Newcomer

A recently divorced woman is found murdered in her new apartment in the Nihonbashi area of Tokyo. Because she lived a quiet life, with nothing remarkable in her past and no known enemies, this newcomer's murder is as baffling as it was unlikely.

Detective Kyoichiro Kaga of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police is also a newcomer - recently transferred to the local precinct. Assigned to the task force investigating the murder, Kaga interviews the various local people somehow connected to the victim. But the more Kaga pulls on the loose threads of a simple life, the greater the number of potential suspects emerges. Buried somewhere in the woman's seemingly uncomplicated life - her past, her friends, her family history, and the last few days of her life - is the one clue that will lead to the murderer.