Keigo Higashino writes murder mysteries in Japan. Very popular there.

In translation, his books don’t compare with the sophistication and subtlety of American and British writers. But there is something appealing about the slow pace. The simplicity of the scenes.

Also, his translators are not all that good. They get slang wrong most of the time.

Tokyo Police Detective Kyochiro Kaga is a super likeable protagonist.

Demoted, Kaga was transferred to a new precinct.

Newly arrived, but with a great deal of experience, Kaga is promptly assigned to the team investigating the inexplicable murder of a woman in her own home.

But the more he investigates, the greater number of potential suspects emerges.

It isn’t long before it seems nearly all the people living and working in the business district of Nihonbashi have a motive.

Though seemingly simplistic, a Japanese virtue, each of the 9 chapters of this book is a self-contained story, with its own conflicts, its own resolution. There is much more here than just a whodunnit.