Synopsis

Inspector Takeshi Nishida of the Tokyo Police Homicide Unit has a middle name that few know, but it says a lot about him. His real name is Takeshi James Nishida. Nishida is a hāfu: a half-breed, with a Japanese father and an American mother. Perhaps this is why he's unable to always be as accommodating and kind as Japanese culture and education would require. Perhaps it's his impulsive nature, his slanted and disillusioned way of seeing things and the people around him, that has prevented him from having the career he deserved. Or perhaps it's because he doesn't want to have a career, if that means burying his feet under a desk instead of walking the streets of Tokyo, a city he loves and despises with equal fervor—and which loves him back. But Nishida is exceptional at his job: the number of investigations he's managed to solve proves it. Until the umbrella case. A man, found dead. The murder weapon? On the surface, it's a common plastic umbrella costing a few yen, the kind everyone uses, loses, and then picks up again. But this umbrella has something that sets it apart from the others. A small red circle painted on the handle and, most importantly, a fingerprint. And Nishida will find himself at an incredible dead end when he discovers the fingerprint of the potential assassin: the Emperor of Japan.