A Midsummer's Equation

The third installment of Higashino's Japan-set Detective Galileo series (after Salvation of a Saint) lands stateside, with plenty of didn't-see-that-coming surprises to keep listeners entranced straight to the end. Brilliant and eccentric physicist Manabu Yukawa—called Detective Galileo because of the brilliant, unexpected insights he shares with the authorities (not always willingly)—arrives at a seaside town, now mostly abandoned by fickle tourists. He's come for a conference on underwater mining, but he's drawn into the investigation of what seems to be the accidental death of a former police officer who was staying at the same family-run resort. With the help of a clever fifth grader who's visiting his hotel-owner relatives for the summer, Manabu will soon uncover what fireworks, chimneys, a 15-year-old murder, a framed sea painting, an environmentalist, and a homeless former criminal have in common and will reveal the convoluted details of yet another homicide. Despite narrator P.J. Ochlan's inconsistent stumbling over names, Higashino's mysterious machinations remain just as chillingly captivating aurally as on the page.