Danger and Devastation in Japan – The Kizuna Coast by Sujata Massey

Even though this is the most recent in Sujata Massey's Rei Shimura mystery series, it is my first read, so I'll be going back to the first one and going forward from there. I love her other series set in 1920's Bombay, and this book was equally great, though so different: current-day Japan. Two very different settings and heroines...such versatile writing.

Rei is alarmed when she receives an anguished call from her former employer/mentor and friend, Mr. Ishida, just after he is injured in the tsunami that followed the massive 2011 Tōshuko earthquake, both of which killed and injured many, leaving huge amounts of devastation and causing dangerous damage to the Fukushima nuclear power plant resulting in a radiation contamination zone. She decides to leave her home in Hawaii and her husband, Michael, to help her friend since he has no relatives or others he can call on. Michael, meanwhile, is called to Japan to assist in disaster recovery work.

Mr. Ishida became caught up in the tragic events when he left his antique business in Tokyo to go to an auction at another dealership in what became the earthquake zone. His young apprentice Mayumi, a young avant garde lacquer artist, was to care for his dog, Hachiko, but when Rei arrives at the antiques store, she finds the dog left inside and the young woman gone.

Rei takes Hachiko, and they travel as rescue volunteers to the site of the devastation. She locates Mr. Ichida who has had a head injury. She begins to search for Mayumi and other victims, with the assistance of Hachiko, and once he is sufficiently recovered, Mr. Ishida joins in.

Mayumi's family own a lacquer arts business, where she was training before they had a falling out. Mayumi had taken a number of rare and antique family pieces with her, and apparently was hoping to sell them to finance a program at an art school where she could learn the techniques she could use in producing her own designs. 

Now that Mayumi is missing, confusing circumstances begin to emerge and it is hard to tell who is trustworthy and who isn't. Rei is focused on finding Mayumi on behalf of Mr. Ishida, but even though she speaks and looks Japanese, she encounters both skepticism and criticism equal to her own concerns about the people who were closest to Mayumi. 

How will Rei solve the mystery and stay safe at the same time? The answers are only to be found by reading this intricate, stylish, and intriguing novel. 

The Spirit Remains Strong: The Lost Boys by Faye Kellerman

After 26 novels featuring the same two primary characters, you might think a series could be getting stale, but I can assure you that is not the case with Faye Kellerman's latest suspense novel, The Lost Boys. Detective Peter Decker and his wife Rina Lazarus are back, along with Pete's partner, Tyler McAdams, to solve a disturbing crime, and Gabe, Peter and Rina's foster son, who has family issues to resolve. 

These characters keep becoming more complete, and more nuanced, with each book. They've aged and changed in a realistic way – Peter is now looking towards 70, and Rina is well into her 50s. They've left behind Peter's high-pressure job at the LAPD and have already spent a few years in a small college town in upstate New York, where the crimes are fewer but no less complex.

The blended Decker family includes Peter's daughter Cindy and her husband Koby, Rina's two sons Jacob and Sam and their wives, Peter and Rina's daughter together, Hannah, and her husband plus a tableful of grandchildren. Gabe is in his 20s now too, and in a serious relationship. The changing and expanding family figures heavily in this book.

Along with the usual murder plot, Kellerman dwells heavily on where life will next take the Deckers. What lies in store for this unique couple? Observant Jews, Peter came late to discovering his heritage but has throughly embraced it, while Rina is as contemporary as can be while honoring her Orthodox background, keeping kosher, dressing modestly but stylishly, and spreading her goodwill and kindness everywhere she goes. Kellerman acknowledges how priorities change during life's stages.

It was thoroughly enjoyable to spend some time with these characters, who at this point, feel like old friends. I'd love a seat at their Shabbos table sometime...especially if Rina does the cooking.