Hiroshima Boy

(Paperback)

Available Formats

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

LA gardener Mas Arai returns to Hiroshima to bring his best friend's ashes to a relative on the tiny offshore island of Ino, only to become embroiled in the mysterious death of a teenage boy who was about the same age Mas was when he survived the atomic bomb in 1945. The boy's death affects the elderly, often-curmudgeonly, always-reluctant sleuth, who cannot return home to Los Angeles until he finds a way to see justice served.

Naomi Hirahara is the Edgar-winning author of the Mas Arai mystery series, including Summer of the Big Bachi, Blood Hina, Strawberry Yellow, and Sayonara Slam. She is also the author of the LA-based Ellie Rush mysteries, published by Penguin. Her Mas Arai books have earned such honors as Publishers Weekly's Best Book of the Year and one of the Chicago Tribune's Ten Best Mysteries and Thrillers. The Stanford University alumna was born and raised in Altadena, California, where her protagonist lives; she now resides in neighboring Pasadena.

Reviews

Nominated for the Edgar Award
A CrimeReads Best Book of 2018
A KCET Notable Book of 2018

"Ive always admired Naomi Hiraharas Mas Arai. A brilliant, unique addition to mystery fiction from the very beginning, his character has straddled time, place, and culture, with roots in one of the most terrible acts of violence war has ever inflicted upon humanity. And Mas has prevailed while growing older in a country that does not always value the wisdom of its elders, or those who work with their hands. This may be the last entry in the series (really), but I am sure readers will come to love Mas for years to comehe is one of a kind. Hiroshima Boy is a wonderful finale to a fine mystery series. Kudos to Naomi Hirahara."
Jacqueline Winspear, author of the New York Timesbestselling Maisie Dobbs mysteries

With Hiroshima Boy, Naomi Hirahara offers readers another fine, artfully understated story about a man who believes himself to be average, yet is anything but. Carrying the ashes of his deceased best friend, Mas Arai returns to Hiroshima, where he spent his childhood and was witness to the bomb that devastated the city and its populace. When Mas stumbles onto the body of a murdered boy, what began as a simple mission to keep a recent promise becomes a complex journey in understanding the past. Like a Zen poet, Hirahara creates a quiet surface with a powerful storm beneath. The novel purports to be the last in this Edgar Awardwinning series. We can only hope that Naomi Hirahara has a change of heart.
William Kent Krueger, New York Timesbestselling author of Ordinary Grace and the Cork OConnor mysteries

Hirahara is an Edgar-winning author, and her seventh and, were told, final Mas Arai novel is another winner, with Mas again showing flashes of Columbo, with, perhaps, an even finer nose for nuance. A memorable conclusion to a too-little-known series.
Booklist

"Hirahara completes her Edgar Awardwinning series with a quiet and melancholy mystery that explores the tragic legacy of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
Library Journal

: The plot is tangled enough to keep you guessing throughout but smooth enough to hurl you through the book. Hirahara has the unique talent of writing lyrical sentences and characters with rich histories, yet never slowing the book down. Mas rarely grants himself access to his emotions, but Hirahara shows Mass inner turmoil through his struggles, his determination and his awkward interactions with strangers he seems to really care about. Its a fitting end to a beautiful series of novels. Its also a fitting novel for our current political context.
Arizona Daily Sun

"The final book in Naomi Hiraharas compelling series featuring Mas Arai, a retired Japanese-American gardener living in Los Angeles, begins with this startling sentence: 'Mas Arai was worried that the customs officer at Kansai Airport would find his best friend, Haruo Mukai, inside his suitcase.'
Wall Street Journal

Hirahara is truly prolific in the upper echelon with the best of the best in the pantheon of L.A. letters.
L.A. Review of Books

Author Bio

Naomi Hirahara: Naomi Hirahara is the Edgar-winning author of the Mas Arai mystery series, including Gasa Gasa Girl, Summer of the Big Bachi, Snakeskin Shamesin, and Blood Hina. She is also the author of the new series of L.A.-based Ellie Rush mysteries, published by Penguin. Her Mas Arai books have earned such honors as the Chicago Tribunes Ten Best Mysteries and Thrillers and Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year. The Stanford University alumna was born and raised in Altadena, CA, where her protagonist lives; she now resides in the adjacent town of Pasadena, CA.