From Keigo Higashino, author of the internationally best-selling, award-winning “The Devotion of Suspect X,” comes the latest novel featuring Detective Galileo — “Salvation of a Saint” (Minotaur Books).
In 2011, “The Devotion of Suspect X” was a hit with critics and readers alike. The first major English-language publication from one of Japan’s most popular writers, it was acclaimed as “stunning,” “brilliant,” and “ingenious.” Now physics professor Manabu Yukawa, aka Detective Galileo, returns in a new case of impossible murder, where instincts clash with facts and theory with reality.
Yoshitaka, who was about to leave his marriage and his wife, is poisoned by arsenic-laced coffee and dies. His wife, Ayane, is the logical suspect — except that she was hundreds of miles away when he was murdered. The lead detective, Tokyo Police Detective Kusanagi, is immediately smitten with her and refuses to believe that she could have had anything to do with the crime.
His assistant, Kaoru Utsumi, however, is convinced Ayane is guilty. While Utsumi’s instincts tell her one thing, the facts of the case are another matter. So she does what her boss has done for years when stymied — she calls upon Professor Yukawa.
But even the brilliant mind of Dr. Yukawa has trouble with this one, and he must somehow find a way to solve an impossible murder and capture a very real, very deadly murderer.
“Salvation of a Saint” is Higashino at his mind-bending best, pitting emotion against fact in a crime novel filled with twists and reverses that will surprise even the most attentive and jaded of readers.
Higashino, who lives in Tokyo, is currently the best-selling author in Japan with over three dozen best-sellers, hundreds of millions of copies of his books sold worldwide, and nearly 20 films and television series based on his work. He won the Naoki Prize for his first novel featuring Detective Galileo.
“Salvation of a Saint” was translated by Alexander O. Smith, who has translated a wide variety of novels, manga, and video games, for which he has been nominated for the Eisner Award and won the ALA’s Batchelder Award. He studied at Dartmouth College and holds an M.A. in classical Japanese from Harvard University. He lives in Vermont.
On the Web: www.minotaurbooks.com