Salvation of a Saint (2008)

A Japanese husband whose sole interest in his marriage is to produce an heir, announces to his wife that he wants a divorce. Then he dies, the apparent victim of arsenic poisoning; however, his wife was in another city visiting her ailing father and his mistress had no motive. The detectives struggle, eventually consulting Galileo, who figures out how the murder was accomplished. Clever method, but smarter detectives. ( )

I've now read several Japanese mysteries by this author and enjoyed them all. This one was no exception.

Ayane and Yoshitaka have been married for one year. Prior to their marriage, Yoshitaka had told Ayane that his purpose in marrying was to have children, and that if she was not pregnant within one year he would divorce her. The time has come: Ayane is not pregnant, a year has passed, and Yoshitaka tells her he will file for divorce. Ayane asks to go visit her parents in the north first. The day after she leaves, Yoshitaka dies, and it is discovered that he has been poisoned by arsenic.

Ayane is a "perfect" woman, and the main detective on the case is almost falling in love with her. She is also the person with a motive for murdering Yoshitaka, and the primary suspect. The problem is, how did the arsenic get into Yoshitaka's coffee when Ayane was hundreds of miles away.

A nice police procedural, with the extra little touch of interest for me that the character of Ayane is a famous Japanese quilter, with her own quilting school. I love Japanese quilts, which are usually incredibly intricate, and often sewn by hand. This was only a small part of the book, but it was authentic, and I enjoyed it.

3 stars. ( )

A Neat, Engaging and Satisfying Murder Mystery !!

-- No Spoilers--

Story backdrop :

A man is found murdered in his home and the modus is confirmed as poisoning of his coffee. Earlier on the day of murder, the victim was with his mistress at home. After she left, no one entered his home. His wife left the house the day before to visit her parents which is quite far away.

Both the wife and mistress seem to have a strong motive to get their partner killed. Few more suspects are introduced in the story as well. With the suspects having a strong alibi, Detective Kusanangi and team, along with the expertise of Detective Galileo uncover a fascinating & nearly impossible modus operandi of the killer to nab him/her.

A Neat, Engaging and Satisfying Murder Mystery !!

-- No Spoilers--

Highlights:

- Thoroughly engaging from cover to cover; not even a slight deviation from the main investigation.

- Strongly written characters - Be it the lead women characters like the wife, mistress, the junior detective or the men in story, each of them have their own traits displayed throughout which makes it pretty interesting.

- The way the investigation unfolds as layer by layer which makes the reader's mind to keep guessing throughout.

- The final revelation is just mind blowing ( )

The end is given at the beginning but read on anyway. A real treat this one if you like a mystery. You know who has done it but not how and the female lead is busy cracking the code to the solution and the murder by the other female lead.

This is by the guy who wrote The Devotion of Suspect X which is one of the best crime novels I have read. ( )

Malice still remains my favorite book from this author because of the sleuthing & mind games. But this book was far superior when it came to the heart of a story & depth. I am not sure if it's as memorable as the rest of the author's stories, but I would love to see this adapted into a movie (has it been adapted?). I won't reread it but it's definitely a one time read book. Go for it, it's a quick read as well.

-----> Updated Review

Can all sins be forgiven? Read my review of Keigo Higashino's yet another thrilling murder mystery novel: Salvation of a Saint.

https://rrkreads.com/salvation-of-a-saint-mystery-thriller-book-review/

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