'With its stopwatch timing, locked-room murder and perplexing abundance of alibis ... Readers are in store for plenty of surprises' Wall Street Journal

Multiple murders. Decades apart. No solid evidence.

A popular young girl disappears without a trace, her skeletal remains discovered three years later in the ashes of a burned-out house. There's a suspect and compelling circumstantial evidence of his guilt, but no concrete proof. When he isn't indicted, he returns to mock the girl's family. And this isn't the first time he's been suspected of the murder of a young girl; nearly twenty years ago he was tried and released due to lack of evidence. Chief Inspector Kusanagi of the Homicide Division of the Tokyo Police worked both cases.

The neighbourhood in which the murdered girl lived is famous for an annual street festival, featuring a parade with entries from around Tokyo and Japan. During the parade, the suspected killer dies unexpectedly. His death is suspiciously convenient but the people with all the best motives have rock solid alibis. Chief Inspector Kusanagi knows that once again there is only one person who can solve this string of seemingly impossible murders: his college friend, Physics professor and occasional police consultant Manabu Yukawa, known as Detective Galileo ...

About the Author
KEIGO HIGASHINO is a bestselling novelist in Japan and Asia, with numerous television and film adaptations of his work appearing in several languages. He is the author of The Devotion of Suspect X, which was a finalist for the Edgar Award for best novel, Journey Under the Midnight Sun, Salvation of a Saint, Newcomer and Malice. The Times has called him 'the Japanese Stieg Larsson'. He lives in Tokyo, Japan.

Reviews
I set out to discover more Japanese murder mysteries. It wasn't long before I got to Keigo Higashino, and I've read nobody else since. His books are so cleverly put together. His Detective Galileo novels, in which a temperamental physics professor helps the police to solve apparently unsolvable cases, are particular smashers * Dan Rhodes, author of Sour Grapes *
Fans of golden age puzzles will wish this one could go on forever * Kirkus Reviews *
Stellar...a flawless blend of police procedural and fair-play detection * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *
Realistic characters and beguiling descriptions...those looking for an uncommon mystery will be delighted * Library Journal (starred review) *



Book Information
ISBN 9780349145020
Author Keigo Higashino
Format Paperback
Page Count 352
Imprint Abacus
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Weight(grams) 240g
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 126mm * 28mm