A review by michael5000
Snakeskin Shamisen by Naomi Hirahara

3.0

More concerned with showcasing episodes of Japanese-American history than with coherent plotting, prone to weak metaphor, thick with hard-to-distinguish secondary characters -- and with a clumsy title to boot -- Snakeskin Shamisen is nevertheless a likeable piece of theme detective fiction. The scruffy old gardener Mas Arai is certainly an unusual hero. After reading S.S., I can't decide if he actually DID anything to resolve the mysterious doings, or just happened to be schlepping around while other people did. Either way is fine, I suppose.