If not as flawless as Nirahara's debut, Summer of the Big Bachi
(2004), the second outing for Japanese-American Mas Harai—Hiroshima survivor, Californian, gardener and sleuth—offers many of the same felicities. Mas's estranged daughter, Mari, whom he has described since babyhood as gasa-gasa
(constantly moving), invites him to New York City, where everyone seems to be gasa-gasa
. Son-in-law Lloyd, also a gardener, has requested Mas's help in restoring a traditional Japanese garden attached to a mansion in Brooklyn's Park Slope. The father of the owner, tycoon Kazzy Ouchi, was the original owner's gardener, and Ouchi's daughter now oversees the development of the mansion into a museum about the Japanese in New York. Vandalism, theft and neighborhood opposition already threaten the project, but it hits a really big snag when Mas discovers Ouchi's corpse in the dry koi pond. Mas and old friend Tug Yamada begin an investigation that leads to a much sought after Japanese diary recording the sordid history of the mansion's early tenants. The endearing, quietly dignified Mas, supported by a cast of spirited New Yorkers, as well as the distinctive Japanese-flavored prose, make this a memorable read. Agent, Sonia Pabley. (Mar. 29)
