Guilt: A Mystery

Description:

A tour de force crime novel from one of the international masters of the form, where a simple murder case questions the simple notions of good and evil, guilt and redemption.

Homicide Detective Godai of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department is assigned to investigate the death of a lawyer, Kensuke Shiraishi, whose body was found on a Central Tokyo riverbank. His investigations leads him to one Tatsuro Kuraki, who claims to have had limited contact with Shiraishi - but, surprising the investigators, Kuraki not only confesses to the lawyer's murder, but another one from thirty years ago - for which another man was arrested and died in custody before trial. This brings unexpected resolution to two cases but there is one problem: to Detective Godai the confession rings false.

And Godai is not the only one who cannot accept Kuraki's explanation of both murders and his professed motives. The confessed murderer's son and the victim's daughter both feel strongly that both the act and the motive claimed are untrue.

As Godai investigates further, he discovers that the relation between the murder of thirty years ago and the recent one is complex, raising multi-faceted questions of guilt and innocence. Guilt is a rich novel about crime and its aftereffects on those left behind by both the victim and perpetrator, a twisting, compelling work that will surprise and astonish.

Brief description: KEIGO HIGASHINO (1958 - 2026) was one of Japan's bestselling novelists. His books have been published in more than 41 countries and territories and widely adapted for film and television. He achieved international recognition for his Detective Galileo mystery series (The Devotion of Suspect X) and his Kyoichiro Kaga series (Malice). His work was a finalist for both the Edgar Award and the CWA Dagger, and he won many awards in his home country. Born in Osaka, he lived in Tokyo, Japan.

Review Quotes:

"A brilliant novel that at first seems to be a simple murder case but grows into an expansive investigation of the nature of crime and its outcomes...What a delight it is for English-speaking readers to have a new novel from Higashino." --firstCLUE

"Constantly surprising." --The Times (London)