Kaga starts his investigation, and nothing seems as they initially appear. Years ago, the detective, then a teacher, used to teach at a school where the suspect Nonoguchi was also a teacher. Inspector Kyoichiro Kaga arrives at the scene to investigate the murder. Indeed, this entire narrative was written down by him, and later found among his writings by the police. Or at least that’s what Nonoguchi’s narration suggests. She comes by and together they enter the house to see that Hidaka is dead. Panicking, he calls Hidaka’s wife, Rie, at the hotel.

Nonoguchi leaves immediately, and as he approaches Hidaka’s house, he finds it locked. A few hours later, in the middle of a meeting with his publisher, he is interrupted by a phone call from his friend, who summons Nonoguchi to his house. After that, he would leave his house and stay the night in the hotel where his wife is staying for the night.Īfter meeting Hidaka, Nonoguchi returns to his house. After meeting Nonoguchi, Hidaka is planning to complete a short story that he has promised to a magazine before he leaves for Canada.

Hidaka would be relocating from Japan to Canada with his wife the very next day, and he decides to meet his friend before he is leaving. Nonoguchi describes a recent meeting he had with his childhood friend and wildly successful writer, Kunihiko Hidaka. Malice is one of the bestselling-the most acclaimed-novels in Keigo Higashino's series featuring police detective Kyoichiro Kaga, one of the most popular creations of the bestselling novelist in Asia.The story starts with a narration by Osamu Nonoguchi, a struggling writer of children’s fiction. And if Kaga isn't able to uncover and prove why the murder was committed, then the truth may never come out. In a brilliantly realized tale of cat and mouse, the detective and the killer battle over the truth of the past and how events that led to the murder really unfolded. But the question before Kaga isn't necessarily who, or how, but why.

Kaga went on to join the police force while Nonoguchi eventually left to become a full-time writer, though with not nearly the success of his friend Hidaka.Īs Kaga investigates, he eventually uncovers evidence that indicates that the two writers' relationship was very different that they claimed, that they were anything but best friends. Years ago when they were both teachers, they were colleagues at the same public school. Or so it seems.Īt the crime scene, Police Detective Kyoichiro Kaga recognizes Hidaka's best friend, Osamu Nonoguchi. His body is found in his office, a locked room, within his locked house, by his wife and his best friend, both of whom have rock solid alibis. Acclaimed bestselling novelist Kunihiko Hidaka is found brutally murdered in his home on the night before he's planning to leave Japan and relocate to Vancouver.

Malice by Keigo Higashino