The Hotel Hokusai

'Packed with memorable characters, drama, mystery and humour, this is an impressive and ambitious debut from a talented new voice.' - Iain Maloney, author of Silma Hill and The Only Gaijin in the Village

'The Hotel Hokusai is a beautifully realised portrait of Yokohama in the late 19th century, where characters historical and fictional are weaved together in a compelling whodunnit inspired as much by the Japanese literary "I-novel" as the golden age crime stories beloved by eel-chopping protagonist Han.' - Callum McSorley, author of Squeaky Clean

'Garner expertly captures the essence of what it feels like to end up alone in a foreign country. Adapt or die.' - John Gerard Fagan, author of Fish Town

It is 1893: Yokohama is a melting pot of international influence and opportunity as well as Japan's portal to the world. Its air hangs thick with an intoxicating miasma of loneliness and desire but fails to mask the emerging stench of death.

When a young woman is found drowned in Yokohama Harbour under suspicious circumstances, downtrodden Korean eel salesboy Han compels the eccentric Glaswegian artist Archie Nith to seek the truth, though it requires more of them than just naive integrity to paint a picture of what actually happened. Written from the perspectives of both Han and Nith, The Hotel Hokusai follows their twisting journey as it snakes all the way from Yokohama's harbour to its red-light district. Can they grasp reality when the truth is as slippery as a basket of eels?