三毛猫ホームズの四捨五入

三毛猫ホームズ #32

by Jirō Akagawa, 赤川次郎

殺人計画の情報を聞き、N女子学園に向かった片山刑事は、自分を狙った銃弾で亡くなった男の娘、弥生と再会する。一方、担任の竜野も弥生を見て驚愕した。「似ている、あの人に……」。そんな折、殺人事件が発生!

N女子学園にやってきた、時期はずれの編入生、棚原弥生を見て、担任の竜野は激しい衝撃を受けた。その仕草や表情が、20年前の彼女に似ていたから…。弥生に両親はいない。母は5年前に他界し、そして父は4ヶ月前、あの片山刑事を狙った銃弾で不慮の死を遂げていた―。N女子学園での不穏な情報を得た片山は、弥生と再会する。弥生の周辺で次々と起こる事件に、三毛猫ホームズの面々が立ち向かう!シリーズ第32弾。

288 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1996

About the author

Associated Names:
* 赤川次郎 (Japanese & Traditional Chinese)
* อาคากะวา จิโร (Thai)

Best known for his humorous mysteries, Akagawa's first short story, "Ghost Train", was published in 1976 and went on to win the annually granted All Yomimono New Mystery Writers' Prize by Bungeishunjū, a Japanese literary publishing company. Other works of his, The Incident in the Bedroom Suburb (ホームタウンの事件簿 私語を禁ず Homu Taun no Jikenbo: Shigo o Kinzu?) and Voice from Heaven (天からの声 Ten kara no Koe?), were later made into anime, while Sailor Suit and Machine Gun (セーラー服と機関銃 Serafuku to Kikanju?) was made into a popular live action movie. His most recognized works to date pertain to his Mike-neko (or Calico cat) Holmes series. He is extremely prolific; as of August 2006, he had written more than 480 novels in the course of his thirty year career, over 300 million individual published volumes.

Reviews

[Jeremy Kitchen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this a 3.5 star book. It was definitely an enjoyable read. Hard to go wrong with a mystery and a cat detective, but I never really got pulled into the drama of it all. That being said, there were many turns and surprises the writing was both dramatic and humorous. Japanese language level wasn't terribly challenging N3 + so definitely recommend to someone just starting to read Japanese novels. A friend told me you can never go wrong with Akagawa Jiro, and that held true.