Killing Commendatore 騎士団長殺し (Kishidanchō-goroshi)
First published in Japanese in 2017
Translated in English translation by Philip Gabriel and Ted Goossen in 2018
“The narrator in Killing Commendatore is a portrait painter who has recently split up with his wife who no longer wants to be with him. His friend Masahiko Amada offers him a place to live on a mountain near Odawara. This house is owned by his father, the famous artist Tomohiko Amada, who is now senile and living full-time in a care home. The narrator is commissioned by a millionaire called Mr. Menshiki, who is living nearby, to paint his portrait but he soon discovers Menshiki has underlying motives. Menshiki wants the narrator to help him get to know another neighbor also the narrator’s student, the 13-year-old girl Mariye Akikawa. Menshiki believes she could be his daughter. He has purposefully bought his mansion on the same mountain to keep an eye on her.”
Read the full review by Renae Lucas-Hall.