Girl in a Box

A reader can't go wrong with any of the books in the Rei Shimura series. Massey creates a fascinating world of modern Japan as experienced by her heroine Rei Shimura. Rei has the perfect blend of coming from a Californian backround and being of Japanese-American parentage. It makes it easy for the reader to relate to her submersion in an unknown culture, as she seemingly blends in with her environment. It's a terrific way to learn about Japanese culture both past and present as the story develops. The series is sequential and it is best to start at the beginning and work your way through. Have fun!

Underemployed Japanese-American sleuth Rei Shimura needs work so she accepts a job with some nebulous alphabet soup federal agency that is either a rival to the CIA and NSA or somehow connected to one of them. To know requires a top secret need to know clearance. Her superior Michael Hendricks assigns Rei to go undercover as a clerk at a Tokyo department store whose profits are mind-boggling to learn how that can be. Besides struggling with why the Feds would care, she likes the assignment as she can purchase the latest in fashion using her employee discount. However, besides sexual harassment, Rei overhears the store's top manager make a death threat, which she reports to Michael. Worried about her as he is attracted to her, Michael rushes to Tokyo to allegedly protect her back. As Rei bungles with hiding her identity until she is exposed as either a CIA or espionage agent, Michael arrives in time to share a kiss. This is a terrific espionage thriller as Rei changes occupations from sleuth to spy. Readers will enjoy her antics as she takes Tokyo like a typhoon hitting the city. Rei provides a strong anchor to the wild story line as an assimilated American struggling to adapt in her ancestors' homeland as a spy who to a degree is in the cold. The support cast is as good as they get whether it is store management harassing her naval, her agency boss kissing her, her store peers cursing her (and the customers) and the city as a whole. GIRL IN A BOX is a terrific fresh entry in this top rate Japanese American detective series. Harriet Klausner

I look forward to each of Rei's new adventures. This latest one did not disappoint me.

OH MY, those of you as enthralled with the Rei Shimura series as I am are going to gobble this book down. And those who have never read one could start here, because this is definitely one of the very best of the series. Rei is back in Japan, something regular readers have hoped for. But in her new guise as top-secret spy, the antiques-dealer is in over her head. She must get hired at one of Toyko's premier department stores to find out what, if anything, has enticed a top American buyer to make a bid for the store. There is the possibility of money laundering, underground activities that could undermine American business--or even worse. In order to fit in in the very very rigid (and fascinating) world of the Japanese employee, Rei must have the right look, the right clothes--and even the right high-pitched voice. It takes endless coaching, and the job is extreme in its requirements. Nobody in America would consent to such work rules, but this is Japan, and it is absolutely imperative that Rei not blow her cover. Along as her backup is the new man in her life: her sexy, enigmatic, brilliant boss Michael. It's all very businesslike, and yet...hmmmm. I'll leave it to other readers to decide. Of course Rei sinks to her neck in intrigue and murder, and as always, skirts the rules enough to uncover a muderous plot--and gravely threaten her life. This is absolutely a must-read book!

I once heard a mystery author refer to "Jessica Fletcher Syndrome," named after the heroine of "Murder, She Wrote." She was referring to the way that amateur sleuths are constantly stumbling over dead bodies. A lot of mystery fans can just suspend their disbelief and enjoy the stories, but in some long-running series, the author acknowledges that constantly dealing with crime and murder has repercussions on their hero or heroine. This is the ninth book in Sujata Massey's Rei Shimura series, and the young woman in her 20s making her way as an antique dealer in Japan is now 30 and working for the U.S. government as a spy. It sounds like a bit of a stretch, but two things make Rei perfect for the job: her mixed heritage, which allows her to be much less conspicuous in Japan than a Caucasian would be; and her experience investigating crimes. In "Girl in a Box," Rei has to go undercover in a super-ritzy Japanese department store in order to discover some secrets. Her customers and co-workers think she's a simple salesgirl, but in fact, she's creeping around planting bugs and trying to overhear conversations. Naturally, her position is extremely precarious -- in fact, her predecessor died under mysterious circumstances. People who love this series because of the cultural component will love finding out about the inner workings of a Japanese department store. It's pretty different than the American retail scene! And, of course, Rei fans will want to find out the latest about her love life. It can be read as a stand-alone but knowing everything about Rei's past as revealed in the previous books adds another layer of enjoyment.