Not your typical murder mystery.
The novel begins with Ayane and her husband Yoshitaka discussing their relationship. We learn right away that Yoshitaka's lie plan means everything to him, and on that plan is a baby. After one year of marriage, he has decided to end their relationship so he can move on to someone who will give him children. Ayane mentally confesses her intention to murder him. It's a classic "if I can't have him, no one can."We then meet the other woman who happens to be Ayane's student, muddying the plot just a bit more.
It is no surprise when Yoshitaka dies suddenly of poisoning, but what is surprising is that his wife is out of town visiting family and therefore could not have logically been the one to poison her husband. But we know the truth, and one of the detectives on the case has a hunch. Rather than trying to solve who killed him, we spend the novel trying to figure out how she managed to kill him from so far away.
This novel had the wit and science of Fringe without the element of the supernatural. It has been translated from Japanese to English, which can seem awkward at times, but overall the translation was seamless. The only problem I had with the novel is that in chapter one an the end of the novel have a slight discrepancy about where the poison was the day he asked for the divorce.
That minor detail aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.
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