Q&A: Simon Rowe, Author of ‘Mami Suzuki: Private Eye’

We chat with author Simon Rowe about Mami Suzuki: Private Eye, which follows single mother and straight-talking private eye, Mami Suzuki, who takes cases the Kobe police have little time for—and proves that quick wits and compassion solve mysteries faster

Hi, Simon! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

Sure thing—I grew up in New Zealand and Australia but now call Himeji city, in western Japan, my home. It’s the castle town where they filmed The Last Samurai and its people are hard-working and festival crazy. I’ve been a resident here for 25 years which means this is my longest overseas trip! Life is pretty sweet: from Monday to Friday, I teach writing to ESL students at a women’s university, and when the weekend rolls around, I go sea kayaking in the Seto Inland Sea, read, or blog about life in my traditional neighbourhood. You can check it out at Seaweed Salad Days.

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

After reading my first National Geographic magazine in the 80s, I was hooked on travel writing. I sold my first story (about hunting for the elusive quetzal bird in the cloud forests of Costa Rica) to The Independent newspaper when I was 21. After that, with cheap round-the-world air tickets, I somehow managed to make a living from travel writing for the next ten years. The gods of publishing have been kind: my stories have run in The New York Times, TIME (Asia), Vogue Entertaining, and The Australian, among others. Mami Suzuki: Private Eye is my first crack at a novel-length project.

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

The first book you ever remember reading:  JAWS by Peter Benchley (family beach trips were never the same again)

The one that made you want to become an author: Trouble is My Business by Raymond Chandler (favourite story: Red Wind)

The one that you can’t stop thinking about:  Lady Joker by Kaoru Takamura (social realism on steroids)

Your latest novel, Mami Suzuki: Private Eye, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

A kick-arse cosy mystery!

What can readers expect?

I never intended to write the Japanese-version of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency but it’s hard not to compare the two in terms of their protagonists. Mami Suzuki is to Kobe what Alexander McCall Smith’s Mma Ramotswe is to Gaborone, Botswana: a sassy and streetwise woman who rolls with the punches and never lets life get her down.

Mami Suzuki: Private Eye, however, differs in that it is a novel-in-stories with four interlinked cases following Mami’s sleuthing adventures across Japan. In Pearl City, she pursues a suspected pearl thief through Kobe’s Chinatown alleys and port precinct for her client, Tokai Pearls Ltd. Land of the Gods sees her travel to the Japan Sea coast on a hunch that she will find her client’s husband, a master sushi chef who has disappeared with his knives. In Sound of the Tides, Mami investigates the suspicious drowning of an innkeeper’s husband on a small island in southern Okinawa. And in the final story, Isle of Cats, she takes on her second missing persons case when a novice Shinto priest disappears and a shrine maiden becomes pregnant. Her investigation leads her to a ‘cat island’ in the Seto Inland Sea, where she discovers a world far removed from the lifestyles and way of thinking of mainland Japan.

Where did the inspiration for Mami Suzuki: Private Eye come from?

Five years ago, a leaflet advertising the services of a female private eye dropped into my mailbox. At that time, I was writing a screenplay about a pearl diver while building a collection of short fiction for my next project. Call it a fortuitous clash of neurons, but the idea of a middle-aged single mother detective hunting a suspected pearl thief in Kobe was born. Readers who loved the short story encouraged me to expand it into a novel. Fast forward to 2023—and Mami Suzuki: Private Eye is a reality.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

A lot of hardboiled detective mysteries push the image of the hard-drinking, lantern-jawed private dick with his woman waiting at the end of a dim-lit bar, smouldering cigarette and gimlet in hand. So, it was fun to flip this notion on its head and have Mami Suzuki call the shots (rather than fire them), drink a little too much beer, and have her ‘male interest’ waiting for her at the end of a Chinatown bar on Tuesday nights. She has certainly been fun to write and feels more like a friend than a figment of my imagination. I might add, too, that Japan has a dearth of female PIs (in both the fictional and real worlds), so it felt like breaking new ground.

Researching for the book was also a great way to re-discover the city of Kobe and all its fascinating night-time nooks and crannies where tourists can’t normally access. Kobe is my favourite Japanese city.

What’s next for you?

Right now, I’m collaborating with two Asia-based film studios on a feature film screenplay. It’s a coming-of-age story set in Japan and outer space. Stay tuned in 2024!

Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?

Sure do. If you enjoy tales with a twist, then Pearl City: Stories from Japan and Elsewhere (Best Indie Award 2020) and Good Night Papa: Short Stories from Japan and Elsewhere are both worthy travel companions.

Will you be picking up Mami Suzuki: Private Eye? Tell us in the comments below!