Mind Blowing Mysteries from Japan!

Malice: A Mystery by Keigo Higashino
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino
~review by Raul M. Chapa

The rarest and most precious of mysteries are, in my opinion, the ones that twist the facts, make you scratch your head, and totally astound you when you finally puzzle out the truth. Following the clues to discover who the killer is before the end of the book has always been what appeals to me in these stories. But then there are those immortal titles that keep you guessing and are completely unforgettable: Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, John Dickson Carr’s The Hollow Man and Ellery Queen’s The Greek Coffin Mystery. Into this league of masters, I’d like to add Keigo Higashino’s mysteries and though only a few of these have been translated into English (which is a shame), Higashino enjoys wide fame in Japan and Asia in general.

In print and available now are two novels in his Detective Galileo series – The Devotion of Suspect X and Salvation of a Saint. Both these books deal with a police detective named Kusanagi and his genius and unconventional physics professor friend Yukawa. The good doctor is nicknamed “Dr. Galileo” for his unique and on target solutions to mysteries that have left Kusanagi at wit’s end, and he usually arrives at his conclusions in eccentric ways.

The Devotion of Suspect X is a thrill ride because the primary suspect and Yukawa used to be friends, so they each know how the other thinks. A brilliant cat and mouse game between the two plays out with intellectual feints and twists and when it all comes together, the solution will surprise you. The Salvation of a Saint includes Kusanagi’s colleague who is convinced a wife has poisoned her husband, though she was far away when it happened. Unable to find evidence, Kaoru Utsumi turns to Dr. Galileo for help. This play on the classic whodunit has more to do with how it was done; once again the answer will throw you for a loop.

And now available, a book called Malice, a separate mystery series with Detective Kyoichiro Kaga looking into the murder of a best selling author. This story takes the form of written journals by the murderer, notes and interviews by the detective, but the compelling thing is that there are so many threads to try to unravel to find the motive for the crime – and in following them up, the reader comes to a new understanding of what malice really is.

I hope you pick up Higashino’s books because they will twist your mind in deliciously intriguing ways – and if you are looking for something along the lines of some of the best in the genre, you are missing out if you don’t at least try him.

All these titles are currently available on our shelves. Click on your desired title below to order via bookpeople.com.

Malice: A Mystery by Keigo Higashino
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino