Demoted back to local policing from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Division, Kyochiro Kaga makes a deep impression on the quiet Nihonbashi Precinct.
Higashino’s fabled Tokyo Metropolitan Police detective, Kyoichiro Kaga, he of the 'razor-sharp mind and bloodhound nature,' has been dispatched to the Nihonbashi precinct to investigate the inexplicable murder of a middle-aged woman who lived alone and seemed to have no enemies ... The characters, it must be said, are thinner than the dough used to create those delicate pastries; but in a fair exchange, the author has succeeded in making problem-solving logistics sexy.
Unorthodox Tokyo detective Kyoichiro Kaga has been reassigned to the Nihonbashi precinct and is still acquainting himself with the quaint premodern neighborhood when another newcomer, Mineko Mitsui, is found strangled in her apartment. The savvy killer has left no trace of himself, leaving Kaga and the lead detective, Uesugi, to mine clues from the inconsistencies of Mineko’s last day ... Kaga’s second investigation is a cerebral puzzler’s delight that,...offers a thought-provoking take on the tension between modernity and traditional culture and leaves a trail of mended relationships in its wake.
Though murder is no laughing matter, Kaga remains a delightful character in Keigo Hagashino's Newcomer, the second book in the Kaga series ... Newcomer's structure calls to mind a Robert Altman movie, each chapter spotlighting a different set of characters in a story that can stand alone; intertwined, they present a complete picture that provides the solution to the case ... Fans of classic whodunits should introduce themselves to this newcomer immediately.
