“A Foreign Affairs Mystery” is quite a different type of mystery; it gives us a very Canadian twist to immerse ourselves into and one charismatic main player, Charlie Hillier, to follow. I love to see how he manages to jump the multiple hurdles he has to face in order to do his diplomatic job.
After leaving Russia on his last posting as consular Charlie is sent to immerse himself in a truly foreign culture….Tokyo …watch out ….Charlie is not your ordinary consular.
After his misadventures both in Havana (book#1) and Moscow (book#2) Charlie wants to play low key but he is soon drawn into a case of a young man who winds up in a coma after a car accident….or maybe it wasn’t an accident after all?...Charlie is definitely a magnet for trouble and in “Remember Tokyo” he finds more than can be imagined. Along the way in this fast-paced mystery we have colourful details of life in the city: crowded metro system, food and the polite culture and custom…. including the corruption that is lurking at every corner.
This series is one of my favourite. Charlie may be a consular but he has great investigative skills and a strong and loveable personality. The protagonist not only faces ruthless criminals in his day to day job he also goes beyond all means helping expatriates in distress. Trying to shift truth from deceit and get to the bottom of what happened without causing an international incident is a feat in itself for Charlie…..but of course things rarely turns out the way he plans….what a thrill we have following him through another wonderful journey. And as in the previous novels, to help with his case is a beautiful woman to be smitten of and… to eventually leave behind once he is reassigned to another post….or recalled home…sometime in disgrace.
I agree with those saying this is a well-plotted travel-crime novel with great characterization and I love how diplomatic rules are not one he complies with rigidly….well-done.
I received this ARC from the publisher Dundurn Press via NetGalleys for my thoughts
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