Published Independently,
8 January 2025.
ISBN: 979-830632388-6 (PB)
Chief Inspector Kenji Inoue commands the police station in Fujikawa, a small town with a low crime rate in rural Japan. One swelteringly hot morning in July, his peace is shattered when Professor Nomura, the president of Fujikawa University, is discovered in his office with his throat cut.
Aided by two young sergeants, Kubo who is smart and efficient, and Ando who is scruffy but understands people, Inoue starts investigating. There is no shortage of suspects. The Professor’s plans to change the charitable, Christian ethos of the university and to make lecturers redundant by closing the English department have made him unpopular. Added to which there were rumors that he, or an obedient minion, had been syphoning off money from the university’s kitty for their own nefarious uses. On the personal side he was seen as a lecherous individual who preyed on young, female students, and his younger brother hates him.
Andrew Thomas, a Canadian professor of English, becomes the prime suspect for several reasons: he was discovered covered in blood with the dead man’s body in his arms; he is likely to be made redundant; and his wife Alyson was having an affair with the Professor. A second death followed within the week. Hideo Akamatsu, from the accounts department, was attacked and subsequently died. Whilst all this is happening, Inoue has his boss, the ambitious Superintendent Takenaka, breathing down his neck. Thankfully, Takenaka is not based in Fujikawa, but at a much larger police station in the nearby town of Ishizaki.
Whilst Imperfect
Strangers works perfectly well as a murder mystery, its main interest for
me was the insightful and fascinating glimpses it provided into Japanese
culture and institutions. The characters, and the manifestations of what might
be viewed by many of us as employees unacceptably hierarchical relationships
with each other, are portrayed with admirable clarity alongside the darker,
less acceptable, subservient side of domestic society. Originally published in
2015, and set in the present day, much of the behaviour described seems to have
been derived from a distant epoch. Overall, this is a book that can be read on
many levels, but whatever one’s approach, it makes an interesting, informative
and enjoyable read.
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Reviewer: Angela
Crowther
Lea O’Harra has previously published four crime fiction novels: Imperfect Strangers, originally published in 2015 by Endeavour Press, republished in 2022 by Sharpe books; Progeny, originally published in 2016 by Endeavour Press, republished in 2022 by Sharpe books; Lady First, originally published in 2017 by Endeavour Press, republished in 2022 by Sharpe Books, and Dead Reckoning, published in 2022 by Sharpe Books. The first three books comprise the so-called ‘Inspector Inoue murder mystery series’ and are set in Japan. The fourth book is a standalone in small-town America. In autumn 2017 Lady First was awarded finalist status in the crime fiction section of the Beverly Hills Books Awards. It was also a finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards in 2018. Dead Reckoning was selected as a Book Excellence Award Finalist in 2023 in the thriller category.
Angela Crowther is a retired scientist. She has published many scientific papers but, as yet, no crime fiction. In her spare time Angela belongs to a Handbell Ringing group, goes country dancing and enjoys listening to music, particularly the operas of Verdi and Wagner.