Rendezvous at Kamakura Inn by Marshall Browne

I was mistaken to think Rendezvous at Kamakura Inn was a quiet mystery set in a hot spring in the hills, with perhaps geisha. Rendezvous pulls the trigger from the first page and only slows a third of the way through, turning an involved mystery into the twisted world of the Yakuza.

Detective Aoki, a twenty-year veteran of the Tokyo police force, and his team are ready to blow a corruption scheme focusing on Ex-Governor Tamaki wide open, after working the case fourteen hours a day for seventeen months. Some of the team dropped out, some divorced; it was a hard case for everyone. Suddenly, Superintendent Watanabe declares the investigation is closed.

'That man' is now off-limits.

Aoki is thrown into a tailspin by this news, but cannot leave the case behind.

"Again Aoki heard that buzzing in his brain. Certainly his energy was failing him, and he was back to smoking thirty cigarettes a day."

One by one in quick succession, four people connected with Aoki are killed off. The dynamic and breathless pace only lets up in chapter six when Aoki is put on leave and sent to a mountain ryokan for rest. At the inn, the story changes. A sudden winter storm blocks everyone in, and Aoki learns of a new mystery, perhaps twisted into his case on Tamaki. The characters at the inn include the head of a bank and his bodyguard, a top financial director, and an enigmatic older man who replays master games of Go.

The owner of the house may be a twin, and their mother was involved with both bankers before her mysterious disappearance. Is the mother alive, and have they brought the bankers here to exact revenge? Was Aoki sent here to investigate the bankers who are involved in the corruption scheme, even though officially the case is closed? Who is the Go player Mr. Saito, who seems to know the history of all the players, including Detective Aoki? Trapped by the snow for days, Aoki arranges the characters and reveals the puzzle.

This would be enough for any other thriller, but the third act turns yet again bringing in the yakuza, master Go championships, a grim black market, and the connection with the mysterious Mr. Saito.

This is the first Detective Aoki novel written by award-winning Australian author Marshall Browne. His previous novels include The Wooden Leg of Inspector Anders.

Rendezvous is far from the rural mystery I expected. Aoki is a tough character, and yet a thinker with a strong sense of how he can do right within the system. From the eye-popping, page-turning start of this crime drama, through the secret mysteries brought by each guest turning the inn into a hotbed of suspense, I was hooked on this hard-boiled thriller.

2005 / Paperback / 287 pages