Utamakura Satsujin Jiken

"Utamakura Satsujin Jiken" was perhaps not the best choice for my introduction to the very prolific Uchida Yasuo, author of over 100 novels. Even though he writes with a very likeable straightforward style and friendly tone, a certain amount of knowledge about the Japanese tradional New Year's card game "karuta" would have helped in understanding this book. Uchida always takes great care to explain things, though, and can be a great source for learning about some of Japan's different traditions and local areas. Uchida's novels almost always involve several locales in Japan and can actually be quite informative, educational, and thoroughly enjoyable. Unlike most other Japanese writers of detective fiction, he doesn't rely on situations, procedures, or devices to improbable as to insult the reader's intelligence. While obviously fiction, he strives to remain in the realm of the plausible.

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