The Salaryman’s Wife

Rei Shimura Mysteries, Book 1

By: Sujata Massey

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

Japanese-American Rei Shimura is a 27-year-old English teacher living in one of Tokyo's seediest neighborhoods. She doesn't make much money, but she wouldn't go back home to California even if she had a free ticket (which, thanks to her parents, she does). Her independence is threatened however, when a getaway to an ancient castle town is marred by murder.

Rei is the first to find the beautiful wife of a high-powered businessman, dead in the snow. Taking charge, as usual, Rei searches for clues by crashing a funeral, posing as a bar-girl, and somehow ending up pursued by police and paparazzi alike. In the meantime, she manages to piece together a strange, ever-changing puzzle-one that is built on lies and held together by years of sex and deception.

©1997 Sujata Massey (P)2019 Tantor

Good listen into Japanese customs

I I didn’t think I would like this book as much as the authors previous books. But, I was drawn in from the beginning. Murder, romance and culture all followed. Well done. Looking for the next book.

Such a nice comfy read!

Such a good read, a great comfy book for a cold weekend. Read it over a weekend and loved it.

Love Sujata Massey’s books but wish performance was a bit better

I enjoyed the book but found piece of the performance hard to manage. Hugh’s Scottish accent was frustrating because it didn’t seem to match the character. I also don’t know why Rei sounded both breathy & surprised all throughout. It sounded like everything Rei said was an exclaimation and at the same time steady without a change in intonation. The performance in Massey’s Perven Mistry series was exceptional and I was hoping for the same for Rei’s series.

Beautiful mystery

Both the narrator and author did a wonderful job of setting the scene and developing the story. I had no idea who the killer was!

Story thread poor

Found the story line poor and hard to follow, hard to believe and got boring