Another pageturner has come out to the world from the house known for decades for memorable books across all genres. Penguin Random House, South East Asia, introduced this irresistible piece of writing by Simon Rowe. You must read this; don’t miss this in your November list..

From the back cover.

Beneath the sheen of its orderly streets and obedient populace, all is not well in the port city of Kobe. Business is as brisk as the Haru-ichiban spring breeze for Mami Suzuki, hotel clerk by day, private investigator by night.Who’s stealing from Japan’s biggest pearl trader? Where’s the master sushi chef and why are his knives missing? How did the tea ceremony teacher’s brother really die? And what does an island of cats have to do with a pregnant Shinto shrine maiden?From the Kobe wharfs to the rugged Japan Sea coast, the subtropics of Okinawa, and a remote island community in the Seto Inland Sea, each new adventure ends with a universal truth – that there are two sides to every story of misfortune.

About the author:

Simon Rowe left the green hills of New Zealand for the big sky country of Australia when he was sixteen years old. At twenty-one, he set out for the world and somehow managed to fund his travels by photographing and writing about them. He has lived in Japan for more than twenty-five years, winning numerous awards for his short fiction and screenplays, including Good Night Papa (2013 Asian Short Screenplay Contest) and Pearl City: Stories from Japan and Elsewhere (2021 Best Indie Book Award). His stories about Japanese life and culture have appeared in The Paris Review, the New York Times, TIME (Asia), the South China Morning Post, The Straits Times, The Australian, and the Australian Financial Review. He has a black belt in iaido(sword quick-drawing), a passion for sea kayaking, and an itch for adventure he never seems able to scratch.

Read the excerpt here:

Silhouetted against the noon sky, the president of Tokai Pearls Limited stood at his suite window and surveyed the harbour. His gaze shifted from the shipyards and submarine docks of Kawasaki Heavy Industries to the Mosaic Shopping Mall and its slow-turning Ferris wheel, then to Port Tower where tour boats came and went from the ferry terminal, and finally to the Rokko mountains that lifted the suburbs in a great pale wave above the Seto Inland Sea.

‘Do you know why they call this Pearl City?’ he said.

The three dark suits at the back of the room said nothing. Their collective gaze instead fell on the middle-aged woman in a blue pantsuit who sat on the leather sofa chair in front of them. She was generously built, wore her jet-black hair in a bob, and rested her manicured hands on the chestnut brown handbag on her lap.

‘Because pearls are a Kobe girl’s best friend?’ she ventured.

The president boomed. His laughter rolled about the room like distant thunder. ‘Good, good! I like it,’ he said, then to the back of the room, ‘Mr Danno, make a note of that. We could use it in advertising.’

A slim young man with a fashionable hairstyle gave a curt ‘Hai!’, drew a pen from his breast pocket and scribbled into a notepad.

The president seated himself behind a desk of polished walnut—a pink conch shell paperweight to one side and a speed-dial phone to the other. He was a short man, heavy-set, with a cherubic face and a smooth, tanned pate that caught the sunlight at such an angle it made him look almost angelic.

‘I’ll tell you why it’s called Pearl City, Ms Suzuki,’ he responded. ‘Because more pearls pass through this town than anywhere else in the world, and more pearls pass through this company than any other in this town. Our reputation, like our pearls, is unblemished.’ He leaned forward. ‘That is why we haveasked you here today.’

Suzuki glanced about the room. She noted the reproductions of old photos showing pearl luggers, turn-of-the-century fishing villages, and half-naked female divers—the famed ‘sea women’ of Mie Prefecture. She noted the brass diving bell helmet set on the teakwood sideboard, the mounted stag horn of red coral, and the framed photo of the Empress of Japan around whose neck gleamed three strands of fine Akoya pearls. Her gaze returned to the president.

‘Someone is stealing from me, and I want to know who,’ he said, then nodded towards the young man behind her.

‘Mr Danno here is my assistant….’

‘Thank you for coming, Ms Suzuki,’ Danno said, stepping lightly across the room to his boss’s side. ‘You come highly recommended.’

‘Oh?’ she said. ‘You did some work for my wife’s sister a few months ago … a Ms Deguchi?’

Suzuki’s eyebrows arched. ‘The underwear thief case?’

‘She said you’re a fast worker. “Very intuitive” were the words she used.’

‘I had some help—’

‘Nevertheless,’ the president interrupted, ‘there are one hundred and twelve staff in this company, nearly all of them female. We believe a female detective, such as yourself, stands a better chance of finding the thief than the Kobe Metropolitan Police. We are offering you three-hundred-thousand yen, paid upfront. An additional three-hundred thousand will be for proof of the thief ’s identity.’ He nodded at Danno, who reached into his breast pocket and produced a brown envelope that he passed on to her. 

She felt the tight wad of crisp banknotes inside anddrew a breath—more than a month’s salary in her hands. She looked up and her gaze was arrested by the image of a solo free diver on the wall behind the president. She was full- breasted and strong-armed, wearing only a loincloth as she descended the depths on shafts of sunlight. Suzuki had heard that the ‘sea women’ of Mie could stay down longer than men—their extra body fat kept them from freezing. She wondered how much a woman like that had been paid for her time and effort.

‘Ms Suzuki?’ said Danno. ‘May we have your answer, please?’

Her gaze returned to the two men and she breathed out slowly.

Buy the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Mami-Suzuki-Private-Simon-Rowe/dp/9815058894/ref=sr_1_5

NB: Excerpted with permission from Penguin Random House SEA