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Progeny
Crime is starting to spread…
Three-year-old Makiko Kohara goes missing from the mall while shopping with her family.
When Chief Inspector Kenji Inoue of the Fujikawa police gets the call, he is playing with his own three year old son, Yuichiro.
Disturbed by the news, he goes out into the bitter cold to search for the little girl, convinced she simply wandered off, and all will be well as such crime does not exist in Japan.
But once he gets to Seatopia, the new, western style shopping complex, he discovers the disappearance is very real indeed…
Meanwhile, a neighbourhood is being terrorised by a string of cat mutilations and two rival bike gangs are causing havoc in the sleepy, small, traditional Japanese town of Fujikawa.
With so much going on, the police are finding it challenging to keep up, and local reporters are quick to point out every mistake they make.
When the little girl’s body is found, all of Japan is watching and waiting.
As Inoue investigates and leads his staff, his own wife, US-born Ellie, has her own health issues.
His sister-in law Lise, who is staying with them, takes over Ellie’s teaching job and meets a Brazilian-born girl named Angie, who lives with her workaholic father and distant stepmother.
Bullied at school, Lise befriends the girl, not knowing she is about to bring something evil right to her door.
Progeny is a murder mystery set against the changing world of modern Japan, a world where some are finding it hard to fit in.
Praise for Lea O’Harra
"Crime fiction, especially the more traditional type based on deductive reason, is sometimes seen as out of touch with reality...Lea O'Harra shows...the traditional form is not necessarily regressive or conservative." - Paul Johnston, author of the Alex Mavros' series .
Lea O’Harra an American by birth, has lived in Japan for over 30 years. This is her second novel and marks the second book in the Inspector Inoue series after Imperfect Strangers
Three-year-old Makiko Kohara goes missing from the mall while shopping with her family.
When Chief Inspector Kenji Inoue of the Fujikawa police gets the call, he is playing with his own three year old son, Yuichiro.
Disturbed by the news, he goes out into the bitter cold to search for the little girl, convinced she simply wandered off, and all will be well as such crime does not exist in Japan.
But once he gets to Seatopia, the new, western style shopping complex, he discovers the disappearance is very real indeed…
Meanwhile, a neighbourhood is being terrorised by a string of cat mutilations and two rival bike gangs are causing havoc in the sleepy, small, traditional Japanese town of Fujikawa.
With so much going on, the police are finding it challenging to keep up, and local reporters are quick to point out every mistake they make.
When the little girl’s body is found, all of Japan is watching and waiting.
As Inoue investigates and leads his staff, his own wife, US-born Ellie, has her own health issues.
His sister-in law Lise, who is staying with them, takes over Ellie’s teaching job and meets a Brazilian-born girl named Angie, who lives with her workaholic father and distant stepmother.
Bullied at school, Lise befriends the girl, not knowing she is about to bring something evil right to her door.
Progeny is a murder mystery set against the changing world of modern Japan, a world where some are finding it hard to fit in.
Praise for Lea O’Harra
"Crime fiction, especially the more traditional type based on deductive reason, is sometimes seen as out of touch with reality...Lea O'Harra shows...the traditional form is not necessarily regressive or conservative." - Paul Johnston, author of the Alex Mavros' series .
Lea O’Harra an American by birth, has lived in Japan for over 30 years. This is her second novel and marks the second book in the Inspector Inoue series after Imperfect Strangers
- GenresMystery
231 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 14, 2016
10 people are currently reading
32 people want to read
About the author
Lea O'Harra
8 books45 followersLea O'Harra is the pen name adopted by Wendy Jones Nakanishi for the publication of her so-called Inspector Inoue mystery series including 'Imperfect Strangers' (2015), 'Progeny' (2016), and 'Lady First' (2017), all published by Endeavour Press (UK) and set in rural present-day Japan. Sharpe Boooks (UK) has recently reissued the series, along with a fourth thriller titled 'Dead Reckoning,' a standalone set in the American Midwest which was published in September 2022. Black Rose Writing (Texas) will publish her fifth crime fiction novel titled 'Sayonara, My Sweet' in May 2025. According to the author, an American by birth who has lived in Japan for forty years, her books are as much dissections of the dark underbelly of Japanese society as murder mysteries.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 14, 2025
When 3-year-old Makiko Kohara is abducted from Fujikawa’s new shopping mall, Chief Inspector Kenji Inoue is put on the case. He’s already busy: there’s an outbreak of shoplifting in this quiet town, and, more horribly, fourteen cats have been found killed. Two rival motor-biking gangs are annoying pedestrians.
The CCTV footage from the mall shows only a slim person in a hoodie, bicycling away with a heavy sports bag. Inoue’s unpleasant Superintendent, Takenaka, forbids him to broadcast it, then throws him to the wolves at a press conference for not sharing it. Further pressure is put on Chief Inspector Inoue because he has a boy the same age as Makiko, and his American wife, Ellie, is pregnant again. He also has Ellie’s young half-sister staying, and she’s finding it hard to adapt to reserved Japanese manners. Inoue has a number of suspects, particularly the two heads of the motorbike gang, Hoodies, and the head of their rivals, the Blondies, but no leads to help him.
The investigation takes place against a knowledgeably drawn Japan. Society there is changing, even in rural Fujikawa: the shopping mall has taken the place of local shops and street vendors, there’s petty theft from houses whose doors were never locked before, the wave of cat killings, and boys abandoning school to join motor bike gangs. O’Harra also gives us sympathetic detail of the young people caught up in this: Hoodies Genji, whose mother is a drunken prostitute, and Kaito, whose stepfather abused him; Angie and Hiroshi, who are both ‘halves’, mixed race children in a place where over 90% of people have two Japanese parents, and who are targets for school bullying. Angie is half-Brazilian and homesick for her feckless mother, numerous siblings and the life and colour of Brazilian street life. This outsider’s view of Japan is sympathetically and sensitively drawn. Hiroshi is a ‘shut-in’, a boy who’s suddenly refused to leave his bedroom, except at night.
A stunningly good thriller with sympathetic characters, clever plotting and a wonderfully evoked small town Japanese setting. This is the second of the Inspector Inoue novels, and though there are no spoilers, you might want to start with the first, Imperfect Strangers.
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Reviewer: Marsali Taylor
For Lizzie Sirett (Mystery People Group)
The CCTV footage from the mall shows only a slim person in a hoodie, bicycling away with a heavy sports bag. Inoue’s unpleasant Superintendent, Takenaka, forbids him to broadcast it, then throws him to the wolves at a press conference for not sharing it. Further pressure is put on Chief Inspector Inoue because he has a boy the same age as Makiko, and his American wife, Ellie, is pregnant again. He also has Ellie’s young half-sister staying, and she’s finding it hard to adapt to reserved Japanese manners. Inoue has a number of suspects, particularly the two heads of the motorbike gang, Hoodies, and the head of their rivals, the Blondies, but no leads to help him.
The investigation takes place against a knowledgeably drawn Japan. Society there is changing, even in rural Fujikawa: the shopping mall has taken the place of local shops and street vendors, there’s petty theft from houses whose doors were never locked before, the wave of cat killings, and boys abandoning school to join motor bike gangs. O’Harra also gives us sympathetic detail of the young people caught up in this: Hoodies Genji, whose mother is a drunken prostitute, and Kaito, whose stepfather abused him; Angie and Hiroshi, who are both ‘halves’, mixed race children in a place where over 90% of people have two Japanese parents, and who are targets for school bullying. Angie is half-Brazilian and homesick for her feckless mother, numerous siblings and the life and colour of Brazilian street life. This outsider’s view of Japan is sympathetically and sensitively drawn. Hiroshi is a ‘shut-in’, a boy who’s suddenly refused to leave his bedroom, except at night.
A stunningly good thriller with sympathetic characters, clever plotting and a wonderfully evoked small town Japanese setting. This is the second of the Inspector Inoue novels, and though there are no spoilers, you might want to start with the first, Imperfect Strangers.
-------
Reviewer: Marsali Taylor
For Lizzie Sirett (Mystery People Group)
October 21, 2016
In this addition to the Inspector Inoue series, a little girl is strangled with a muffler while visiting public a toilet on her own. Based on a real-life crime, this incident leads the Fujikawa police force to rival biker groups -- the Hoodies and the Blondies -- a half-American hikkikomori boy, a half-Brazilian girl sent to live with her divorced father, and a handful of other suspects. For the tough-but-tender-hearted Inspector Inoue, this murder hits close to home. He is now the father of a little boy who is the same age as the victim. As in her previous novel, O'Harra's book is worth reading especially for its cultural insights. In this case, prejudice against mixed race children in Japan, the country's disaffected youth, and discrimination against women are explored. Expect some twists and turns at the end.
March 17, 2019
A Japanese Modern Detective Story
Good story with interesting characters and plotting. However, the author seems to have not bothered with either spell check or grammar check. This really distracts from a reader's enjoyment. I may take a look at the other books in the series but won't finish them if they are as poorly editted.
Good story with interesting characters and plotting. However, the author seems to have not bothered with either spell check or grammar check. This really distracts from a reader's enjoyment. I may take a look at the other books in the series but won't finish them if they are as poorly editted.
September 12, 2017
A good read
A good detective story. The setting was interesting, and the good characters were likeable. Kept one guessing almost to the end.
A good detective story. The setting was interesting, and the good characters were likeable. Kept one guessing almost to the end.
July 19, 2016
I would like to thank Netgalley and Endeavour Press for a review copy of Progeny, the second of a series of police procedurals featuring Chief Inspector Inoue in small town Japan.
The police are busy investigating a series of cat killings and some burglaries when 3 year old Makiko Kohara goes missing from Seatopia, the local shopping mall. Strange as it may seem to us Westerners her mother sent her to the public toilet alone while she went shoe shopping with her son and Makiko was killed there and her body smuggled out. The reader knows this in real time while the police have to catch up with very grainy CCTV. The rest of the novel is taken up with the hunt for the killer.
The police investigation is fairly standard with multiple suspects gradually whittled down to a few and police politics coming into play when they don't have it solved within the week. It's not really an attention grabber and holder and I did find my mind wandering from time to time. The main standout in this novel is its portrayal of Japanese life and culture. I have recently read Six-Four and The Silent Dead by Japanese authors (both 5* reads) and they give a good idea of Japanese society but Ms O'Harra's outsider's eye really identifies the differences, like parents sending their child to the public toilet alone as there is no perceived risk, like mothers being judged on their capabilities by their children's behaviour, like the rampant sexism and the list goes on. Progeny is an extremely informative novel.
I think the plot is so-so but I love the way Ms O'Harra seamlessly integrates a wealth of information on Japanese culture into it to produce a novel worth reading.
The police are busy investigating a series of cat killings and some burglaries when 3 year old Makiko Kohara goes missing from Seatopia, the local shopping mall. Strange as it may seem to us Westerners her mother sent her to the public toilet alone while she went shoe shopping with her son and Makiko was killed there and her body smuggled out. The reader knows this in real time while the police have to catch up with very grainy CCTV. The rest of the novel is taken up with the hunt for the killer.
The police investigation is fairly standard with multiple suspects gradually whittled down to a few and police politics coming into play when they don't have it solved within the week. It's not really an attention grabber and holder and I did find my mind wandering from time to time. The main standout in this novel is its portrayal of Japanese life and culture. I have recently read Six-Four and The Silent Dead by Japanese authors (both 5* reads) and they give a good idea of Japanese society but Ms O'Harra's outsider's eye really identifies the differences, like parents sending their child to the public toilet alone as there is no perceived risk, like mothers being judged on their capabilities by their children's behaviour, like the rampant sexism and the list goes on. Progeny is an extremely informative novel.
I think the plot is so-so but I love the way Ms O'Harra seamlessly integrates a wealth of information on Japanese culture into it to produce a novel worth reading.
October 10, 2016
One winter’s evening three-year-old Makiko Kohara goes missing from a mall in western Japan while shopping with her family. When Chief Inspector Kenji Inoue of the Fujikawa police gets the call, he is playing with his own small son, Yuichi. Disturbed by the news, he mounts a search for the little girl, convinced she simply wandered off and all will be well as little girls are not abducted let alone killed in Japan. But once he gets to Seatopia, the new, western-style shopping complex, Inoue discovers the girl’s disappearance is very real indeed.
Once again Ms O’Harra weaves a complex tale, set in the equally complex world of Japanese society. There are many examples of parents both good and bad in this clever novel. The role of women is another theme which is threaded throughout the story. The novel follows the conventions of a mystery, with a myriad of suspects which are gradually whittled down.
But for me the strength of this book is the light the author shines on Japanese society and its conventions, which are shown through her character’s failings. Add to that beautiful prose and you don’t get a much better read than this!
I received a review copy from the publishers, Endeavour Press.
Once again Ms O’Harra weaves a complex tale, set in the equally complex world of Japanese society. There are many examples of parents both good and bad in this clever novel. The role of women is another theme which is threaded throughout the story. The novel follows the conventions of a mystery, with a myriad of suspects which are gradually whittled down.
But for me the strength of this book is the light the author shines on Japanese society and its conventions, which are shown through her character’s failings. Add to that beautiful prose and you don’t get a much better read than this!
I received a review copy from the publishers, Endeavour Press.
October 26, 2016
Great mystery procedural set in Japan! I really enjoyed this well written novel which I did not realize was second in a series (and now I'd like to read the first and the next one as well). Inoue is a really nicely written character. This is quick read- it's not long- but it's enough to give you a desire for more. There are good twists and I didn't see the end coming. THanks to Netgalley for the ARC.
April 6, 2017
An interesting book. Certainly gives a glimpse into Japanese life & culture, first crime novel I've ever read set against that background.
The prose style is oddly stilted though, almost like reading a translation. Which is slightly surprising as the author is American, albeit someone who has lived and worked in Japan for some time. I presume that her time there has influenced the tone and rhythm of her writing.
The prose style is oddly stilted though, almost like reading a translation. Which is slightly surprising as the author is American, albeit someone who has lived and worked in Japan for some time. I presume that her time there has influenced the tone and rhythm of her writing.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews