Malice by Keigo Higashino

"Malice" by Keigo Higashino. This book is published by Little brown in 2014 and has 288 pages. This is a murder mystery. First of Detective Kaga series.

Osamu Nonoguchi is a children's story writer in Tokyo. He is a childhood friend of famous author Kunihiko Hidaka. One day Nonoguchi and Hidaka's second wife Rei find Hidaka dead. Detective Kyoichiro Kaga is assigned to the case.

Whodunit? Why? Is there more than what meets the eye? Is the key in the past?

This is a murder investigation but is very different from the usual whodunnits. In a normal mystery the process of investigation is concentrated on finding the murderer. Readers come to know the identity of murderer in the last few pages of novel.

This book departs from this formula. Here murder takes place, investigation starts, murderer is identified and murderer confesses; all within first 30% of the book. Then on starts the investigation to find out motive and reason of murder. That's done by the time book reaches 70%. What happens in the remaining book?

Keigo Higashino Is a famous Japanese author. I think this was my first ever book by a Japanese author set in Japan. I had some difficulty remembering Japanese names (but I had same problem when I first read American, English or Swedish novels). But it was a good change from usual.

This book had a number of twists. When you think that author has run out of all his tricks, Keigo produces more and bedazzles you. It's a complex and intricate plot. Some of the findings could have been easily determined by chemical analysis, but the detective Kaga prefers to go traditional. I found eventual motive for murder on the weaker side.

After 'Silkworm' by JK Rowling, this was my second literary thriller. Interesting! This book is first book of Inspector Kaga series. Readers can expect more to come.

It's a different murder mystery. Recommend reading.