The Final Curtain (2023)

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Billed it as the concluding chapter of the Detective Kaga series, only a fraction of which have been translated into English, Keigo Higashino’s The Final Curtain (“Inori no Maku ga Oriru Toki” in Japan) is one of those titles with dual meanings alluding to both the book’s content and its central protagonist suggesting finality. It arrives just a year after his last literary adventure, A Death in Tokyo, an otherwise rote entry in Higashino’s oeuvre that suggested the author was beginning to tire of his Newcomer. 30+ years can do that to an author.

While the character never really captured the zeitgeist outside his home country, keep in mind that Higashino is huge in Japan, so it was always a little disappointing more of Detective Kaga’s adventures have yet to make their way to English reading audiences before his swan song. There was even an acclaimed live-action adaptation back in 2018 (“The Crimes That Bind“) starring the impossibly handsome Hiroshi Abe as the titular detective. If this really is the end, at least you’ve got options on how to say goodbye.

Special attention must go to the fine translation, once again handled by Giles Murray, who puts in a more Herculean effort than ever before. Like most of Higashino’s work the story is thoroughly and unapologetically Japanese, with a special emphasis on character names and locations, with certain characters assuming multiple identities approaching Inception-level granularity. Thankfully, as we’ve come to expect from previous novels, a glossary is included to help readers keep track of the cast. My advice is to also keep Google Maps open, as the use of real world locales almost makes the narrative feel interactive. I just hope you love bridges.

Yuriko Tajima was a hostess at Sevan, a local bar in Sendai owned by Yasuyo Miyamoto and her husband. Yasuyo knew that Yuriko had a mysterious past, including a husband and young son she left behind, but she never pushed the issue as Yuriko proved to be incredibly popular with her guests. The only other person Yuriko was close to was someone known only as Mr. Watabe, an older gentleman she’d been seeing, and even this relationship she kept mostly private.

When Yuriko’s health took a turn for the worse she did her best to conceal it, so it was a shock when her body was found on her apartment floor, the cause of death later ruled a heart attack. While Yasuyo found it odd that Watabe didn’t want to attend Yuriko’s funeral, he was able to give her information on someone who would prove to be infinitely more useful, the name and address of Yuriko’s young son she’d abandoned years back, who was now working for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. His name: Kyoichiro Kaga.

Years later, the body of Michiko Oshitani is found decomposing in an apartment registered to Mutsuo Koshikawa, her death ruled a strangulation. Only nobody can locate Mutsuo, who seems to have disappeared entirely. Not long after the charred remains of what appears to have been a homeless man are found near the apartment where Michiko was discovered. Despite his severely burned corpse the cause of death was ruled by strangulation. Tokyo detective Shuhei Matsumiya believes the two cases might be connected, and before long calls on his famous cousin, Kyoichiro Kaga, for help.

Through a series of insightful detective logic and DNA sampling the detectives begin to slowly piece together enough evidence to lead them to Hiromi Kadokura, born Hiromi Asai, a former actress now working as a theater director whom Kaga had a professional encounter with years earlier after she’d asked him to train a young class in the ways of Kendo.

But the detectives feel Hiromi knows more than she’s letting on, and it’s not long before what might be one coincidence gives way to suspicion. It’s here where clues begin adding up, where vital connections between different cases start to form, including an innocent looking calendar found in the apartment where Michiko Oshitani’s body was found, each month appearing to have been assigned special significance to a particular bridge in Tokyo. For Detective Kaga this revelation has special significance as a similar calendar with the exact same bridge-scheme was found in the apartment where his mother’s body was discovered years back.

Could there be a connection between the elusive Mr. Watabe and Mutsuo Koshikawa? Is there a chance that Kaga could finally confront the only person who knew his mother before she died, and possibly uncover the secrets about why she left him all those years ago?

The Final Curtain is the rare mystery novel where the identity of the “killer” isn’t much of a mystery, though the slow reveal of the motivations behind their rationale give way to a larger conversation about the disposability of human life in times of crisis. Higashino frames his plot with a delicate touch by shifting focus from one level of human tragedy to another, particularly the embarrassment and shame of those dealing with depression, especially older people who often feel compelled to suffer in silence.

To be fair, Higashino puts the burden of juggling several seemingly unrelated plates on the audience before finally unveiling how each is connected, which may be a little confusing for those unfamiliar with Japanese names and places. Stick with it, however, and you’ll be rewarded with a grand finale that manages to connect its disparate threads in an unusually satisfying way, one especially high on emotional resilience that never feels like its cheating. Also, it’s almost charming how earnestly the entire police force in Tokyo, paradoxically one of the world’s largest yet safest cities, is dedicated to solving just two murders.

The Final Curtain is a deeply satisfying murder mystery where solving the actual murders takes a backseat to uncovering why they happened, and how single moments can have cascading effects that last a lifetime – or in some cases, several lifetimes. Despite being promoted as the final Detective Kaga adventure newcomers (pun intended) needn’t worry as this functions just fine as a standalone novel, and for them may serves as a gateway to the world of Keigo Higashino. You’re in for a treat.