Salvation of a Saint

Having read a few Higashino novels in quick succession, I've come to realise that the gimmick he uses in each one seems to be the same or very similar. What does make this one stand out for me, though, is the actual solution itself. Higashino is not so concerned about the whodunnit but the howdunnit. I watched the live-action adaptation of this book in the Japanese drama “Galileo” so I actually already knew the solution deep in my brain but I had forgotten about it and it caught me off-guard again by how insiduous the solution was. For that, I'm giving this 4 stars.

Ayane Mashiba seems to be the perfect housewife to her husband Yoshitaka. Hiromi is Ayane's assistant at the patchwork school that the latter owns and runs, but she is also secretly Yoshitaka's mistress. One day, while Ayane is off to Hokkaido visiting her parents, Yoshitaka keels over dead by poison. As the police investigates, they uncover more and more secrets within the married couple's lives and the people around them.

This might be the first book that we see Detective Kaoru Utsumi, a new female detective on Detective Kusunagi's team, although because translations are not done for every Galileo novel that Higashino has written, so at least in English we've missed Det. Utsumi's first appearances. By this time, she seems to be on good terms with our titular Galileo, physics professor Dr Manabu Yukawa, and perhaps even sees things more eye to eye with him than his old friend Det. Kusunagi. In the live-action drama, Det. Utsumi is the female protagonist opposite Yukawa, and Kusunagi is only a supporting character at best, unfortunately. Det. Utsumi is not a bad addition - she has strong opinions and isn't afraid to voice them, even to her male superiors. In a society like Japan where gender stereotypes and hierarchy is still strong, her character is a welcome change. Despite this, though, Utsumi sometimes still perpetuates some slightly problematic attitudes towards women, like denigrating “female intuition” and being in line with Yukawa and Kusunagi's opinions that women were illogical.

Ayane and Hiromi make very good pieces in this puzzle. There's enough drama between them and the deceased Yoshitaka that gets unravelled in the story, which also serves to humanize both of them. It's also good that this didn't completely devolve into a “the other woman is solely/mainly to blame when the husband is unfaithful” situation, which is still a common attitude in Asia unfortunately.

Shoutout to the audiobook narrator, David Pittu, for this one for bringing so much life and distinction to the voices for each character, especially Yukawa, Kusunagi, Utsumi, Ayane, and Hiromi. He even managed to give the voice of the police section chief, who only occasionally appeared, a distinct identity.

Excited to read more Higashino novels, as always.