Naomi Hirahara

Aki Ito and her family are returning to Los Angeles in 1946 after being resettled to Chicago, where her sister Rose was killed. Newly married, her husband left for war. Now, she works as a nurse's aid, and is shocked to find that an injured man's son is her husband's best friend, Babe Watanabe. She wonders if he is abusing his dad. Later, a murder happens, and Aki decides to hire a PI to investigate Babe. Meanwhile, her marriage is suffering.
This is a continuation of the Clark & Division story, and the heartbreak of the Japanese American family is still felt throughout this novel.
The story is both crime novel and a look at the struggles of a Japanese American family in the US after WWII, facing racism and financial issues due to the way they were treated because of Japan's involvement in the war.… (mehr)

(2021) Very good story told by a young Nissei who, along with her immediate family, was interned in Manzanar at the start of WWII. They are later allowed to move to Chicago following her sister Rose. She becomes obsessed to learn how her sister had died just before they arrived. She does some clever detective work to discover that a seemingly kindly white police officer had blackmailed Rose when she had obtained an abortion and later killed her. She does bring the culprit to justice with the help of good friends and family. This gives a good feeling of how the Japanese had to cope with being considered the ?enemy? in their home country.When a young Japanese American woman is murdered during World War II, her grieving younger sister turns sleuth to solve the crime.As she tells it, the story of young Aki Ito's family begins in Southern California in the 1920s. Mom emigrates from Japan in 1919 to marry Pop, who, starting as a farm laborer, rises to the post of market manager. Aki looks up to her elder sister, Rose, the star of the family. The bombing of Pearl Harbor changes everything for the family; they are sent to the Manzanar internment camp in 1942. Then, in June 1943, the War Relocation Authority recruits Rose to be one of the "loyal" nisei to move out of the camp and work in Chicago. Her boyfriend, Roy, follows a few months later. When the family is finally allowed to follow, they are greeted with the horrifying news that Rose is dead, killed by a subway train. Aki's decision to uncover the truth about Rose's death comes slowly. Hirahara immerses readers in this ignoble period in American history and in the family's grief, presented from Aki's wary, wide-eyed perspective. Learning that Rose had an abortion accelerates Aki's desire to know the truth. She's unsettled even further when Rose's death is ruled a suicide. Subsequent chapters begin with passages from Rose's diary, providing a chilling backdrop to the truth that is gradually revealed. Getting a job at the Newberry Library puts Aki closer to the heart of the city and exposes her to the casual racism all around her. Roy's failure to offer support and the fear and evasiveness of Rose's roommate, Tomi Kawamura, only harden Aki's determination to find answers. Her investigation becomes her rite of passage into adulthood.An effective whodunit that's also a sensitive coming-of-age story.Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021ISBN: 978-1-641-29249-8Page Count: 312Publisher: Soho Crime… (mehr)

Chicago, 1944: Twenty-year-old Aki Ito and her parents have just been released from Manzanar, where they have been detained by the US government since the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, together with thousands of other Japanese Americans. The life in California the Itos were forced to leave behind is gone; instead, they are being resettled two thousand miles away in Chicago, where Aki's older sister, Rose, was sent months earlier and moved to the new Japanese American neighborhood near Clark and Division streets. But on the eve of the Ito family's reunion, Rose is killed by a subway train.… (mehr)

The second installment of the Edgar award winning Japantown mystery series by Naomi Hirahara showcases not so much mystery, but the beautiful, fractured, and resilience of a Californian Japanese community. The second World War has just ended and people are finally making their way back to their homes after being detained in Japanese Internment camps. Aki, her recently returned veteran husband, and her parents rent a new home in their old community. When she stumbles across Babe, the best man at her wedding, and his father at the hospital she works at, Aki has questions. Did Babe beat his father? How did he get so many broken bones and bruises? Babe seems evasive and unwilling to talk and when his father is later found dead in his Little Tokyo apartment, Babe is nowhere to be found. Aki is determined to find out what happened before their connections with Babe drag them along in the scandal. Excellently narrated by Allison Hiroto, whose charm and wit shines through. This fantastic historical mystery is a must read, Aki Ito will win over readers with her sweet demeanor and quick wit.… (mehr)