Strawberry YellowStrawberry Yellow

Mas Arai returns for his fifth mystery by getting entangled in a family reunion murder in California's strawberry fields.

Curmudgeonly Japanese American gardener and unwitting detective Mas Arai is back in this fifth in the Edgar Award–winning series. Naomi Hirahara has created a memorable protagonist unlike any other: a Hiroshima survivor, Los Angeles gardener, widower, gambler, grandfather, and solver of crimes. In Strawberry Yellow, he returns to the strawberry farms of his youth and encounters family intrigue, danger, and murder.

The series' most compelling and evocative mystery yet is set in the strawberry fields of Watsonville, California, where young Mas first arrived as a Hiroshima survivor in the 1940s. He returns for the funeral of a cousin and quickly gets entangled in the murder of a young woman. Was his cousin murdered, too? Mas has to figure out what happened, keep himself safe, and uncover the mystery of the Strawberry Yellow blight and a new strawberry varietal so important that it could be inspiring a murderer.

A new strawberry varietal has someone seeing red in this &;intricate whodunit&; featuring the curmudgeonly Japanese American gardener and reluctant sleuth (Kirkus Reviews).
 
Hiroshima survivor Mas Arai first arrived in Watsonville, California in the 1940s. Now a semi-retired gardener living in an LA suburb, he returns for a cousin&;s funeral only to get entangled in the mystery of a young woman&;s murder. Was his cousin murdered, too? Mas has to figure out what happened, keep himself safe in the face of considerable peril, and uncover the mystery of a new strawberry varietal so important that someone just might be willing to kill for it.
 
A skillfully plotted tale of family intrigue, revenge, and gardening that moves seamlessly between the past and the present, Strawberry Yellow is another outstanding chapter in an Edgar Award&;winning series marked by &;a shrewd sense of character and a formidable narrative engine&; (Chicago Tribune).
 
&;Mas, less an amateur detective than a cranky, accidental one, is what makes the story work. His obdurance, his skill as a listener, and even his broken English are charming in a quirky, uncomplicated way.&; &;Booklist
A new strawberry varietal has someone seeing red in this “intricate whodunit” featuring the curmudgeonly Japanese American gardener and reluctant sleuth (Kirkus Reviews).
 
Hiroshima survivor Mas Arai first arrived in Watsonville, California in the 1940s. Now a semi-retired gardener living in an LA suburb, he returns for a cousin’s funeral only to get entangled in the mystery of a young woman’s murder. Was his cousin murdered, too? Mas has to figure out what happened, keep himself safe in the face of considerable peril, and uncover the mystery of a new strawberry varietal so important that someone just might be willing to kill for it.
 
A skillfully plotted tale of family intrigue, revenge, and gardening that moves seamlessly between the past and the present, Strawberry Yellow is another outstanding chapter in an Edgar Award–winning series marked by “a shrewd sense of character and a formidable narrative engine” (Chicago Tribune).
 
“Mas, less an amateur detective than a cranky, accidental one, is what makes the story work. His obdurance, his skill as a listener, and even his broken English are charming in a quirky, uncomplicated way.” —Booklist