I don't know what it is, but Keigo Higashino novels are either a complete smash, or a "hmm, pass" for me.

This one started off a smash, but then kind of faded for me which is a shame! I didn't enjoy Malice but I very much enjoyed Newcomer (and I have adored all of his other works) and the premise of this one felt like something I would love but for whatever reason the conversations felt stilted and awkward and it didn't feel real to me. Sorry, my dude. But if the pattern continues, I would guess I'm REALLY going to love the next one!

My third outing with the Detective Kaga series set in Tokyo.

I just love the methodical and detailed plotting that accompanies these crime mysteries. Keigo Higashino is a great writer within this genre but their accessibility must also be down to the talented translation of Giles Murray.

Kaga is a local cop who is meticulous in his questioning and thorough in his desire to understand motive within any murder enquiry.

The beauty of Japan, it’s culture and customs. It’s place and people lift from these pages and Kaga’s desire to feel and breathe the crime scene and it’s environs brings the location to the fore, stimulating the senses, so full of life and colour.

A businessman is seemingly the victim of a mugging that goes deadly wrong. But this wasn’t his neighbourhood. What was he doing there? And why did he get to his feet and stagger like a drunken man to the middle of Nihonbashi bridge?

Are these factors significant to anyone other than Detective Kaga especially when an unemployed man close to the scene is disturbed by the police and gets run over avoiding arrest? Perhaps even less so, when where he was hiding the victim’s briefcase was found and when the suspect had taken the dead man’s wallet.

All makes for an intelligent and progressive investigation which brings insight into police procedures in Japan and a glimpse into another country’s culture.

Furthermore through the story I understood more the capital city’s expansion from perhaps when it was award the 1964 Olympic Games, how neighbourhoods try to hold on to their past despite incursions by expressways and high rise, while amid the development and progress older Tokyo clings on in religious shrines and tradition shops.

The crime story is tragic but full of human endeavour. Good and bad are seen and lessons learnt without recourse to sleight of hand, criminal psychology and graphic horror. Just the telling of mystery wrapped up in a well told story. This is why I love whodunits. Not cos they are clever and the authors are spendthrift with the clues. Simply when they bare the human soul and psyche and when you can identify with the characters.

As usual in my reviews, I will not rehash the plot (there are reviews like that out there already if that's what you are looking for).

Although this is apparently the third novel in the "Kaga" series, I haven't read the previous books, so read this as a standalone. It worked perfectly well, as the author skilfully paints great pictures of the characters.

I really enjoyed the writing style, which is "old school" crime writing interwoven with psychological insights. The interplay between the main characters is convincing, and there is a good cast of background characters. I really liked Detective Kyoichiro Kaga - he refuses to simply toe the line and pursues his own theories to unravel the truth.

The pace might seem slow to some readers, but for me this made it all the more enjoyable - I always find it unrealistic if crimes are solved too easily! I also found the descriptions of Japanese culture (eg mourning and funerals) fascinating as it is very different from Western traditions.

I note with dismay that the publisher's information says this is the penultimate book in this series! I now plan to read the previous two novels, and will look forward to reading the final book, and the author's other novels too.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC. All opinions my own.

My thanks to Little, Brown Group U.K. Abacus for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘A Death in Tokyo’ by Keigo Higashino.

This I s Book 3 in Higashino ‘s Detective Kyoichiro Kaga series of police procedurals. It was originally published in Japan as ‘Kirin No Tsubasa’ (‘Wings of the Kirin’) in 2011 and has now been translated from the Japanese by Giles Murray.

I have read and enjoyed two of Keigo Higashino’s Detective Galileo mysteries and was delighted to see another detective series available in English and will be adding Books 1 and 2 of the Detective Kaga series to my wish list.

One night on the Nihonbashi Bridge in Tokyo a patrolman sees what he assumes is a drunk man staggering along and then slumping against one of the statues on the bridge, a mythical creature known as a kirin. He discovers that the man has died, stabbed in the chest.

Not long after a young man named Yashima is injured nearby in a traffic accident. The police find the murdered man’s wallet on him. Is he responsible for the crime? Why did the dying man drag himself from the original crime scene to the statue on the Nihonbashi Bridge? Tokyo Police Detective Kyoichiro Kaga leads the investigation into the death. No further details to avoid spoilers.

This was amazing! There was definitely a sense of the Golden Age detective in Kaga, as he methodically pieces together the evidence in order to identify the murderer and also uses his intuition.

Added to this throughout Keigo Higashino evokes the vibrant atmosphere of both modern Tokyo and its rich history. There are also details of the shrines of the Seven Lucky Gods, located in the Nihonbashi district, linked to traditional Japanese spiritual practices.

Overall, a very satisfying murder mystery in the classic style. As noted above, I plan on reading more of Keigo Higashino’s crime fiction and look forward to the translation of the final Detective Kyoichiro Kaga mystery.

Highly recommended.

Another excellent mix of puzzle and psychology - with a gradual reveal of more and more of the back stories of the characters involved. Both great fun and thought-provoking. Plus, a great sense of location, of modern Tokyo, that goes without saying.

The latest instalment in acclaimed author Keigo Higashino’s mystery (honkaku) series centred on Inspector Kyoichiro Kaga, the former schoolteacher who’s reinvented himself as a homicide detective. Similar in style to the previous book featuring Kaga, this is set in the central Tokyo district of Nihonbashi, a place that Higashino’s translator points out has significance for Higashino’s Japanese readership with its long history symbolic of Japan’s past and more “innocent” times. Kaga’s part of a squad investigating the brutal murder of a middle-aged man. A man who, for inexplicable reasons, stayed alive long enough to drag himself to the famous Nihonbashi Bridge, in order to die at the foot of the statues of mythological kirin adorning it.

Higashino’s narrative’s a fairly conventional one but tightly crafted and laced with unexpected twists and turns. In this intriguing mix of puzzle piece, police procedural and psychological crime, the tall, handsome but taciturn, Kaga’s at odds with his superior, not convinced their prime suspect is the most likely culprit. Higashino moves between Kaga’s investigation and the impact the crime has had on the suspect’s partner and the victim’s family. Set in 2011 It’s a restrained, almost austere piece but it’s also an insightful commentary on Japanese society. Tokyo is reeling from a growing recession and Kaga’s explorations lead to revelations about corporate corruption, intrusive media, the scapegoating of the "mushoku" (unemployed, marginal figures), and the conflict between traditional Japanese beliefs and values and a more pragmatic contemporary culture. There are some formulaic aspects but mostly I found this taut and gripping, and I really responded to Higashino’s understated approach. Translated by Giles Murray.

A Death in Tokyo is an enjoyable Japanese police procedural set in contemporary Tokyo. The plot was interesting and I thought the insight into Japanese temples and prayer was particularly fascinating. A solid narrative followed by a believable conclusion added up to a satisfying read for me.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for an advance copy of A Death in Tokyo, the third novel to feature Detective Kyoichiro Kaga of the Nihonbashi Precinct.

A man dies on the Nihonbashi bridge under the statue of a kirin. He wasn’t stabbed there but managed to stagger that far. Why? Meanwhile Fuyumi Yashima is stopped by a patrolman and runs in front of a truck. He is in a coma but he is found in possession of the dead man’s wallet and briefcase. He becomes the prime suspect in the murder enquiry, but while he remains in a coma the police must prove their case without him.

I thoroughly enjoyed A Death in Tokyo, which I found completely engrossing. It might not be to every reader’s taste as it is slow and undramatic after the initial flourish, but for those who like a police procedural it is an excellent example.

This is a novel about relentless investigation, a bit of lateral thinking and above all about people. Kaga spends a lot of time thinking about natural behaviour and if the scenarios being posited by his colleagues are likely. It is a simple and effective tool in establishing a route to the truth, if not the truth itself, something I found myself overlooking when trying to work things through in my mind. At the same time he puts in the hard yards walking the district while pursuing his offbeat theories. I found it compulsive reading and was astonished by the way it turned out. It was a complete surprise, but it makes sense, not just in what happens but also in the way it fits with the natural behaviour theme.

The novel has a bit of an old fashioned feel in that it doesn’t give much away about the detectives’ lives outside of the job, but this is more than compensated for in the intricacies of the investigation and the fulsome descriptions of Japanese culture. The author really brings the Nihonbashi area to life and makes me want to see it for myself.

A Death in Tokyo is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

I've read the Galileo novels but this is the first Kaga novel I've tried, usually I like to read a series in order however you can certainly read this without having read the first 2 novels. Kaga finds himself working with his cousin after a businessman is stabbed to death, the police think they have found the suspect however life is never that simple. Kaga and his cousin are great characters they remind me of Holmes and Watson although Matsumiya is not our narrator. Higashino novels are police procedural driven however he loves a puzzle and that's another similarity to the famous resident of Baker Street.

The translation is always key and this flows well and the plot keeps you turning the page.

I read this as a standalone and I really enjoyed it. It was well written with a engaging storyline that gripped me from the beginning and didn't let me go, and well developed characters that were mostly incredibly unlikeable but I appreciated that about them. An enjoyable read.

I enjoy Japanese literature but I barely read Japanese thrillers.

This one is the third of a series but can be read a standalone. At the beginning I was hesitant, as the characters were a mix of annoying and unlikebale but as it progressed I was glued to it, hard to out down. All the pieces were puzzled together nicely.

I find Japanese thrillers, much like the scandi thrillers, are just written in the most amazing way that sucka you in and doesn't let go! This was an awesome read and I absolutely loved the charactsrdz, setting and situation. It's very kuchen an old school who dun it with some really fascinating glimpses or real Japanese culture thrown in. Definitely recommend

A man crosses the Nihonbashi bridge; a policeman who sees him believes that he is drunkenly walking over the bridge but as he leans up against the Kirin statue the policeman realises that the man has been stabbed. With very few witnesses and seemingly no motive Detective Kaga is faced with pressure from all sides to ensure that this murder is solved but where does the truth lie.

I love the Detective Kaga novels and Death in Tokyo was no exception; the setting, characters and Kaga's methodology of solving crimes is all incredibly atmospheric and enthralling. I haven't read a Keigo Higashino book I didn't love and this was no exception another 5 star read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review