The Case Files of Jeweler Richard (Light Novel), Vol. 1

Richard is a fairly young British man who lives in Japan, speaks perfect Japanese and various other languages, and has a shop selling gemstones and jewellery; which seems to be his hobby and passion as well as his business. He employs Seigi, a younger Japanese man, to make tea and do other odd jobs around the shop.

The novel is the story of their odd relationship and of their encounters with various different customers.

Seigi seems a nice lad, well-meaning, keen to help everyone, but he tends to say what's on his mind when it might be better to keep silent. He thinks he's heterosexual and is fascinated by a particular girl, but doesn't seem sure what he wants to do with her. He's also fascinated by his boss Richard, an unusually attractive man (other people think so too), although he doesn't think there's any sexual aspect to this fascination. He seems either asexual or sexually confused.

Richard is a very enigmatic man, and in this novel we don't learn much about what goes on in his head. His attractiveness seems an embarrassment to him, and he tends to avoid women; if he prefers men, that hasn't yet become clear. Like Seigi, he doesn't seem to have any sexual relationship with anyone.

The book seems quite well translated from Japanese, including some quite technical paragraphs about gemstones (presumably the author makes a hobby of them too). It's a readable and congenial story, although I find the main characters rather improbable and the plot relatively uneventful: I normally read sf and fantasy, in which more tends to happen.

I'll probably read the next book in the series, hoping that it reveals more about the main characters.