Fiction, Mystery & Crime, Peoples & Cultures - Fiction

Rendezvous at Kamakura Inn

Name: Rendezvous at Kamakura Inn
Author: Marshall Browne
ISBN: 9781429902328

by Marshall Browne

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Overview

Detective Inspector Hideo Aoki learns that his case against ex-Governor Tamaki—one that he has been building for months— has been dismantled. Rattled by this directive, his life begins to spiral out of control, fueled by his obsession over the case, heavy drinking, and several repercussions too close to home. In an effort to help the emotionally unstable Aoki, the police department sends him to a remote Japanese mountain retreat.

What was supposed to be a relaxing stay for the recently suspended investigator instead becomes a hotbed of suspense. Soon, familiar faces, furtive glances, secret dinner conversations and lurking secrets make Aoki realize that the guests at the Kamakura Inn are not unrelated. It becomes clear that something beyond coincidence has put them together; politician, banker, suspended detective, and an elusive Go master who manipulates Aoki like his game board pieces.

A sudden snowstorm traps the guests together just as Aoki begins to piece together each guest's connection to an unsolved disappearance years prior. With no communication to the outside world, or method of escape, the relaxing retreat becomes a maze of stone walls, a geisha's seduction, and bloody murders in the night. Before long, Aoki realizes that his investigation into ex-Governor Tamaki and the unsolved disappearance are part of a larger scheme.

Now Aoki must survive the snowstorm and make the swift return to Tokyo to uncover a multitude of secrets, and return alone to the case against Tamaki. Even in Tokyo, the characters from the Kamakura Inn are players and Aoki once again must escape the web of deceit before it closes in around him. Rendezvous at Kamakura Inn is another thrilling tale crafted by the critically acclaimed author of Eye of the Abyss and the Inspector Anders series.

About the Author, Marshall Browne

MARSHALL BROWNE, born in Melbourne, is a sixth generation Australian. He is currently working on a second Inspector Anders thriller. His wife Merell, is an interior designer, and their daughter Justine, works at the Australian Embassy, Washington D.C..

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

After setting his acclaimed Inspector Anders series in contemporary Italy and 2003's haunting The Eye of the Abyss in prewar Nazi Germany, Australian author Browne places this thriller in modern-day Japan-alas, with lackluster results. Tokyo inspector Hideo Aoki has suffered a complete breakdown after a series of misfortunes: his investigation of a corrupt politico was suddenly quashed, his father died and his wife committed suicide. Sent to a remote inn to recuperate, Aoki has to contend with an old unsolved case involving the inn's former owner, three grisly murders, a mysterious Go player who may be an assassin, and a chef who may be preparing special dishes from human body parts. Endlessly Aoki wanders the inn's dim hallways, agonizing over what he knows and what he suspects, but taking no action, sort of like an Asian Hamlet but without the poetry. Heavy with exposition, this flat, unengaging novel is hopefully an aberration for this talented writer. Agent, Maria Massie. (Nov.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A career-making case gets away from the smart, ambitious Japanese cop who's been working his dream job. Or does it?After 17 months of 14-hour days for Inspector Hideo Aoki of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and the elite team he'd assembled, the Director General tells him that famously crooked ex-governor Yukio Tamaki (aka The Fatman) has become untouchable. The news shouldn't have come as such a shock to an officer as experienced as Aoki (Eye of the Abyss, 2003, etc.). He knew exactly how well-connected Tamaki was to major political, financial and yakuza figures. Still, as the days had passed and the DG continued to smile, Aoki had grown cocky, over-confident, a sucker for the knockout punch. Now Aoki finds himself yesterday's golden boy, persona non grata in all his favorite cop corners. His immediate superior sends him into virtual exile to the small, remote Kamakura Inn, where, it turns out, the high-profile guests are not at all what one might have expected, murderers stalk at night and links to his fat ex-target are disturbingly unavoidable. Too many unnecessary twists and turns maybe, but Browne's strengths-character, atmosphere, a sense of place-make it well worthwhile.