Secrets Beneath Tokyo (Reiko Watanabe/Inspector Aizawa Book 4)

Tokyo, November 1934

A crazed arsonist stalks the city, burning buildings seemingly at random. Inspector Kenji Aizawa is brought onto the case to assist Inspector Hino, an aging veteran of the Metropolitan Police Department. But Aizawa's troubles only mount when he's called by his old partner, the geisha Reiko Watanabe.

Reiko alerts him to the sudden appearance of a secret death squad calling itself the Jitte Squad, operating within the Metropolitan Police. Commanded by Sergeant Fujita, they target corrupt businessmen, including Aizawa's old enemy, the banker Isamu Takano. But when a naive geisha, Emigiku, holds the key to identifying the Jitte Squad, Reiko and Aizawa put aside their differences to protect her. Complicating matters further is Aizawa's plucky wife Minori, determined to make a name for herself as a reporter.

Troubling too is the international situation as American baseball star Babe Ruth tours Japan on a goodwill mission, clashing against a clique of Japanese admirals dead set on scrapping a Naval limitations treaty in order to construct a new super weapon.

Aizawa and Reiko investigate the two cases through a maze of Japanese politics, right-wing patriotic societies, bitter factionalism within the Imperial Army and Navy, and newspaper circulation wars. Each string of clues unearth secrets buried under the city - foreboding, dangerous, and shocking.

Secrets Beneath Tokyo is the fourth installment of the Reiko Watanabe/Inspector Aizawa series, showing the political upheaval and complex drama of 1930s Japan as it slides deeper into the dark valley of militarism and war.