The Kamogawa Food Detectives
By: Hisashi Kashiwai, Jesse Kirkwood (Translator)
Genre: Fiction
Number of Pages: 208
Published: February 13, 2024 (1st Published November 25, 2013)
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Dates Read: February 8, 2024 - February 10, 2024
Format: ARC / eBook

The Kamogawa Diner doesn’t really advertise much, there’s not even a sign outside it’s doors, but the customers who need to find them always do. You see, the Kamogawa Diner isn’t just a diner, it’s a “food detective” service run by the father-daughter duo of Koishi and Nagare. Filled with six different customers’ memories and dishes, follow the Kamogawa Diner uses their customer’s treasured memories, the pair are able to recreate lost recipes that provide links to vanished moments.

There’s two things that will most likely get me to read a book. One: be recently translated from a popular Japanese seller. Two: put a cat on the cover. The cat doesn’t even need to be the main focus of the book, a general cat will do just fine.

This is such a cute book – and a warm hug for those foodie book lovers out there as well. I can’t cook to save my life, but this novel went into detail about each of the dishes so it may be something someone could actually follow and make their own versions of the recipes.

Some of the stories I felt were a little drawn out, but they were people sharing a fond memory (or what they could remember of their memory). I’ve said this so many times, but Japanese literature has such an amazing way of capturing the human experience and I always enjoy reading translated work.

Overall, a wonderfully fun, hungry story about a food detective, a father and daughter duo who use their skill of deduction to help customers recreate that special dish from their memories. I can see a lot of contemporary fiction lovers enjoying this book, as well as those who’d like a shorter comfort read.

*Thank you G.P. Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review