The Salaryman’s Wife

Rei Shimura Mysteries, Book 1

By: Sujata Massey

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

Japanese-American Rei Shimura is a 27-year-old English teacher living in one of Tokyo's seediest neighborhoods. She doesn't make much money, but she wouldn't go back home to California even if she had a free ticket (which, thanks to her parents, she does). Her independence is threatened however, when a getaway to an ancient castle town is marred by murder.

Rei is the first to find the beautiful wife of a high-powered businessman, dead in the snow. Taking charge, as usual, Rei searches for clues by crashing a funeral, posing as a bar-girl, and somehow ending up pursued by police and paparazzi alike. In the meantime, she manages to piece together a strange, ever-changing puzzle-one that is built on lies and held together by years of sex and deception.

©1997 Sujata Massey (P)2019 Tantor

Beautiful mystery

Both the narrator and author did a wonderful job of setting the scene and developing the story. I had no idea who the killer was!

Such a nice comfy read!

Such a good read, a great comfy book for a cold weekend. Read it over a weekend and loved it.

Amazing as always

I have started her series set in India and I have loved every book. This one feels a little rougher, not sure how to describe it. Just sometimes it felt like things jumped, but that may just be how the character thinks or because this is her first book. I believe. Still it's a well done story complete with a Scottish love interest which is never a bad thing.

Didn’t like the narrator

I thought the book was good, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had read it. I found the voice performer annoying. It sounds like Reí is whining the whole time. She does do men’s voices very well. It also might be racist the way she voices Japanese characters. If the characters are speaking Japanese, why is it narrated with a Japanese English accent?

Always a good read

This is another great story by Sujata Massey. I love the lead chapter, REI Shimura. The story is a unique and interesting mix of mystery and romance, and there is always something cool to learn about Japan in each story. I wish there were more REI Shimura books recorded on audible.

Pleasant Surpise

This is a surprisingly good book. Justine Eyre does a great job performing the book and bringing the characters to life. The mystery has several twists and turns and I didn't find out the murderer until the end. The story dragged a bit during the middle, but I continued to listen and do not regret it. I really enjoyed this book and will get the next one.

Read it, Listen to it and fall in love

fabulous book owned and paperback read it till it fell apart. A must read for anybody who likes to be kept in suspense, giggle and be surprised at the end. This book has every quality you want in a book and a little bit more my hats off to the writer.

Just ok

The story was not very compelling at all. The most interesting part was learning a bit about Japanese culture. The narration was fine, I think she did ok with the accents, but not much emotion just very flat throughout the whole story. I kept waiting for it to get better but it didn’t. It was also difficult to keep the characters straight with similar names and voices. It’s an ok book if you’re just looking for a filler until next months new releases.

Hard to Understand

I stopped listening after 10 minutes because the reader was difficult to understand. I was disappointed as I like Sujata Massey’s books.