The Fine Art of Uncanny Prediction: from the BBC 2 Between the Covers author Robert Goddard

The Fine Art of Uncanny Prediction is the second book in the Umiko Wada series by award-winning, best-selling British author, Robert Goddard. Three years after her boss at the Kodaka Detective Agency was murdered, Umiko Wada has earned herself a reputation as a confidential, low key, effective investigator. Fumito Nagata would prefer to deal with Kodaka, but will settle for Wada because of that. He wants her to find his estranged son, Manjiro Nagata, or at least, check that the man is alive and well.

While she initially fails to locate him, she quickly establishes that he is absent from his home rather than reclusive. But following up every tiny scrap of a lead, she learns that a civil servant who was making enquiries about Manjiro is also missing. And Daiju Endo's story, once she learns the details, is even more enigmatic, involving an earthquake "sensitive" and a wealthy filmmaker with a dubious history that extends back to the final days of WW2. Wada is unaware that Kazuto Kodaka had cases involving the same people almost three decades earlier.

Back in 1995, Kodaka had been asked by construction industry heir, Teruki Jinno to discover the recipient of the twenty-five million yen paid out of his late father's bank account annually for almost fifty years. Kodaka's first instinct leans towards blackmail, but information from his carefully cultivated sources leads in a different direction. A Californian wine grower, the angry American owner of a bar for US servicemen and an earthquake research centre are all important parts of the plot.

In 2022, Wada is unwittingly stepping in Kodaka's 1995 footsteps; each of them has to consider taking a case for a client they are reluctant to serve; each finds they have a tail they need to lose; they variously rely on the expertise or inside knowledge of a bank employee, a journalist, a sound technician, a lawyer, and a road transport bureau employee.

Two clients terminate Wada's contract before she reaches her objective; twice she is rescued from mortal danger by an unexpected saviour; Wada travels to California, witnesses two murders, and the final body count is not inconsiderable.

Goddard provides a useful (and quite necessary) character list at the start to help keep track of the many characters. He manages to convey his setting, both in Tokyo and California, with consummate ease. There's plenty of excellent detective work, some dark humour, and not a few twists and red herrings. Fans can only hope that Goddard has more of this brave, smart and persistent protagonist and her support cast up his literary sleeve. An addictive series.

This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Random House UK Transworld