BOOK REVIEW - Crown City
CROWN CITY
Naomi Hirahara
Soho Press, Inc., 321pp.
Crown City is Naomi Hirahara’s third title in her historical fiction Japantown series. I will have to admit to being a little befuddled as I read through this mystery. Unlike her Mas Arai, the Japanese gardener, mysteries or her Ellie Rush, the young bicycle policewoman, series, or her Leilani Santiago, amateur Hawaiian detective, series, this adventure of Ryui Wada feels less like a driving mystery and more of a gentle turn-of-the-century, coming-of-age story.
Hirahara is an award-winning mystery writer, and her previous novels are known for their sharply drawn characters and suspense-filled plots. Here we are a third of the way through the book, and our protagonist, an adolescent boy, newly orphaned, is trying to make his way in a strange land. In his innocence and naivety, he seems more like a boy half his age. He arrives in California, or more specifically, Pasadena, to begin a new life. As the story progresses, the detective angle seems glaringly absent. There are ‘detective’ ingredients to be sure - a stolen painting, a threatening note, a housemate who’s gone missing – they are vague curiosities rather than plot engines. Ryui investigates with a half-heartedness that might frustrate genre purists; the "mystery" feels like a passenger rather than the driver.
However, Hirahara excels as a historian. She paints a vibrant portrait of Gilded Age Pasadena, capturing the friction between the East Coast millionaires here for the winter and the various strata of society that hover just beneath, striving to make their way in a city full of opportunities. The book is a treasure trove of cameos of real personalities and iconic buildings and streets that anyone slightly familiar with Pasadena will quickly recognize. The inner monologue of Ryui as he deals with the everyday challenges shows Hirahara’s firsthand understanding of the clash of cultures between white and Asian communities.
It’s a fascinating read, nonetheless. The threads do eventually tie together in a tidy, Agatha Christie-style finale, providing a satisfying end to Ryui’s arc. It’s a fascinating, atmospheric read—just know that you’re signing up for a stroll through history, not a sprint through a crime scene.
