‘Progeny’ by Lea O’Harra

Published Independently,
8 December 2022.
ISBN: 979-836754587-6 (PB)

When 3-year-old Makiko Kohara is abducted from Fujikawa’s new shopping mall, Chief Inspector Kenji Inoue is put on the case. He’s already busy: there’s an outbreak of shoplifting in this quiet town, and, more horribly, fourteen cats have been found killed. Two rival motor-biking gangs are annoying pedestrians.

The CCTV footage from the mall shows only a slim person in a hoodie, bicycling away with a heavy sports bag. Inoue’s unpleasant Superintendent, Takenaka, forbids him to broadcast it, then throws him to the wolves at a press conference for not sharing it. Further pressure is put on Chief Inspector Inoue because he has a boy the same age as Makiko, and his American wife, Ellie, is pregnant again. He also has Ellie’s young half-sister staying, and she’s finding it hard to adapt to reserved Japanese manners. Inoue has a number of suspects, particularly the two heads of the motorbike gang, Hoodies, and the head of their rivals, the Blondies, but no leads to help him.

The investigation takes place against a knowledgeably drawn Japan. Society there is changing, even in rural Fujikawa: the shopping mall has taken the place of local shops and street vendors, there’s petty theft from houses whose doors were never locked before, the wave of cat killings, and boys abandoning school to join motor bike gangs. O’Harra also gives us sympathetic detail of the young people caught up in this: Hoodies Genji, whose mother is a drunken prostitute, and Kaito, whose stepfather abused him; Angie and Hiroshi, who are both ‘halves’, mixed race children in a place where over 90% of people have two Japanese parents, and who are targets for school bullying. Angie is half-Brazilian and homesick for her feckless mother, numerous siblings and the life and colour of Brazilian street life. This outsider’s view of Japan is sympathetically and sensitively drawn. Hiroshi is a ‘shut-in’, a boy who’s suddenly refused to leave his bedroom, except at night.

A stunningly good thriller with sympathetic characters, clever plotting and a wonderfully evoked small town Japanese setting. This is the second of the Inspector Inoue novels, and though there are no spoilers, you might want to start with the first, Imperfect Strangers.
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Reviewer: Marsali Taylor

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. 

http://leaoharra.com  

Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh and came to Shetland as a newly-qualified teacher. She is currently a part-time teacher on Shetland's scenic west side, living with her husband and two Shetland ponies. Marsali is a qualified STGA tourist-guide who is fascinated by history, and has published plays in Shetland's distinctive dialect, as well as a history of women's suffrage in Shetland. She's also a keen sailor who enjoys exploring in her own 8m yacht, and an active member of her local drama group.  

Click on the title to read a review of her recent book
Death at a Shetland Festival 
www.marsalitaylor.co.uk