Malice

A Mystery

By: Keigo Higashino, Alexander O. Smith - translator

Narrated by: Jeff Woodman

Acclaimed bestselling novelist Kunihiko Hidaka is found brutally murdered in his home on the night before he's planning to leave Japan and relocate to Vancouver. His body is found in his office, a locked room, within his locked house, by his wife and his best friend, both of whom have rock solid alibis. Or so it seems.

At the crime scene, Police Detective Kyochiro Kaga recognizes Hidaka's best friend, Osamu Nonoguchi. Years ago when they were both teachers, they were colleagues at the same public school. Kaga went on to join the police force while Nonoguchi eventually left to become a full-time writer, though with not nearly the success of his friend Hidaka.

As Kaga investigates, he eventually uncovers evidence that indicates that the two writers' relationship was very different that they claimed, that they were anything but best friends. But the question before Kaga isn't necessarily who, or how, but why. In a brilliantly realized tale of cat and mouse, the detective and the killer battle over the truth of the past and how events that led to the murder really unfolded. And if Kaga isn't able to uncover and prove why the murder was committed, then the truth may never come out.

Malice is one of the bestselling—the most acclaimed—novel in Keigo Higashino's series featuring police detective Kyochiro Kaga, one of the most popular creations of the bestselling novelist in Asia.

Critic reviews

“Keigo Higashino combines Dostoyevskian psychological realism with classic detective-story puzzles reminiscent of Agatha Christie and E.C. Bentley.” —Wall Street Journal

“Keigo Higashino again proves his mastery of the diabolical puzzle mystery with Malice, a story with more turns, twists, switchbacks and sudden stops than a Tokyo highway during Golden Week.” —The New York Times Book Review

“This smart and original mystery is a true page-turner... will baffle, surprise, and draw out suspicion until the final few pages. With each book, Higashino continues to elevate the modern mystery as an intense and inventive literary form.” —Library Journal (starred review)

“Fiendishly clever... Higashino offers one twist after another... Readers will marvel at the artful way the plot builds to the solution.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“The creator of Detective Galileo (Salvation of a Saint, 2012, etc.) returns with another fiendishly clever Chinese--make that Japanese--box of a whydunit... If you still miss the days of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, you can't do better than this fleet, inventive retro puzzler.” —Kirkus Reviews

Finly clever and twisty

This is my favorite kind of detective story, one in which geniuses are pitted against each other. There’s not much violence on screen, as it were, but there’s a lot of psychological depth. The narrator was perfect. I highly recommend this and look forward to the following books in the series.

Excellent piece of work!

just loved it! so many subltle twists and turns, the story keeps you in check till the very end.

Intriguing Plot

This is my third book by this Japanese author, and I have enjoyed every single one of them. I wish that more of his books would be translated to English. Although this is part of a series, it works as a stand alone; this is the first one in this series I read and I didn't feel I missed anything by not reading the prior books.

The thing that I like about this author's books is that unlike the traditional mystery/thriller stories, his books are not a "who-dun-it." You generally know WHO the killer is at the beginning of the book. What you don't know, and what is unraveled through logic as the story progresses, is the motive and/or the method. When I first started reading these books, I didn't think there could be much there since the killer was identified early; I was certainly wrong! There are still plenty of twists and turns, along with intrigue and mystery.

You Need to Listen to This

The twist in the end is crazy. I have never thought this was the truth, and Keigo Higashino has been so genius on plotting everything in front of the audience. I bet that you have heard so many twists in other shows and books, but this ending is definitely one of the best you don’t want to miss.

Worth reading; the previous two books were better

I like Higashino. In my opinion he is the classiest of all thriller writers. His detectives solve mysteries based on logic and deduction: coincidence and chance play absolutely no role in the process. His plots are to mystery writing what chess is to sport.
Higashino also tells you the name of the murderer right in the beginning in his novels. The fun comes when the detectives try to solve the murder. There are layers upon layers of deception. No James Bond stuff like car chases and people jumping off roofs. Some might consider his books a little boring.
This particular book is, in that sense, just like his previous two. A man is killed, the killer is found quickly, and the detective now has to discover the motive.
Higashino makes the entire process interesting. The characters are very well developed. The pace is adequate: not at all fast, but no too slow either.
Higashino's earlier two books were better. But this is worth reading too.