Review by Tina deBellegarde
With Mami Suzuki: Private Eye, Simon Rowe delivers a delightful twist on the traditional private investigator (PI) novel. This charming new sleuth is a middle-aged single mother from Kobe who sleuths in her off-hours to help cover the household expenses for herself, her mother and her young daughter. Suzuki is no Miss Marple. Fashionable but frugal, professional and low-key, she struggles to make ends meet, and often turns to a beer or a whiskey to ease her burden.
Rowe’s book is an attractive blend of the modern and the classic, much like Japan itself. He takes us on a tour from bustling Kobe to the languid islands of Ishigaki in southernmost Okinawa, and even to a “cat island” in the Seto Inland Sea.
The novel unfolds as four separate cases and stand-alone stories with several threads that connect the narratives. For instance, Teizo, a handsome fisherman and former submariner, plays Watson to Suzuki’s Sherlock. Each new client is recommended by the last, and sometimes, there is significant overlapping.
We begin in the port city of Kobe, where Suzuki lives. Here, Rowe shows us both sides of the tracks—the luxury of the pearl district, as well as the pubs and karaoke bars. You may recognize this part of the book from the author’s earlier collection Pearl City: Stories from Japan and Elsewhere where Suzuki is hired by a pearl dealer to suss out a thief.
The chapter “Land of the Gods” contrasts with the hustle and bustle of urban Kobe when Suzuki goes to Shimane Prefecture on Japan’s western seaboard to find a missing sushi chef. The sleuth must discover whether the chef left of his own accord or if something more nefarious occurred.
The episode “Sounds of the Tide” takes place on the idyllic island of Ishigaki where Suzuki investigates a drowning. The victim’s sister suspects the wife and her family had a hand in it. “Sounds of the Tide” becomes particularly compelling when Suzuki develops a friendship with the widow and is unsure if the relationship has clouded her judgement.
Rowe continually presents us with new angles to age-old stories. The final story, “Isle of Cats” features a pregnant college student and a runaway novice priest. The latter finally leads Suzuki to a near-deserted cat island before the twist ending is revealed.
Many PI novels are black and white, good versus bad, but Suzuki executes a more nuanced approach. She works on instinct:
“…intuition guiding her, not knowing exactly what would transpire or what awaited around the next corner but resolute in her belief that if you fell down seven times, you got up eight. There was never any certainty with cases like these, only hunches based on loose facts which, when arranged, pointed in a general direction. ( p.186)
These are not fast-paced action plots, but rather slow-burning character studies. The mysteries originate with people and real-life problems. They conclude quietly, as do many Japanese narratives, with the characters adjusting to the new normal. The prose is crisp and atmospheric. Rowe manages to imbue his stories with details and local color without obscuring the writing. Each case takes us to a different seaside locale and leaves us with the whiff of a salty breeze.
Mami Suzuki captured my heart when I first met her in the author’s Pearl City collection. I had hoped to see more of her, and Simon Rowe has delivered in spades. To my delight, the book left me with a satisfying ending and the promise of a sequel. What more could I want?