Salvation Of A Saint by Keigo Higashino

 

A man named Yoshitaka is found dead on his kitchen floor.  His wife is out of town and he is found by his mistress, who is also the wife's employee.  He has died of arsenic poisoning while drinking coffee.  The timing seems suspect.  He has just told his wife he wants a divorce after a year of marriage because she hasn't been able to give him a child.  His mistress is pregnant and he plans to marry her instead.  

The Toyko Police respond.  Detective Kusanagi is the old hand of the unit.  Two new detectives have recently arrived.  He is fine with the new young man, but the new woman detective, Kaoru Utsumi, is another matter.  She is independent and not afraid to voice her opinions.  The obvious suspect is the wife, Ayane but she was hundreds of miles away visiting her parents.  Utsumi is convinced that somehow she still did it; Kusanagi is enamored of the wife and doesn't believe she was involved.  They have to work together so bring in Detective Galileo, a physics professor named Manabu Yakawa, to help with the case.  Can they find the culprit?

This is the second Detective Galileo mystery.  He and Detective Kusanagi were friends in college and the professor uses his scientific training to help solve mysteries.  This tale was especially interesting for two reasons.  The first was how the murder could have been accomplished and there is much research before that is established.  But to me the most interesting thing was the interplay between the old guard Kusanagi and the new women detective, Utsumi.  The older male detective has had it his own way for quite a while and watching his difficulty in adjusting to a younger female detective is fascinating.  The crime is solved satisfactorily and all is well in Toyko.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.