The Holy Mother
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Summary
Having finally conceived and given birth after a long struggle, Honami holds her young child close and vows to protect her at any cost.
A man becomes a father only after the child is born, but a woman becomes a mother the moment a new life takes root inside her. Honami, who suffered through infertility and grueling treatment to have her child at last, will not let this murder case threaten her precious daughter! A mother must eliminate every threat to her child—every mother bears this mission, this sacred duty!
Editor's review
The book rewards readers on several levels: first, a taut criminal investigation; second, an intimate portrait of family psychology; third, a silent critique of gendered social roles. Working with restricted perspectives and jumps in timeline, Akiyoshi builds a narrative maze that seems transparent yet is full of blind spots. When the truth finally surfaces, readers gain not only the thrill of deduction but an emotional shock at the boundaries of ethics—it forces us to reexamine the maternal love and sacrifice we take as natural.
In craft, the author shows precise control of pace, setting the dailiness of domestic life against the urgency of the case, while key clues hide in seemingly ordinary dialogue. This restrained, meticulous writing gives the twist both logical inevitability and emotional force. For readers of Keigo Higashino and Miyuki Miyabe, Holy Mother offers a reading experience more focused on the undercurrents within the family and more challenging to moral assumptions.
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers who love socially engaged mystery fiction with a focus on motive and human nature
- Readers curious about family relationships and the politics of motherhood
- Suspense fans who appreciate narrative trickery and structural innovation over simple puzzle-solving
- Readers interested in contemporary Japanese social issues, especially gender and family roles
Not a good fit for
- Readers seeking action scenes or fast-paced manhunts, or who prefer hard-boiled detective styles
- Readers looking for light reading and wishing to avoid heavy ethical dilemmas
Reading tips
- While reading the first half, pay attention to subtle differences in time cues and character perspectives—these often foreshadow the later twist
- Reflect on the blurred line between protection and control in light of the novel's portrayal of a mother's psychology
- After finishing, reread the opening chapters to appreciate the author's structural craftsmanship
About the publisher
New Star Press focuses on classic works, mystery and detective fiction, science fiction, history, foreign literature and art, and its 602 titles in the library show a balance between popular reading and humanistic depth. Representative books include The Complete Works of Shakespeare: Illustrated Collector's Edition, And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express, The Player of Games, Local Government in Qing China, A Good Man Is Hard to Find and A Collection of Fine Ukiyo-e Prints, spanning classic literature, detective fiction, science fiction, local history and visual art. Its authors and contributors include William Shakespeare, Agatha Christie and Iain M. Banks, as well as translators such as Zhu Shenghao and Su Fuzhong and illustrators such as John Gilbert and George Cruikshank. Known for the detective series Midnight Library and for social-science and humanities titles, the press emphasizes edition design and reading experience; public information is limited, so this profile highlights the publishing features reflected in the library's books.
Contents
- 版权信息
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FAQ
Is this mystery a honkaku (orthodox puzzle) or a social-school novel?
Is the ending twist plausible, or does it feel too abrupt?
Is the portrayal of the mother figure too extreme?
Comments
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About the author
Rikako Akiyoshi is a Japanese mystery writer known for her suspense and detective fiction. Public information about her is limited, and details of her life—such as her year of birth, education, and writing career—remain unclear. What can be confirmed from available information is that her work features tight pacing and steadily escalating suspense, and that she excels at planting unease and twists beneath the surface of family and everyday relationships. Her representative novel Holy Mother embodies this style: centered on parent-child relationships and abnormal psychology, it gradually reveals a chilling truth beneath an apparently calm surface, with precise control of pace, delicate psychological portrayal, and endings that often deliver a strong cognitive shock. As far as the current library holdings show, Holy Mother is the only one of her works available in Chinese translation, so readers' understanding of her overall output remains incomplete. Even so, this single work is enough for Chinese readers to appreciate her narrative skill in suspense fiction and to look forward to more of her work being introduced.
Zheng Xiaolei (public information is limited; her nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background are not clearly recorded) is an author with wide-ranging interests, with eight works held in the collection, spanning foreign literature, mystery and detective fiction, fashion, and design. In mystery fiction, her translated or contributed works include One Punk Can Save the Earth, A Murder Offered to Mccato and Mimino, The Holy Mother, and The Unpleasant Early Morning First Train, most of which belong to the Japanese mystery tradition and emphasize the interplay of intricate plotting and everyday atmosphere; Detective Film extends into the intersection of cinema and detective fiction. The two volumes of the BEAMS AT HOME series on fashion and design focus on home life and personal taste, offering an observational perspective on lifestyle. Overall, her writing and editorial work resist classification into a single genre, appearing rather as cross-disciplinary introduction and arrangement of content, through which Chinese readers can encounter both Japanese mystery fiction and writings on the aesthetics of daily life.
