A Death in Tokyo (Kyoichiro Kaga, #3)

by Keigo Higashino

The third and penultimate novel in the Detective Kyoichiro Kaga series by bestselling Japanese crime writer Keigo Higashino

On the Nihonbashi Bridge in Tokyo stands the statue of a mythic beast - a kirin. One evening a man staggers onto the bridge and collapses beneath the winged creature. The patrolman on watch goes to rouse the man, who he presumes to be drunk - only to discover that the man had been stabbed in the chest. He is dead.

Meanwhile, a young man named Yashima is injured in a car accident nearby while trying to flee from the police. Found on him is the wallet of the murdered man.

But is he actually responsible for the crime? What is his connection to the victim? And why did the dying man drag himself from the crime scene to the Nihonbashi Bridge? Tokyo Police Detective Kyoichiro Kaga must piece together the answers to all of these questions in order to find the killer, but each answer he finds seems to throw up more questions ...

Taking us deep into the heart of Tokyo, and reintroducing the charming and ingenious Detective Kyoichiro Kaga, A Death in Tokyo is another mind-bending and hugely satisfying murder mystery from the modern master of classic crime.

• ISBN10: 0349145369
• ISBN13: 9780349145365
• Publish Date: 6 July 2023 (first published 13 December 2022)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
• Imprint: Abacus
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

A Death in Tokyo is the 9th outing for detective Kyoichiro Kaga (the third translated into English) written by Keigo Higashino. Released 13th Dec 2022 by Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 368 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback format due out in fourth quarter 2023 from the same publisher. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats; it makes searching in the text much easier (for character names, for example). 

This is a brilliantly written and unusually well translated modern procedural with a contemplative and intelligent protagonist, an ensemble cast, and an exceptionally clever and well plotted puzzle. The story is mostly character driven and the characters are three dimensional and interestingly well rounded. It's a touch more cerebral than many modern procedurals and is a dignified successor to Christie or Horowitz.

The translation work by Giles Murray is seamless, and never intrusive, and there's no wonky or difficult scansion. It doesn't read like literature in translation, which is a huge bonus. 

With several volumes translated into English at this point (this is the penultimate book in the series), it would make an excellent choice for a binge or buddy read. The author is talented enough to provide the necessary backstory, so it works well as a standalone. All the books are wonderfully written with compelling and complex storylines, so reading them in order is recommended, but not absolutely necessary. I found the most difficult part of the book to be the character names, which are kept true to the original. The author/publisher have included a dramatis personae list at the beginning of the book which I found quite useful.

Five stars. Very very well written.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.