From Publishers Weekly
Novelist and former Baltimore Evening Sun reporter Massey (The Salaryman's Wife) takes readers on a thoughtful tour of contemporary Japanese youth culture in this accomplished murder mystery. Rei Shimura is a Japanese-American antiques dealer who, looking to supplement her income, has begun writing a column for the Gaijin Times, Tokyo's English-language newspaper. When the paper's owner decides to transform the publication from a conventional news outlet to a comic book magazine, Shimura gets what is, for her, an unwanted assignment--to write an article on the history and culture of manga, or Japanese comic books. The newspaper asks Rika Fuchida, an ambitious student intern, to assist her, but Shimura prefers the assistance of her new boyfriend, Takeo Kayama. With his help, she discovers Mars Girl--a manga that follows the adventures of a superhero who, like Shimura, is bicultural (half-Martian, half-Japanese)--and the Showa Story, in which the superhero travels back in time, to 1930s Japan. Determined to keep her job at the newspaper, Shimura pursues Mars Girl's creator, Kunio Takahashi, in both the hip and the less-than-savory sides of Tokyo. Things begin to get shady, however, when Shimura is injured falling down a flight of stairs (was she pushed?) and when one of Takahashi's friends turns up dead, dressed as Mars Girl, in a river. Shimura begins to suspect that she is being followed, not only by her "assistant," the ambitious intern, but also by gangsters. Deftly sketching everyday life in parts of Tokyo rarely seen by tourists, Massey tells a series of overlapping stories about identity, the popular media and the hilarious frenzy of contemporary comic book culture. Agents, Ellen Geiger and Dave Barbor at Curtis Brown. (May) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
The fourth entry in Massey's series starring Rei Shimura, a Japanese American antiques dealer living in Tokyo, maintains the high standards of its predecessors. Just as The Flower Master provided an in-depth look at the Japanese art of flower arranging, this novel explores the Japanese fascination with animation, or manga. In her new position with a Japanese magazine for foreigners, Rei writes about antiques--until the boss assigns her a story on manga. As Rei enters the secretive world of manga, where people dress up as their favorite characters, a man she talks to is murdered. One of the manga artists, who may hold the answers, is missing. With her wry humor and her multicultural background, Rei is one of the most complex female protagonists around. She is Japanese, but she is also an American living in Japan, and this dichotomy gives her observations on Japanese culture a fascinating double edge. Another must-read from an author who has honed the skill of captivating and educating her readers at the same time. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM OUR EDITORS

The disappearance of a young artist leads Rei Shimura into Japan's youth underground.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In a pitch-perfect voice that has garnered wide praise, Sujata Massey sends Rei Shimura, her energetic young sleuth, on her fourth outing. This time Rei is writing about art and antiques for a monthly magazine published in Tokyo.

After a hostile takeover aided by a deceptively perky college intern, the Gaijin Times has adopted a comic-book format to attract more readers. It falls upon Rei to write something glowing about the history of comic-book art. During a long weekend of research and relaxation at her boyfriend Takeo's beachside house, Rei stumbles on an exquisitely drawn modern comic book that reveals the disturbing social milieu of pre-World War II Japan.

Rei's exhaustive search for the comic book's twenty-something creators leads to three college students. When one of them turns up dead in a scene straight out of the comic, the art story turns into a murder investigation. Rei finds herself floating through strip clubs, animation shops, and coffeehouses to get the true story--and to save her own skin.

In The Floating Girl, Sujata Massey delivers a grippin mystery that explores Japanese youth culture through the eyes of an appealing an gutsy heroine.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Novelist and former Baltimore Evening Sun reporter Massey (The Salaryman's Wife) takes readers on a thoughtful tour of contemporary Japanese youth culture in this accomplished murder mystery. Rei Shimura is a Japanese-American antiques dealer who, looking to supplement her income, has begun writing a column for the Gaijin Times, Tokyo's English-language newspaper. When the paper's owner decides to transform the publication from a conventional news outlet to a comic book magazine, Shimura gets what is, for her, an unwanted assignment--to write an article on the history and culture of manga, or Japanese comic books. The newspaper asks Rika Fuchida, an ambitious student intern, to assist her, but Shimura prefers the assistance of her new boyfriend, Takeo Kayama. With his help, she discovers Mars Girl--a manga that follows the adventures of a superhero who, like Shimura, is bicultural (half-Martian, half-Japanese)--and the Showa Story, in which the superhero travels back in time, to 1930s Japan. Determined to keep her job at the newspaper, Shimura pursues Mars Girl's creator, Kunio Takahashi, in both the hip and the less-than-savory sides of Tokyo. Things begin to get shady, however, when Shimura is injured falling down a flight of stairs (was she pushed?) and when one of Takahashi's friends turns up dead, dressed as Mars Girl, in a river. Shimura begins to suspect that she is being followed, not only by her "assistant," the ambitious intern, but also by gangsters. Deftly sketching everyday life in parts of Tokyo rarely seen by tourists, Massey tells a series of overlapping stories about identity, the popular media and the hilarious frenzy of contemporary comic book culture. Agents, Ellen Geiger and Dave Barbor at Curtis Brown. (May) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Kirkus Reviews

To boost circulation, the Gaijin Times, on orders from its owner Mr. Sanno, is about to convert to Japan's best-selling format—manga, or comic-book style. Freelance art columnist Rei Shimura (The Flower Master, 1999) is assigned to write up the historic and artistic significance of manga for the next issue, and Rika, the Showa College student interning at the paper, is to help with her research. Scooping up her boyfriend Takeo and a slew of comics, Rei is impressed with the Showa Story interpretation of Mars Girl, which reworks the mainstream comic heroine into a superheroine of the next century who goes back in time to the 1930s to solve prewar Japanese problems. Rei decides to interview Mars Girl artist Kunio Takahashi, but he proves elusive, and other members of his art circle are equally hard to pin down. His neighbor Nicky is soon found floating in the river dolled up as Mars Girl, a symbol sketched on his brow perhaps indicating a Yakuza connection. Still determined to interview Kunio, Rei chats up the raunchy male dancers at the Show a Boy club, where Nicky worked; collides with the family of printers who produce the Mars Girl comics; swims with The Fish, who insists Nicky had no gang connections; and dons a Mars Girl costume herself to chase after suspects at a comic-book convention. A sly, humorous look at Japan's burgeoning anime (comics) phenomenon, with friendly swipes at Japan's xenophobic reactions to outsiders. If the plot is not quite as attractively laid out as those platters of sushi, a few hours of the company of Rei-san are well worth your time.