Description:
Pasadena, 1903: Eighteen-year-old Ryunosuke "Ryui" Wada staggers off the boat from Yokohama, Japan, ready to reinvent himself after the untimely deaths of his parents. Though battling loneliness and culture shock, Ryui does his best to settle into his work as an art dealer's apprentice while adjusting to his new home. From his enigmatic photographer roommate, Jack, to the beautiful seamstress living downstairs, Ryui finds himself surrounded by colorful characters and unbelievable opportunities and is soon utterly swept up in all "Crown City" has to offer.
But tensions are seething under Pasadena's bustling prosperity. Ryui is the victim of an anti-Japanese attack, and a painting is stolen from the studio of Toshio Aoki, Pasadena's most successful Japanese artist, who then hires Ryui and Jack to investigate. It's not long before their sleuthing leads them into real danger. Ryui is a naive young man in a foreign country--has he bitten off more than he can chew?
In this fish-out-of-water mystery, studded with cameos by real historical figures, Edgar Award winner Naomi Hirahara brings to life a little-known slice of California history.
Brief description:
Naomi Hirahara is the Edgar Award-winning author of the Mas Arai mystery series, including Summer of the Big Bachi, which was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year and one of Chicago Tribune's Ten Best Mysteries and Thrillers. She is also the author of the Ellie Rush mysteries. She is a former editor of the Rafu Shimpo newspaper, and she has co-written nonfiction books like Life after Manzanar and the award-winning Terminal Island: Lost Communities of Los Angeles Harbor. She is a graduate of Stanford University.