In Keigo Higashino’s latest, a new detective tackles a case with shades of The Devotion of Suspect X

A whodunit that morphs into a whydunit!

Guilt begins with Godai and Nakamachi investigating the murder of a lawyer, Kensuke Shiraishi, whose body has been found in a car. Shiraishi seems to have been a respected and well-loved person, so both detectives struggle to find a motive for his murder as they interview different people connected to him.

The murder seems to be solved when one of the people they meet in this process not only confesses to the murder of Shiraishi, but also claims to have killed him to cover up another murder he had committed more than thirty years ago. That previous murder had never been solved, but a suspect who had been arrested in connection with the crime had committed suicide in prison.

Keigo Higashino’s Guilt begins with Godai and Nakamachi investigating the murder of a lawyer. (Generated using AI)

That should have been the end of the matter, and even Godai seems convinced by the confession. But this is a Keigo Higashino book, so sure enough, there is a twist in the tale. Not only does the son of the confessed murderer find gaps in his father’s confession, but interestingly, so does the daughter of Shiraishi, the victim he claims to have killed. Also coming into the scope of the investigation are the wife and daughter of the suspect who committed suicide. They now run a café, and one of their most regular and generous customers is the man who confessed to both murders.

As Godai and Nakamachi, along with the children of the alleged murderer and his victim, dig deeper and try to uncover the truth, what seemed to be an open-and-shut case turns out to have hidden dimensions — and a murderer no one had suspected.

Twists and turns and different senses of…guilt

It is the relationships among all these people, the son of the confessed murderer, the daughter of one of the victims, and the relatives of a murder suspect who took his own life that form the core of the book.

As one reads deeper into it, one realises why it is called Guilt. Feelings of guilt pervade its pages, whether belonging to the person who has accepted responsibility for the murder and his son, to the one who benefited from the suicide of a suspect, or to the mother and daughter who had to move and start life anew when their breadwinner was falsely arrested for murder.

Guilt comes with the subtitle A Mystery, but it is really about not just the investigation of a crime but also the feelings of the people involved in the entire process. Higashino takes us into meetings between detectives as they work out what to do, the workings of the public prosecutor’s office and the role the victim’s family plays in it as part of the victim participation programme, and most of all, into what passes through the minds of all those associated with the case.

And just as in The Devotion of Suspect X, there are people trying to protect the murderer out of concern for those related to them. There is also a hint (but only a hint!) of romance.

Suspense, sleuthing, but with sensitivity

Despite its wide canvas of characters, places, and subplots (keeping track of the names can be a bit of a task if one is not familiar with Japanese), Higashino keeps Guilt flowing smoothly. This is not a feverish page-turner, but we found ourselves hooked whenever we picked it up, simply because things keep happening.

There are no massive twists in the plot, but in a manner very reminiscent of Agatha Christie, Higashino inevitably drops a surprise towards the end of most chapters, tempting one to start the next.

While the translation is generally very good, it does have its rough spots, a lawyer gives a “crisp nod of apology,” and upon hearing of an important development, one character says to another “I am interested to hear the details” in a manner that seems more suited to a corporate boardroom than a private conversation.

We also wish there were greater chemistry between the two main detectives, Godai and Nakamachi, who seem friendly enough but lack the spark seen in other relationships in the book. Rather oddly, we are told nothing about their private lives at all, and their conversations seem a little wooden. Hopefully that will change in the books that follow.

Its blend of suspense and sensitivity makes Guilt one of the best mystery books of 2026 so far. Fans of The Devotion of Suspect X will love it. It is also a very promising debut for perhaps the next great detective in the world of suspense. Tsutomu Godai has an ethical, efficient, and empathetic air about him that is reminiscent of Rendell’s Inspector Wexford, a detective worth reading about. It could well “inspire” a few films too.

Guilt: A Mystery by Keigo Higashino
Minotaur Books
416 pages
Rs 699