Le due morti del signor Mihara

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.