British Immigrant Holly Blain has got her foot in the door at The Tokyo Shinbun – think the Japanese Washington Post – covering celebrities, but she longs to cover crime.
When a young Swedish woman turns up dead, skin whitened by blood-letting, Blain gets her big break. Teaming with Inspector Tetsu Tanaka, head of Tokyo’s Metroplitan Police’s Gaikoku-jin (foreigner) unit, the two must work together if they are to stop a twisted serial killer from murdering again.
The Flower Arranger is one of a number of books I got as part of a subscription gift from a relative. Teatime Bookshop sent me 2 books a month for 6 months in the crime genre. This was the fifth book out of these that I’ve read so far, and the best so far too.
Brilliantly plotted by British author JJ Ellis, the book interweaves clashing perspectives on Western and Japanese culture and practices, pop music, fashion, nightlife and personal attitudes. All the while, the plot steadily reveals the motives of a deranged killer who himself has ties to both worlds.
It’s the first book out of the Teatime Bookshop offerings that doesn’t have some glaring error in it – the science is backed up, the police and journalism work is well-researched, and there are no obvious that-wouldn’t-happen moments. Solidly written, not too elaborate, and with every chapter bringing the inspector and journalist closer to their suspect, The Flower Arranger races like a bullet train to a dramatic conclusion.
2 more novels featuring Tanaka and Blain are planned. I’m intrigued.
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