community en

Nikkei Detective

Chapter Eleven—True Confessions

Read Chapter Ten >> We’re in my LAPD pal’s black-and-white. Officer Doug Brenner makes me sit in the back seat—it’s protocol—like ...

community en

Nikkei Detective

Chapter Ten—Following the Doc Martens

Read Chapter Nine >> Some people, when faced with a crisis, go ballistic. They run around, their faces red and their voices bellowing. Others get stone ...

community en

Nikkei Detective

Chapter Nine—The Last Selfie

Read Chapter Eight >> “I’m a private investigator. Kevin Shirota,” I flash my license as if it really means something to a woman sitting behind ...

culture en

Excerpt from A Grave on Grand Avenue: An officer Ellie Rush Mystery

I get on the Gold Line light rail—I may be missing my car but unlike some Angelenos, I know how to use public transportation ...

community en

Nikkei Detective

Chapter Eight—She Cleans Houses, Doesn’t She?

Read Chapter Seven >> “She was my friend. Perhaps my only friend.” Mrs. Yokoyama carefully enunciates each syllable. My fourteen-year-old daughter Maddy and I sit on ...

community en

Nikkei Detective

Chapter Six—Noguchi Verses

Read Chapter Five >> As I make my way to the Koban Visitors Center, First Street in Little Tokyo is hopping. And I don’t mean ...

community en

Nikkei Detective

Chapter Five—Sansei Anonymous

Read Chapter Four >> The Sansei guy standing in front of us is the same guy in the photo in my wallet. A little bit skinnier ...

community en

Nikkei Detective

Chapter Four—Waru Bozu

Read Chapter Three >> A seventy-eight-year-old Japanese woman from Fukushima is found dead from a blow to the head in an alley next to Japanese Village ...

community en

Nikkei Detective

Chapter Three—If I Had a Hammer

Read Chapter Two >> Some people read palms. Others read tea leaves. I like to read teeth. No, I’m not one of those weirdoes with ...

community en

Nikkei Detective

Chapter Two—All in the Family

Read Chapter One >> It turns out that the dead body discovered near the parking lot of Japanese Village Plaza in Los Angeles was not my ...