Salvation of a Saint

Which Blog:

Staff Choices

Author:

Keigo Higashino

This post is about:

Books

ISBN #:

9780312600686

Keigo Higashino [1] is the author of The Devotion of Suspect X [2], one of my Top-5 picks for 2011 [3] and the choice of AHML's most recent Mystery Book Discussion [4] on October 8, 2012 . This newest title is only the second time one of his works has been translated into English. This mystery series is quite controversial and an internet sensation. The main character is the "brilliant, yet eccentric physicist," Professor Manabu Yukawa, who has been called the Japanese Sherlock Holmes [5].

Playing Watson to Yukawa's Holmes is the Tokyo policeman, Detective Shumpei Kusanagi. Together the two team-up to solve the most improbable of the city's criminal cases. One minor difference in the Sherlock Holmes comparisons is that the Tokyo team is a threesome. It includes Kusanagi's keen-sighted and demure assistant, Kaoru Utsumi. Kaoru brings the much-needed female perspective to the two bachelors' deductive-reasoning [6] discussions.

In The Devotion of Suspect X, a strain was put upon the personal and working relationships of Yukawa and Kusanagi. When a case of possible suicide/probable murder is investigated by Kusanagi, his junior detective/partner begins to feel that her boss and mentor is crossing forbidden boundaries and falling for the main suspect. Utsumi's only recourse is to enlist the services of "Detective Galileo", aka Professor Yukawa. The author is a master at intertwining the brilliance of all three main characters.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's [7] first Sherlock Holmes [8] story was written 125 years ago. It was entitled: A Study in Scarlet [9]. This book serves as a true testament that that style of writing is still popular today.