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Detective Hiroshi Shimizu usually investigates white -collar crime in Tokyo. It suits him: he gets to have his own office, which is rare. He's got space at home too: his girlfriend has not only left him, but she's moved back to the States as well. He's yet to ship all her boxes out of his apartment but when he's done that he'll be able to sleep in the bed again. White -collar crime's usually non-violent, but Hiroshi speaks English (many years spent in Boston when he was studying) and when an American businessman ends up dead under the last train, he's called in to help. He could have done without having to see the body - or the people removing it from the tracks with chopsticks - but detective Takamatsu insisted.

Suicide would be the simplest conclusion to the case, but there's footage from a security camera which suggests that a woman might have been with him as the train approached and might even have given the drunken man a little help in going over the edge of the platform. It's easy to confuse suicide and murder and the late -night train stations are the perfect spot for either. This isn't the first time this has happened. Hiroshi's used to business accounts and spreadsheets: when Takamatsu takes him to the hostess clubs of Roppongi, he's well outside his comfort zone, although the deeper he digs the more it becomes obvious that there's a dubious trade going on - the buying and selling of information about land deals in what's possibly the most expensive real estate in the world.

''Sakaguchi was waiting in front of the Almond Coffee Shop. His huge bulk drew stares. Everyone wanted to ask of if he was a sumo wrestler, but nobody did.''