It Started With A Murder

If there's someone who can make me forget about playing Tetris and stay up really late to read, that person has got to be Keigo Higashino. Damn, I wish he wrote my text books.

Higashino is a Japanese author famed for his mystery novels. His writing style is clean, simple and he doesn't involves too many characters. I have no idea how he does this but I've read at least 20 of his works and yet he surprises me every single time. There may be a some overlapping themes (femme fatale, dishonesty, revenge) but his approach differs from each book. From a scientific narrative to a melo-drama David Lynch-esque complexity.. you name it.

Anyway, for my third book, I've picked "The Case of 11 Letters" and did I mentioned that Higashino never fails to impress?

A series of suspicious deaths, starting with that of her boyfriend Kawazu Masayuki, prompts mystery novelist Yuki Rikako to investigate. In their last meeting, he tells her he thinks someone may be targeting him. When she asks why he feels threatened, he’s very noncommittal. And one by one, people who are somewhat linked to her boyfriend are being murdered.

As she digs deeper, she discovers that all the victims were once passengers on the same cruise ship a year ago and involved in an accident that left one man dead. What happened on the cruise ship? Was the man murdered or was it an accident? Is someone seeking for revenge?

If I have to pick something about this story, I feel that the last murder was a little out of place/ coherence feels off. Turns out that this murder has got to do with the big reveal. I kind of saw this coming but Higashino being Higashino, adds a little twist. This little twist is not so much about 'who did it' or 'how did it happened' but it is something that every mystery novel should have.