Naomi Hirahara

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Naomi Hirahara is the author of the Edgar Award-winning Mas Arai mystery series, which features a Kibei Nisei gardener and atomic-bomb survivor who solves crimes, Officer Ellie Rush series, and now the new Leilani Santiago mysteries. A former editor of The Rafu Shimpo, she has written a number of nonfiction books on the Japanese American experience and several 12-part serials for Discover Nikkei.

Updated October 2019

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Killer Roll

Chapter Four — Maki vs. the BGWAAM

Por Naomi Hirahara
4 Ene 2019

Up to now, I’ve never felt that a group that I belonged to believed in me. When I left for America, my family thought that I would come running back home. That didn’t happen. My classmates thought that I was peculiar, too clever for our fishing village in Wakayama. They predicted that I would end up a hostess girl in the red-light district in Tokyo. That didn’t happen, either.

But as I’m sharing my current troubles to my coworkers at Yudai’s Corner, it occurs to me that I’ve finally found my people. They don ...

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Killer Roll

Chapter Three — Don’t Be a Bakatare

Por Naomi Hirahara
4 Dic 2018

What attracted me to Kurt, you may wonder. It wasn’t that he was particularly good looking. I mean, he was tall, six-three, but he was really thin; at five-six I may have actually weighed the same as he did. But just the fact that he desired me made me desire him back.

The waitress at Yudai’s Corner, Carrie, says this is old-school thinking. Women should not be objects, playthings for men. She’s a gorgeous blonde Stanford student, while I’m of a different generation. And from Japan.

After all he’s put me through—left me without ...

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Killer Roll

Chapter Two — False Identity

Por Naomi Hirahara
4 Nov 2018

The first thing I figure out: that my date, Ray DiPietro, wasn’t quite who he said he was.

Before I can even call in his murder, the police arrives at my workplace, Yudai’s Corner. First it was a couple of plainclothes detectives in an unmarked car. And then five black-and-white squad cars with Santa Clara Sheriff’s Department emblazoned on their side doors.

I begin shaking like a leaf. A woman pulls me aside, shows me some official identification and starts to pat me down while her male partner watches.

“What are you doing? I didn’t kill ...

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Killer Roll

Chapter One — Henna Otoko

Por Naomi Hirahara
4 Oct 2018

Yudai is gone tonight, so I’m in charge again. The third night in a row. I’m tired; I notice some dark circles around my eyes this morning and apply a heavier layer of Shiseido concealer. I try to pretend that it magically works to transform me into a young woman full of vitality, but I can’t get away from the stark truth that I’m a forty-two year old divorcée with a slightly crooked front tooth and wrinkles on her forehead from too much worrying.

“Your boyfriend was here again for lunch,” Som, our bus boy ...

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Trouble on Temple Street: An Officer Ellie Rush Mystery

Chapter 12

Por Naomi Hirahara
4 Ago 2018

He’s standing about a foot away from me. He holds his right hand behind his back. Could he have some sort of weapon?

My mind whirls. I don’t know how to play this. I decide to keep it casual, as if I don’t even suspect anything is askew. “Hi, Kyle. How have you been?”

“I heard that you were at the koban. Asking about me.” I try to create more space in between us, but Kyle’s not budging.

“Yeah, the LAPD is having a booth at Nisei Week, so I was wondering if maybe you can ...

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