The Moving Blade

by Michael Pronko

Overview

When the top American diplomat in Tokyo, Bernard Mattson, is killed, he leaves more than a lifetime of successful Japan-American negotiations. He leaves a missing manuscript, boxes of research, a lost keynote speech and a tangled web of relations.

When his alluring daughter, Jamie, returns from America wanting answers, finding only threats, Detective Hiroshi Shimizu is dragged from the safe confines of his office into the street-level realities of Pacific Rim politics.

With help from ex-sumo wrestler Sakaguchi, Hiroshi searches for the killer from Tokyo’s back alley bars to government offices, through anti-nuke protests to the gates of an American naval base. When two more bodies turn up, Hiroshi must choose between desire and duty, violence or procedure, before the killer silences his next victim—and the past.

THE MOVING BLADE is the second in the Tokyo-based Detective Hiroshi series by award-winning author Michael Pronko.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940155837671
Publisher:	Michael Pronko
Publication date:	12/28/2018
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	555,915
File size:	810 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Michael Pronko is an award-winning, Tokyo-based writer of murder, memoir and music. His writings on Tokyo life and his taut character-driven mysteries have won critics’ awards and five-star reviews. Kirkus Reviews called his second novel, The Moving Blade, “An elegant balance of Japanese customs with American-style hard-boiled procedural” and selected it for their Best Books of 2018.

Michael also runs the website, Jazz in Japan, about the vibrant jazz scene in Tokyo and Yokohama. He has written regular columns about Japanese culture, art, jazz, society and politics for Newsweek Japan, The Japan Times, Artscape Japan, Jazznin, and ST Shukan. He has also appeared on NHK and Nippon Television.

A philosophy major, Michael traveled for years, ducking in and out of graduate schools, before finishing his PhD on Charles Dickens and film, and settling in Tokyo as a professor of American Literature at Meiji Gakuin University. He teaches contemporary American novels, film adaptations, music and art.

Editorial Reviews

"The action-packed plot makes for a story that is not just a dramatic whodunit piece, but a slice of life piece inspecting Japanese heart and minds... insights and flare that keep the story fast-paced and informative all in one." Midwest Book Review

"Culturally rich and seductively compelling, The Moving Blade is a must-read for lovers of murder mystery novels and crime fiction fans. Great attention to detail in setting, lifestyle, and characters has been applied to create an atmospheric, tense, and engaging read. Plots, protests, questions, and secrets fill the pages and drive the reader forward." Reader's Favorite

From the Publisher

★ 2018-10-01

Pronko's (The Last Train, 2017, etc.) Tokyo-based thriller follows a detective's search for a manuscript so valuable some will kill for it.

Hiroshi Shimizu's injury from a previous case is the perfect excuse for the detective to work white-collar crimes from a computer. But Sakaguchi, Tokyo's head of homicide, needs his English-speaking adeptness, courtesy of Hiroshi's having studied in Boston. On a bisected body, a medical examiner has found a flash drive that contains images of woodblock prints and corresponding notes in English. It doesn't seem like much until detectives learn the only specialist who could find the physical prints has just died—American diplomat Bernard Mattson, murdered by burglars at his home. As Hiroshi and others investigate, it's soon clear someone is after Mattson's manuscript. But what exactly is in the manuscript is the biggest mystery: The diplomat is linked to myriad sensitive issues, from U.S. military bases in Japan to the Status of Forces Agreement with America. Hiroshi is also keeping an eye on Jamie, Mattson's Japanese-American daughter from New York, who's in Tokyo for her father's funeral. She may be a target; whoever wants the manuscript will likely assume she knows its location. Pronko's thriller elegantly depicts Japanese customs within an American-style hard-boiled procedural. For example, lovingly detailed sushi preparation contrasts with the police station, a site of whiteboard scrawls, corkboards covered in notes, and piles of folders next to out-of-date computers. The concise mystery runs at full tilt with characters that focus assiduously on the investigation. Accordingly, welcome humor is plot-relevant: Detectives at crime scenes alternate heading off the assistant chief, who's more annoying than helpful. Hiroshi, in his second appearance (along with fellow detectives), is a winsome but unassuming protagonist. Though he'd rather be at his computer, he faces a blade-wielding killer with confidence and relatively few complaints.

A tight, rock-solid installment in a series that's only getting better.

Kirkus Reviews