best friend, both of whom have rock solid alibis. Acclaimed bestselling novelist Kunihiko Hidaka is found brutally murdered in his home on the night before he’s planning to leave Japan and relocate to Vancouver.
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