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Feb 05, 2011
Readers not already familiar with Japanese classic mystery novels may find The Devotion of Suspect X slightly difficult. The crime is committed at the beginning and we know who did it and why. And the language is very formal, seeming a bit stiff. But those who’ve read works by Japanese masters such as Seicho Matsumoto (Points and Lines) understand that this is all part of the artistry of the Japanese style, and it grows on you as the novel proceeds. Here, the killer is a battered wife who, to save her child, kills her abusive ex-husband. Her neighbour, a mathematics instructor, comes to her aid, helping to dispose of the body and constructing an unbreakable alibi. The police investigator is convinced of the wife’s guilt, but can’t prove it. Along comes a brilliant physicist used to mathematical puzzles, and what ensues is a cat-and-mouse chase among the clues. Clever and intriguing, with enough twists for a whole series of plots. Margaret Cannon