Koramatsu: Black Curtain

Richard Winston

May 2001 · Xlibris Corporation

About this ebook

John Capablanca finds himself in Tokyo in 1948 with the rank of Major and a slot on MacArthurs staff as Chief of CID (Criminal Investigation Detachment). Capablanca is an ex-NYPD homicide detective and he finds himself in the position of overseeing the operations of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police as they endure the transition of "democratization". Capablancas old boss, Lewis J. Valentine, former NYC Police Commisioner, is on his way to Japan to instruct them in the fine art of democratic police work. Meanwhile and old and wealthy ex-baron has been murdered in a ritualistic crime with political resonances that echo all the way from Sugamo prison to the Emperors palace.

About the author

Richard Winston was born in 1944 at Minneapolis. He was educated at the Northup School and Folwell Junior High School. California became the family’s home in 1959 and in 1962 he graduated from Glendale High. Later he attended San Jose State University and San Francisco State University, which awarded him a bachelor’s degree in Semiotics in 1976. Between San Jose State and San Francisco State, he went to sea with the U.S. Seventh Fleet during the Vietnam conflict, serving as a deck-seaman and quartermaster for about 26 months. The story idea for death is the downbeat, originally conceived as a screenplay for a student film, continued to grow in scale and complexity until only the form of the novel could contain it.