Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa

Constable’s inaugural novel provides an offbeat tale—dark but playful in tone—about a possible serial killer, her befuddled friend, and a two-hemisphere treasure hunt. Narrator Ben Constable, named after the author, is an aspiring British writer who works in a Paris bank and discovers a letter from his friend Tomomi “Butterfly” Ishikawa, a transplanted New Yorker, in which she claims to have committed suicide. Through a series of rambling posthumous letters, electronic documents, and e-mails, she reveals her dark past, including several murders, and eggs him on to pursue her rather perverse “treasure hunt” of planted clues. Aided by his imaginary feline pet “Cat,” Ben leaves Paris for New York City, where by chance he meets Beatrice, a graduate student who turns out to know Tomomi. Beginning to doubt Tomomi’s suicide claim, Ben returns home to Paris. Tomomi’s next clues lead him down into the Paris catacombs, where he finally gets to the bottom of her subterfuge, concluding this surprisingly casual twisted yarn. Agent: Judith Murray, Greene & Heaton, (U.K.). (June)