Once again, Tommaso Scotti explores the darkest corners of the human soul by throwing light on the illusion of politeness, silence and order in Japan. In the third installment in the series featuring the Japanese-American inspector Takeshi Nishida, our detective has to deal with the death of an old school friend, as well as the bosozoku, a gang of motorcyclists ravaging the streets of Tokyo.

There is stress in the Tokyo police department. It’s all because the body has been found of a man with a note carrying the name of a well-known inspector: Takeshi Nishida, the “hafu”, the Japanese-American mixed race of the murder squad.

Nishida gets involved despite himself when he realises that the victim’s face is that of an old school friend. But why, after so many years, did he have Nishida’s contact details on him? What did he want to tell him? The inspector must do the impossible in order to find out…

His investigation into the truth leads him into the streets of Tokyo, as far as the districts ravaged by motorcycle gangs who, just like in mangas, create disturbances and perhaps much more.

The much-awaited return of the Japanese-American detective Nishida, who, in order to solve an impossible case, must explore the huge and nebulous grey zone of “the evaporated ones”, thousands of men and women who decide to vanish and start a new life. This way, he brings to light an unknown, dark Japan that is inextricably corroded by ancient, ruthless traditions.

A retired businessman has been murdered at his home, run through by a sword. The police are sure they have found the man responsible for the crime, a suspect with a possible motive as well as the opportunity. But the alleged culprit has psychiatric problems, may even be a drug addict, and keeps saying that he found the victim already dead. He seems to be hallucinating, but as far as Inspector Nishida is concerned, something doesn’t add up: the pathology report shows terminal illness, although there’s no mention of it in the meticulously kept medical records found in the dead’s man home. Perhaps the victim isn’t really who the police think he is. Nishida soon realises that, in order to shed light on the matter, he must venture into the dangerous grey zone of “the evaporated ones”: thousands of men and women who, for various reasons – linked to the traditional notion of honour in particular – decide to disappear and start anew somewhere else, under a different name and a new life. An illegal business worth hundreds of thousands of yen managed by an illegal company that does exactly that: make people evaporate.

Full English translation available

A crime novel set in an unusual environment, in Japan, where a mixed-race detective investigates a singular murder with just one clue that incriminates the only person in the world he can neither question nor arrest: the Emperor.

A compelling debut novel that contains the beauty and elusiveness typical of an ancient culture, while not shying away from its deepest flaws.

When faced with a murder victim killed with an ordinary, transparent plastic umbrella, like the hundreds seen in the streets of Tokyo on rainy days, Chief Inspector Takeshi Nishida has little prospect of solving the case. Both the victim and the murder weapon are too anonymous. It is therefore with little hope that he has the object examined for any relevant fingerprints. The test results are, however, beyond the imaginable. There is a clear, well-defined fingerprint. It belongs to the Emperor of Japan.  And so what seemed like a run-of-the-mill murder suddenly turns into a very delicate, complex conundrum. One, by one, Chief Inspector Nishida must identify all the fleeting owners of this umbrella, hunting for an answer that is as hoped for as it is dreaded.