Malice by Keigo Higashino ~ Book Review

 This review is so behind.  It was my last read of 2017 wrapping up a reading year of  40 books, again short of my ever illusive goal of 50 books.  But I did read some great books, lots (for me) of non-fiction included,  found some great new authors and knocked out a whole pile of books out of my closet.

So on to the review.

The body of a bestselling Japanese author is found in his locked office at his home.  The wife and his best friend both discover him but their alibis seem pretty tight.  Detective Kyochiro Kaga immediately recognizes the best friend as Osamu Nonoguchi whom he used to teach with at a public school.  Osamu left the school to become a full time writer but unlike his friend he writes children's books and is not a best selling author.  As Kaga begins to investigate he finds threads that lead to him believing that the two authors were not friends at all but now he must unravel why Osamu would have killed the author. 

This book is a Japanese translation from a bestselling and popular Japanese whodunit author.  It's a cat and mouse type of mystery story.  I liked the unique approach the author took with the mystery, you know fairly early just who did it but then comes the unraveling of the why.  With layer upon layer, you are drawn into the story because you never really know what is truth and what is made up on the part of the character.  The revealing of the truth is done well as just enough is given to you through the detective's figuring it out that before you know it you are at the end of the story.    It's written in a simple easy going type of style, maybe because of the translation.  Once I got used to the Japanese names and which character was who, the story really picked up it's pace.  And I have to say this was a major cover buy.  Love the cover. 

Rated this a 7.5/10