2004 was a strange year. At least in terms of awards, if nothing else. Clocks by Coldplay picked up Record of the Year at the Grammy’s, inexplicably beating Hey Ya! by OutKast. Across town, at the Oscars, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won Best Picture instead of Mystic River. (Peter Jackson…
When I moved to Los Angeles two and a half years ago, it was with the (possibly naive) intention of capturing the city’s dusky underbelly for my next novel. In Sins As Scarlet, I wanted my Japanese-American detective, Inspector Iwata, to drift through the unvarnished tranches of L.A.—the industrial, the suburban, the impoverished—neighborhood kingdoms so…
Blue Light Yokohama by Nicolás Obregón follows newly reinstated homicide detective Iwata as the violent murder of an entire family embroils him in a case that soon reveals itself to be only one crime in a string of ritualistic killings. Newly reinstated to the Homicide Division and transferred to a precinct in Tokyo, Inspector Iwata is facing superiors who…
Read Part 3 of Nicolás Obregón's 3-part series, “The Birth of Blue Light Yokohama,” and make sure to sign in and comment below for a chance to win a copy of his exciting debut! Part 1 | Part 2 Some six years ago, I boarded a flight from London Heathrow bound for Japan. As I…
Read Part 1 of this thrilling 3-part series first over at Thought Matters! The Miyazawa family’s house was a fair size, especially by Japanese standards. It stood in a municipal park in Setagaya, a largely residential ward clinging to the western limits of Tokyo. Soshigaya Park has quaint walking trails, sports pitches, a playground for…
Blue Light Yokohama by Nicolás Obregón is a compelling, brilliantly moody, and layered novel that's sure to be one of the most talked about debuts in 2017 (available March 7, 2017). Newly reinstated to the Homicide Division and transferred to a precinct in Tokyo, Inspector Iwata is facing superiors who don’t want him there and is assigned…
