The Fine Art of Uncanny Prediction

From the author of the BBC 2 Between the Covers hit, The Fine Art of Invisible Detection

'The world's greatest storyteller' Guardian
'One of the finest crime writers of any generation' Daily Mail
'Our finest practitioner of the double-cross plotting' Mick Herron


Umiko Wada never set out to be a private detective, let alone become the one-woman operation behind the Kodaka Detective Agency. But so it has turned out, thanks to the death of her former boss, Kazuto Kodaka, in mysterious circumstances.

Keen to avoid a similar fate, Wada chooses the cases she takes very carefully. A businessman who wants her to track down his estranged son offers what appears to be a straightforward assignment. Soon she finds herself pulled into a labyrinthine conspiracy with links to a twenty-seven-year-old investigation by her late employer and to the chaos and trauma of the dying days of the Second World War.

As Wada uncovers a dizzying web of connections between then and now, it becomes clear that someone has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep the past buried. Soon those she loves most will be sucked into the orbit of one of the most powerful men in Tokyo. And he will do whatever it takes to hold on to his power…

The Fine Art of Uncanny Prediction is another tour de force from the cunning mind of master storyteller Robert Goddard. Spanning seventy years, it takes the reader on a head-spinning journey of twist and counter-twist which keep you guessing until the final pages.


Readers love the Umiko Wada series:

***** 'Guaranteed and satisfying escapism'
***** 'Twists and turns right up to the last page'
***** 'Edge-of-the-seat stuff'
***** 'Fresh and inventive'
***** 'The master of twists and suspense … sublime'
***** 'Scintillating and wickedly twisty'