It has been a while since I have penned any book reviews but this past week I stumbled on a new – at least to me – author and think fans of the type of books I reviewed previously will love. The author is Barry Lancet and he has written three novels featuring Jim Brodie – an art dealer that ends up as one-half owner of a Toyko private investigator firm. Brodie, whose American father was an MP in Japan who after leaving the military opened a PI firm in San Francisco that did not do well so he returned to Toyko and opened operations there. Young Brodie spent seventeen years growing up, attending public school and absorbing the Japanese culture. Jim Brodie returned to San Francisco and got into the art business but when his father passed away he became involved in the operations of the Toyko PI firm.

The three books; Japan Town, Toyko Kill and Pacific Burn show Brodie moving between the U S and the Orient, working with law enforcement in both the U S and Japan while mixing in serious life-threatening conflicts. The character development is very good and the range of colorfully developed characters is top notch. Unlike some novels, these books hit the bricks running right from the start – no slow startups here. Like many in this genre some of the happenings do stretch the imagination but if we used that as a benchmark we would eliminate some of my favorites – think Lee Childs’ Jack Reacher.

While it is not necessary, I recommend and did, reading the books in order; Japan Town, Toyko Kill and Pacific Burn, as there is some story and character carryover. Once I read the first one could not wait to get to the other two. I think you will find these very interesting and satisfying reads.