Even if the hero’s Tokyo fling ends on a decidedly downbeat note, this little prose poem is as pellucid and finely wrought...
Piano technician Frank Ryan, having fled his hometown in British Columbia after things got too hot there (Beethoven’s Tenth, 2015), finds Tokyo just as dangerous in the aftermath of the Fukushima earthquake.
Most of the pupils Frank gives piano lessons to are no more talented than Mrs. Ogawa, whose life will clearly end before she masters “Clair de Lune.” But a young woman named Akiko is a standout for her native gifts, her quick intelligence, and her shadowy protector Goto, the yakuza she calls her father who’s actually her lover. On their very first meeting, Goto offers Frank, who’s living from one cash-paying lesson to the next, a gig tickling the ivories in the Tom and Mary Jazz Lounge. The dream job, which provides a respectable base salary and hefty tips, seems too good to be true, and of course it is. Soon enough, Frank’s hooked up with Momo, an attractive 30-year-old who works in a Shibuya pastry shop. Momo tells Frank that Goto killed her brother, Ryu, one of the Fukushima Fifty hired by the yakuza to contain the radioactive fallout at the stricken reactor. After she meets Frank at the Fifteen Love Hotel, she begs him to watch for a chance to peek inside Goto’s alligator briefcase, which she’s convinced is filled with ill-gotten cash and revealing papers, like a complete list of the Fukushima Fifty. It all sounds so simple. Thanks to Harvey’s parsimonious plotting and his hero’s laconic voice, it actually is simple.
Even if the hero’s Tokyo fling ends on a decidedly downbeat note, this little prose poem is as pellucid and finely wrought as a haiku.Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4598-1076-1
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Raven Books
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
This ran in the S.E.P. and resulted in more demands for the story in book form than ever recorded. Well, here it is and it is a honey. Imagine ten people, not knowing each other, not knowing why they were invited on a certain island house-party, not knowing their hosts. Then imagine them dead, one by one, until none remained alive, nor any clue to the murderer. Grand suspense, a unique trick, expertly handled.
Pub Date: Feb. 21, 1939
ISBN: 0062073478
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Dodd, Mead
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1939
SEEN & HEARD
An anodyne visit with Tricia and her friends and enemies hung on a thin mystery.
Too much free time leads a New Hampshire bookseller into yet another case of murder.
Now that Tricia Miles has Pixie Poe and Mr. Everett practically running her bookstore, Haven’t Got a Clue, she finds herself at loose ends. Her wealthy sister, Angelica, who in the guise of Nigela Ricita has invested heavily in making Stoneham a bookish tourist attraction, is entering the amateur competition for the Great Booktown Bake-Off. So Tricia, who’s recently taken up baking as a hobby, decides to join her and spends a lot of time looking for the perfect cupcake recipe. A visit to another bookstore leaves Tricia witnessing a nasty argument between owner Joyce Widman and next-door neighbor Vera Olson over the trimming of tree branches that hang over Joyce’s yard—also overheard by new town police officer Cindy Pearson. After Tricia accepts Joyce’s offer of some produce from her garden, they find Vera skewered by a pitchfork, and when Police Chief Grant Baker arrives, Joyce is his obvious suspect. Ever since Tricia moved to Stoneham, the homicide rate has skyrocketed (Poisoned Pages, 2018, etc.), and her history with Baker is fraught. She’s also become suspicious about the activities at Pets-A-Plenty, the animal shelter where Vera was a dedicated volunteer. Tricia’s offered her expertise to the board, but president Toby Kingston has been less than welcoming. With nothing but baking on her calendar, Tricia has plenty of time to investigate both the murder and her vague suspicions about the shelter. Plenty of small-town friendships and rivalries emerge in her quest for the truth.
An anodyne visit with Tricia and her friends and enemies hung on a thin mystery.Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0272-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
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