This is a sort of police procedural kind of book, but it's set in Japan with Japanese characters. The author is an American by birth, but has lived in Japan for the past twenty or so years.

So, we begin with a fancy executive, Shigeru Onizuka, falling off the edge of an office building, in a drunken stupor. But, was he pushed or did he fall over the edge by himself? There was a fence protecting the edge of the building, but the fence had clearly been cut through. But, there was no sign of the shears that would be needed to cut the fence. Several years earlier, a young woman who used to work for Onizuka, Maryu Yamase, had plunged from the very same place. Coincidence or not?

It seems that Onizuka was an abusive, bullying boss. He might have essentially driven Maryu Yamase to suicide, or he might have arranged things to save face of one kind or another. He had been reported repeatedly for abusing all of his employees, especially the young women. So, perhaps Onizuka was pushed by one of Maryu's relatives, or perhaps her boy friend, who was an American jazz musician living and working in Tokyo.

Well, the story unfolds and eventually Det. Hiroshi Shimizu and his cronies untangle the mess. It was a pretty fun book.
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