See also 宮部 みゆき (Japanese language profile) and 宮部美幸 (Chinese language profile).
Miyuki Miyabe (宮部みゆき Miyabe Miyuki) is a popular contemporary Japanese author active in a number of genres including science fiction, mystery fiction, historical fiction, social commentary, and juvenile fiction. Miyabe started writing novels at the age of 23. She has been a prolific writer, publishing dozens of novels and winning many major literary prizes, including the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize in 1993 for Kasha and the Naoki Prize in 1998 for Riyū [The Reason] (理由). A Japanese film adaptation of Riyû, directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi, was released in 2004.
The problem with this last volume of “ソロモンの偽証” is that, after more then 3000 pages we get… well, tired. Miyabe has taken six volumes (or three, depending on the edition) and, again, more than 3000 pages to explain a story that should, and could, have been written in maybe half of it (if you want to stretch things) and better in a third. And maybe because she was trying to make all volumes more or less the same length, here she stretches things to the impossible, with characters having unnecessary conversations, with conversations that might be necessary being too long, with repetitive scenarios, with a couple of unnecessary plot developments… It just feels… tired. It is still very easy to read (Miyabe’s writing style and word usage make this a non-too difficult read) but, well, what can I say, she overcooked it.
The last short story is a nice addition, though, even if, again, a tad too long because of unnecessary conversations and repetitions.
The best: it is still interesting to be with these characters
The worst: but they have overstayed their welcome, no doubt
Alternatives: Natsuo Kirino, Miyabe has heaps of easy-to-read books, Keigo Higashino...