Robert Goddard is still at the top of his game as his latest book proves.

A Japanese female heroine who the reader soon warms to, follows a convoluted trail over England. Running concurrently in the book is the main male character Nick, who is on the trail of his father who was presumed dead many years ago.

Plenty of plot twists and surprises as fans of Goddard's books come to expect. Recommended.

This is an international mystery thriller with great attention to detail and numerous twists. The locations range from Japan to London with many diverse characters. Wada is an intriguing character whose investigations are fraught with danger as powerful people act to protect the secrets they need to stay hidden. The pacing and plot twists keep the reader engaged, and the numerous characters offer an insight into human behaviour.

I received a copy of this book from Random House UK-Transworld in return for an honest review.

I was sent a copy of The Fine Art of Invisible Detection by Robert Goddard to read and review by NetGalley. This was an intricate and quite engaging novel spanning between Japan, England and Iceland. With quite a large cast of characters it centred around two main protagonists; Umiko Wada and Nick Miller, both from different countries but with a converging trail to follow. The novel seemed well researched and was an enjoyable read with many twists and turns. The characters were well drawn and there was enough intrigue and excitement to keep me reading. I can’t rate it as one of my absolute favourite mystery-thrillers but I would definitely recommend it nonetheless.

Loved the twist in the end! Having multiple locations made it be a fast-pacing thriller! Really hooked on the plot and characters

Umiko Wada has worked for private detective Kazuto Kodaka since the death of her husband in the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway. When she’s asked to go to London, posing as one of their clients, to acquire information about their case, she is excited for the opportunity to travel. But Kodaka is killed on the eve of her flight and suddenly a simple task turns into a deadly battle. If Umiko survives, will she find closure for her husband’s death?

I’ve always been a fan of Robert Goddard’s books, with engaging storylines and The Fine Art of Invisible Detection is no exception. Umiko Wada is a very different protagonist, very quiet and unassuming but gritty and determined all the same. Her adventures take her from Tokyo to London and then down to Cornwall for an explosive finale. Action packed from the start, it’s a great, thrilling read and kept me entertained and engaged through to the end.

Another masterpiece.

A complex fast paced thriller that takes you on an incredible journey from Japan to England and Iceland building deceit and intrigue as it develops . Wada makes a wonderful and credible character who ends up as a detective by default as she initially assists her employer then after his sudden death takes up the cudgel and sets off to complete the investigation he started. She is resourceful and dogged following diverse leads.
I throughly enjoyed this latest addition to Robert Goddard’s repertoire. My criticism might coping with the unfamiliar Japanese and Icelandic names as there are many characters in this story

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK for the electronic copy.

Umiko Wada's life as administrator to a private detective in Tokyo takes a dramatic turn when she agrees to go to London to pose as a client seeking more information about a mysterious man who may have died in suspicious circumstances. Her own past seems inextricably linked with this case from the beginning. Meanwhile Nick Miller discovers that the man he believed to be his late father may not have been.
Wada, and the action, move swiftly from Japan to London and several UK counties to Iceland and back. Secrets and lies pile up and there is danger at every turn.
Wada (as she calls herself) is composed and self assured, resourceful and delightful.

I always look forward to a new Robert Goddard book but wasn’t sure what to expect from his latest, ‘The Fine Art of Invisible Detection’. Partly, I think, because the blurb seemed more a detective novel than a thriller. Actually, this is both. Goddard has creative a heart-warming, realistic new hero, Umiko Wada, known simply as Wada. I raced through this book, full of Goddard’s clever twisty plotting, emotional dilemmas, should-I-shouldn’t-I moments.
Wada is a 47-year-old secretary at a detective agency in Tokyo, making tea, writing reports for her technology-incompetent boss Kodaka. Widowed after her husband was killed in the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995, Wada is quiet, efficient and invisible. But burning deep is a sense of righteousness. So when her boss asks for her help with a new case, she agrees to go to London to pose as the client who wants to find out if her father really committed suicide almost three decades earlier, or if he was murdered. From this point on, Wada’s life becomes unpredictable and her talent for being invisible becomes a lifesaver. Her boss dies in a car accident. The man she is due to meet in London has gone missing. Always logical, she follows the one clue she has.
Nick Miller is also due to meet the same man in London. Nick, a 41-year-old Londoner, is hoping to learn more about the father he has never met. Nick and Wada’s paths keep missing each other as they separately follow the trail of mystifying clues about the past. The action moves from Tokyo to London, Rekyjavik and the wilds of Iceland to Cornwall. There is a high-technology fraud, plus hints of terrorism and Japanese gang warfare, but this is not a violent read.
Wada is at the heart of this novel. Her logic and calm reasoning drive the narrative forward in that just-one-more-chapter way that makes this book a quick and fulfilling read. She is ordinary but extraordinary. I hope she returns in another novel.
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A well-written intelligent crime read that will have you slowly putting all the pieces together...

Wada is a secretary to a private detective in Japan when he pulls her onto a mystery that won't let go.

He sends her to England, to find out more about a man who went missing decades ago. There's nothing tying Wada to Japan - her husband died 12 years earlier in a sarin attack - and she's happy to go and investigate.

But things turn tricky, quickly. Her boss dies. She's attacked while digging around for info. Someone out there doesn't want her looking into the missing man, or the missing man's past.

Elsewhere we meet Nick Miller, a young man who doesn't know who his father is - who ends up on the same trail as Wada, and in just as much danger...

This is a complicated story that jumps between Japan, Cornwall, London and Iceland. There's a lot of characters and names to keep track of. It's well-told and I found the main characters intriguing. There were times where I wished Nick/Wada's paths could cross more often, but ultimately I think the structure worked. I enjoyed the ending.

I really enjoyed this mystery which was a Japanese / British mix and involves some great locations across the world. The mix of Wada and Nick, both undertaking investigations that interlink but for very different reasons, is cleverly plotted and a really enjoyable read. I thought it slightly wavered at points, getting a little convoluted, but then we were off and running again and it all ended in great style.

'Spring was advancing. Cherry blossom viewing spots in Kitanomaru Park were hard to come by. The world went on its way. It was business as usual.
Until it wasn't.'

A really enjoyable fast-paced thriller, but one with a more than convoluted plot that sort of works itself out but took me a while to get my head around. Our doughty heroine is Umiko Wada, who works as a secretary-cum-assistant at the Kodaka Detective Agency in Tokyo. Now a widow - her husband being a victim of the Sarin underground attacks which had left him in a coma for many years - her main ability is to blend in with the crowd, to be unremarkable, invisible even. Wada is sent off to London, because of her fluency in English, on a case instigated by a woman who thinks her father's death some years earlier was murder, not suicide, and who has received information that someone connected with his death may be still be alive. On arrival in London, Wada learns that her boss back in Tokyo has been killed in a hit and run incident, and suddenly all hell breaks loose.

I won't go into the plot details (frankly, it's complicated) but there are links to the Sarin attacks, Japanese gangsters, environmental protesters, shady land deals and lots more. The action moves quickly from Japan to London to Iceland to Cornwall. And as well as Wada, we have a second narrative strand in which Nick Miller is looking for his real father, and who is also connected to the case that Wada is investigating.

This is perfect page-turner material, with enough breathless action and cliff-hangers to keep even the most cynical entertained. Wada is a charming central figure, somehow manging to escape life or death situations and doggedly pursuing the truth. There is a dramatic dénouement on a Cornish beach, where the narrative suddenly shifts into the present tense and where Wada and Nick finally meet each other, tying up the loose ends of the twin narratives. Or does it.....? Fast and furious fun, definitely one of the best thrillers I've read for a while. A 'fine' 4.5 stars.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

The Fine Art of Invisible Detection by Robert Goddard starts in Japan,  Umiko Wada is an assistant to a private detective.  Her husband was murdered, but her mother is very keen for grandchildren.  When she's given the opportunity to go to London to go to a meeting posing as a client, she takes it.  

Nick Miller was raised by his mother and her partner, April, but still curious about his father.  An old friend of his mother and April tells him that there's something he needs to know about his father, so he can't help but want to know more.

This was a really enjoyable mystery, and I enjoyed the differences in the points of view between Umiko Wada and Nick Miller.

The Fine Art of Invisible Detection was published on 18th March 2021, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Robert Goddard on Twitter, but the last tweet was in 2013!  

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Transworld Publisher.

Umiko Wada works for a private investigator and soon finds herself embroiled in a tricky case linked to the death of her husband years ago. It leads her to England and even Iceland on the trail of a man who everyone believed was dead. Her boss is then killed and she realizes this case is far more complicated and dangerous than she could ever have imagined.

Well this was an interesting, twist filled story. I wasn't sure when it started if it would hold my interest but it did. The plot is a slow burn one with a few really dramatic scenes thrown in. The end is brilliantly done though I did wonder if that might be how it ended. I liked it though. Wada is not your typical hero and yet you want her to survive. I think Nick was my favourite character though I can't truly say why but I just found myself liking him. The plot is well written and descriptive. There are many twists along the way, some could be guessed and others surprised me. A cleverly done, mystery, thriller.

The Fine Art of Invisible Detection is the latest standalone thriller from the talented Robert Goddard, set between Japan, England and Iceland. Umiko Wada is a personal assistant and secretary to prominent and well-respected Private Investigator Kazuto Kodaka at his own agency in central Tokyo, specialising in commercial casework. Umiko is middle-aged with no children and was sadly left a widow when her husband was caught up in the deadly Aum Shinrikyo sarin attack on the Tokyo underground in 1995. She's resourceful, unperturbable, pragmatic and her stubbornness - which is fundamentally what drives her pursuit of the truth - very endearing. But she is also very forgettable which makes her the perfect person to trail or follow a mark or meet certain clientele should that be needed in a particular case and it contributes to making her a superb detective. However, when Kazuto takes on a new client - Mimori Takenaga - he sends Umiko to London to find out what really happened to Mimori’s father. The official line is that he committed suicide twenty-seven years ago while in London, but she has always believed he was murdered in cold blood. Mimori informs Kazuto and Umiko that out of desperation she had placed advertisements in several UK newspapers to try to glean information on Peter Evans, who had been her father’s translator forty years ago, and received a response from a British guy named Martin Caldwell, but she was unable to travel to meet him. He claims to have information that could crack the case wide open. However, everything suddenly gets a whole lot more dangerous when Kazuto is murdered in a hit and run. It's clearly a warning shot to leave the death well alone. And when Umiko turns up to the arranged meet with her contact he never shows up.

One thing is for sure, unassuming Umiko was not expecting to be caught between a rock and a hard place quite like this. Meanwhile, we meet forty-one-year-old Nick Miller, husband to Kate, a resident of The Big Smoke and a private school art teacher who was brought up in shared student accommodation in Exeter by his mother, Cora, who recently passed away, and her partner, April. Caldwell contacts Nick telling him he has information on his deceased father, Geoff Nolan. It's hard to accept that both his mother and April had lied to him regarding his biological father all his life. He had never known anything about him, though that was something he desperately wanted to change. But again Caldwell fails to show. As the two cases converge, Umiko, a woman used to staying calm and keeping her head down, finds herself in the middle of shady criminal underworld dealings, ripe with gangsters and an ever-increasing pile of bodies. With a slew of harmful secrets just waiting to unravel and leak out will Umiko, Nick and Martin survive this unfamiliar, perilous world? This is a scintillating read with a wickedly twisty plot and enough suspense to give you heart palpitations. Goddard is one hell of a writer and a vastly underrated talent; here, he has woven an action-packed, high-stakes cat and mouse game with twists, turns and misdirection in abundance. I love that this is an international thriller spanning continents and our protagonist, Wado, is so beautifully crafted that as a multilayered, nuanced character she comes alive on the page and her courage and desire to carry on her search for truth despite the threats is admirable. Alternating between Wado and Nick’s perspectives, there is enough to sink your teeth into throughout with murder, abduction, yakuza involvement and betrayal bringing an explosive and exhilarating thriller and a complete breath of fresh air in the genre. Highly recommended.

I really enjoyed this read, the style of writing was comfortable and easy, and I think that impression was reinforced by the persona of Wada, the main character. Assistant to Kodaka, a Japanese private detective, Wada takes on a dangerous assignment and travels to London to investigate a death that occurred some 40+ years previously. The links to her life, where her husband was one of the victims of the Tokyo underground Sarin attack, keep on coming. Nick Miller is the other part of the story and how they link, without actually meeting is interesting. Wada is able to get information more easily than others because of her ability to remain in the background unnoticed, A complicated story of evil and industrial wrongdoing over many years, and how one man seeks redemption. I wasn't expecting what happened as things unravelled, and there is a final twist at the end. A really good read, without being taxing. #netgalley #thefineartofinvisibledetection

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Random House UK - Transworld Publishers, for the ARC.

This is just such an intriguing read; it's well-written, with a complex plot that takes the reader from Japan, to New York, to Iceland, with a couple of star protagonists who are worlds apart, have different motives and paths to follow, but their worlds collide quite dramatically.

In Tokyo, Japan, Umiko Wada (here-on-in called Wada) is a personal assistant to a private detective practising in the realms mostly of corporate affairs. Wada's husband had died years before following the Sarin attack; she's clever, resourceful and has the ability to be forgettable, particularly useful if her boss Kodaka needed her to follow someone. Kodaka always held an interest in the area of business corrupted by criminal elements - one in particular. He accepts a new client - Mimori Takenaga whose father's death was ruled suicide, but that she believed him to be murdered. Following her placing an advertisement in a UK newspaper for information concerning a Peter Evans, who had worked as a translator for her father 40 years ago, she had received a reply from Martin Caldwell in the UK. She cannot travel herself - Kodaka allows Wada to travel in her place to meet him in London.
Someone doesn't want truths to emerge...with Kodaka dying suddenly in a hit and run accident and Wada now in London where her contact doesn't turn up, she has decisions to make.

In London, Nick Miller, brought up in a shared student house in Exeter by his mother Cora and partner April, had been contacted by Martin Caldwell also, telling him he had important information about his father. He fails to turn up to either of his meetings.
Eventually, through some intriguing coincidences, Wada and Nick meet - with surprising consequences.

This is an absorbing plot. A group of Exeter university students sharing a house 40-odd years previously. Their stance against a chemical weapons plant on the Cornish coast; the deaths of two of their number, and the Sarin attack in Tokyo. The connections are teasingly brought together. Secrets and lies revealed.

Well-paced, a really good read. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

3.5 stars;

When Umiko Wada's private detective boss takes on a new case exploring the suspicious circumstances around someone's supposed suicide 40 years ago, Wada finds herself in England, catapulted into the middle of a mystery that is bigger than it first appeared.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. The pacing was good (although it started to drag towards the end) and the characters were very lovable. I liked the mix of countries and culture that the story showed, including the little titbits of Japanese culture that were sprinkled throughout the book. I adored Umika Wada - her tenacity and drive were thrilling in this, and really propelled the story along. I can't say the same for Nick Miller (the other protagonist), he seemed washed out when compared to Wada.

However, the book is confusing. There are a LOT of side characters that are only mentioned by name, and it becomes hard to remember who they are when they come up again. I also felt the plot was dragged out for the sake of leading the reader around the houses - it's great to have some misleading red herrings in a crime fiction, but for me the book could have achieved the same result in fewer pages, and then it would've skipped the bit in the middle where it felt like nothing happened!

Overall good, but not the best book I've ever read!

I have read and enjoyed all of Robert Goddard's previous novels so when this one came along with a completely new feel to the cover design and a different sort of theme I wasn't too sure.

I have boiled my thoughts down quite simply - Great Characters, Great Plot. Loved It - Over and Out!!

#TheFineArtofInvisibleDetection #NetGalley

I chose this book mainly because of the Cover and because it was linked to Japan. I thought I would be reading a cozy mystery but this book was so much more!

Being my first book by Robert Goddard I did not have any expectations and I have to say I was very impressed.

It was quite a page Turner with plenty of twists. I really liked the premise - although I would like for more of the story to take place in Japan.

I really enjoyed Wada as a character and can definitely see her in future books or being part of a series. Both Wada’s and Nick’s backgrounds were really interesting and I thought the plot was quite ingenious.

Although there were some moments that I expected, there were so many more twists and turns that I didn’t expect!

Overall, really enjoyed this story and looking forward to books from the author in the future!

I can’t believe I haven’t discovered Robert Goddard before! What an excellent thriller this is, I really couldn’t put it down.
Umiko Wada is living a quiet life as secretary to a private detective in Japan after her husband was murdered in a sarin gas attack. A new case changes all that when her boss asks her to go to London to represent a client. At the same time Nick Miller is dealing with the death of his mother and a mystery surrounding the real identity of his father. Their worlds are about to collide and take them on a terrifying journey to Iceland and beyond.
This novel is full of the wonderful twists, turns and “there’s no way they can get out of that” moments that make a truly brilliant thriller. Wada is a thoroughly engaging and very different hero and makes the journey even more entertaining. The cast of surrounding characters give the novel real strength and depth. It also has a brilliant twist at the end which you hoped was coming but couldn’t possibly see how. Just a perfect, satisfying read. I will certainly be checking out what I’ve missed from Robert Goddard. Thank you to #netgalley and #randomhouse for allowing me to review this ARC