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The Kamogawa Food Detectives
- A Kamogawa Food Detectives Novel, Book 1
- Narrated by: Hanako Footman
- Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins
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The Kamogawa Food Detectives
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Summary
WATERSTONES BEST FICTION BOOKS OF 2023 PICK
The Kamogawa Food Detectives, translated from Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood, is the first book in the bestselling, mouth-watering Japanese sleuthing series for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold.
What’s the one dish you’d do anything to taste just one more time?
Down a quiet backstreet in Kyoto exists a very special restaurant. Run by Koishi Kamogawa and her father Nagare, the Kamogawa Diner treats its customers to wonderfully extravagant meals. But that's not the main reason to stop by . . .
The father-daughter duo have started advertising their services as 'food detectives'. Through ingenious investigations, they are capable of recreating a dish from their customers' pasts – dishes that may well hold the keys to unlocking forgotten memories and future happiness.
From the widower looking for a specific noodle dish that his wife used to cook, to a first love's beef stew, the restaurant of lost recipes provides a link to the past – and a way to a more contented future.
A bestseller in Japan, The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai is a celebration of good company and the power of a delicious meal.
Critic reviews
The ultimate cozy, and a glimpse into a world that is at once quieter, more ritualized and seemingly simpler than mine, and yet strangely familiar. I savored every word (KJ Dell’Antonia, author of The Chicken Sisters)
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What listeners say about The Kamogawa Food Detectives
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Daniel M.
- 07-10-23
A really special and unique book.
I really loved this book. The story is wonderful and I really enjoyed the narrators performance. I would recommend this to anyone :)
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- The Viscount
- 14-10-23
Completely misses the mark
I hate to write a negative review of anyone's hard work, but really this novel is not worth the effort to read or listen to.
Presumably trying to leverage the success of books such as 'Before The Coffee Gets Cold' the plot of the Kamogawa Food Detectives is exceptionally weak and very shallow. The 'interest' the story should generate ought to stem from the back-stories of those coming to the restaurant/detective agency to request a half-remembered dish from their pasts to be recreated. However, the stories revealed to us are so lame as to be totally banal and certainly don't hold the interest. For example, one client is a young woman who recalled ONCE, when she was aged 5, having a spicy pasta dish at a restaurant with her beloved grandfather, who is now old and ill with dementia. That's pretty much the entire extent of her story - it may have you on the edge of your seat reaching for the Kleenex, but it didn't move me at all. Although there is potential for some good yarns to be told here, the author just didn't seem to have their heart in it. There is no tension in the plot, you are never left wondering what might happen next. The main characters, the restaurant chef/detective and his adult spinster daughter were written as two dimensional caricatures - held together by the memory of their respective wife and mother who had passed away some years before the novel is set. He used to be a police detective. Apart from that, their backstories are also largely blank. There are many opportunities to add interest, colour and flavour (pun intended) to the story, but it feels like the author just couldn't be bothered.
I am afraid I also have to comment on the voice actor - Hanako Footman. Although she has a very charming and attractive voice, she characterised the daughter in the story as a rather petulant sounding teenager, whereas it is clear in the story that she is a mature woman in her 30s. Really that just didn't work.
If you liked the 'Before The Coffee Gets Cold' series, avoid this one at all costs - it's nothing like - weakly plotted and generally very shallow indeed. Apologies for being so very negative - I just felt this audiobook was a waste of time and money.
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