Alexandra Amor

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There’s always something new to learn about the world.

Author Michael Pronko wears many hats. He’s a professor. He’s a music fan who writes about jazz in Japan. He’s written essays and memoir about living in Tokyo. And in this episode of It’s a Mystery Podcast we’ll talk about his Detective Hiroshi mysteries.

As you’ll hear Michael and I discuss, Detective Hiroshi could be thought of as someone who represents the flip-side of Michael’s experience. Hiroshi is Japanese, but was raised in the US, and is now back in Tokyo working for the local police force. (Where Michael is an American who has long lived and worked in Tokyo.)

After Michael reads to us from The Moving Blade, the first in the Detective Hiroshi mysteries, our conversation ranges from talking about sumo wrestlers as detectives, the secretive American military presence in Japan, and why April is the start of the year in Japan.

This week’s mystery author

Michael Pronko is an award-winning, Tokyo-based author of the Detective Hiroshi mystery series. His first mystery, The Last Train, was selected as the winner of the Shelf Unbound Contest for best independently published book of 2018, and his second novel, The Moving Blade, won the Independent Press Award for Crime Fiction and was named by Kirkus Reviews as one of the best Indie Mysteries and Thrillers of 2018. He also writes about jazz for his own website, Jazz in Japan, and teaches American literature and culture at Meiji Gakuin University.

To learn more about Michael and his books visit MichaelPronko.com

Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify.

You can also click here to listen to the interview on YouTube.

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If you’re a Downton Abbey fan, you’ll appreciate this introduction to Clara Benson’s English mysteries set in the ’20s and ’30s.

In the introduction I mention that I’m deep in revision territory on the next Freddie Lark mystery. Then I jump right into this interview and reading from the delightful Clara Benson.

Enjoy!

This week’s mystery author

Clara Benson is the author of the Angela Marchmont mysteries and Freddy Pilkington-Soames Adventures – traditional English mysteries in authentic style set in the 1920s and 30s. 

One day she would like to drink cocktails and solve mysteries in a sequinned dress and evening gloves. In the meantime she lives in the north of England with her family and doesn’t do any of those things.

To learn more about Clara Benson and all her mystery novels go to ClaraBenson.com.

Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher.

You can also click here to listen to the interview on YouTube.