The Kizuna Coast--Japanese Come Together in Post-Earthquake Mystery

After reading The Widows of Malabar Hill, the first in a 1920's India mystery series by Sujata Massey, which I reviewed here , I discovered that there was a novel from her Rei Shimura mystery series that I hadn't known about called The Kizuna Coast. It also deals with significant events in recent Japanese history, the Great Eastern Kanto Earthquake of 2011 and the tsunami in its aftermath.  I decided that this novel would be my last read of 2018.

                       

There was so much to like about this book.  Most notably, the concept of kizuna. From what is said about it in this book, I would call it a combination of compassion and generosity particularly in an emergency situation.  So New Yorkers could be said to have shown kizuna toward each other post 9-11.  Kizuna was definitely on display in the context of the earthquake and tsunami that occurred in Japan just before the events of this novel.  Rei Shimura, who was living in Hawaii at that point, returned to Japan to join a party of volunteers who were going to aid tsunami survivors in the Tohoku region.  One of them was Ishida, Rei's elderly mentor who had phoned asking for her help.

 I was intrigued to learn from the acknowledgements that mystery author Naomi Hirahara, a friend of Sujata Massey, had been a volunteer in Tohoku and provided Massey with background information for The Kizuna Coast.   

Like Rei, I  initially disliked Ishida's new apprentice, Mayumi, who died in suspicious circumstances.  Mayumi lacked an ethical compass, but she did become more sympathetic as we discovered more about her.  She turned out to be a very interesting character.

Dog lovers will be delighted by Hachiko, Ishida's dog.  Rei took Hachiko along to Tohoku because she couldn't be left alone in Ishida's Tokyo apartment.  I learned that there was an actual Japanese dog named Hachiko who was famous for being loyal.  There is a Wikipedia article about the real Hachiko here.  

Despite all the positive aspects that I've pointed out in this review, I couldn't give The Kizuna Coast five stars because the perpetrator became obvious before the big reveal.  Nevertheless, I was glad to have read it.  I think it's one of the better Rei Shimura novels.