Award Winning Mystery Author Naomi Hirahara Paints an Enthralling Art Heist

This event is free to attend. Seating is first come, first served.

Meet the author, find out about a terrific new book, ask questions and hear directly from the author, and get personalized signed books!

You don't need to have read the book beforehand to enjoy the event, but we do recommend reserving your copy ahead of time.

Bookshop West Portal is excited to welcome Naomi Hirahara, author of staff favorite and award winning Clark and Division, to celebrate her latest historical mystery Crown City. This novel promises to delve into California history and the Japanese American experience while solving a sinister art heist.

There will also be a demonstration of a centuries old Japanese art, Kirigami, in which paper is transformed into beautiful silhouettes through folding and cutting. Inspired by the Chinese art of jiǎnzhǐ, the Japanese began practicing Kirigami in the seventh century. The term is derived from two words — Kiru (to cut) and Kami (paper). Come learn to make simple cherry blossom shapes and silhouettes through the practice of Kirigami.

Two Japanese American men hired to investigate an art theft discover something much more sinister in turn-of-the-century California--from the Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning author of Clark and Division.

Pasadena, 1903: Eighteen-year-old Ryunosuke "Ryui" Wada staggers off the boat from Yokohama, Japan, ready to reinvent himself after the untimely deaths of his parents. Though battling loneliness and culture shock, Ryui does his best to settle into his work as an art dealer's apprentice while adjusting to his new home. From his enigmatic photographer roommate, Jack, to the beautiful seamstress living downstairs, Ryui finds himself surrounded by colorful characters and unbelievable opportunities and is soon utterly swept up in all "Crown City" has to offer.

But tensions are seething under Pasadena's bustling prosperity. Ryui is the victim of an anti-Japanese attack, and a painting is stolen from the studio of Toshio Aoki, Pasadena's most successful Japanese artist, who then hires Ryui and Jack to investigate. It's not long before their sleuthing leads them into real danger. Ryui is a naive young man in a foreign country--has he bitten off more than he can chew?

In this fish-out-of-water mystery, studded with cameos by real historical figures, Edgar Award-winner Naomi Hirahara brings to life a little-known slice of California history.

Naomi Hirahara is the Mary Higgins Clark Award, Edgar Award, and Lefty Award-winning author of Clark and Division and Evergreen; the Mas Arai mystery series, including Summer of the Big Bachi, which was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year; and the LA-based Ellie Rush mysteries. A former editor of The Rafu Shimpo newspaper, she has co-written nonfiction books like Life after Manzanar and the award-winning Terminal Island: Lost Communities on America's Edge. She and her husband make their home in Pasadena, California.

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