“The Kamogawa Food Detectives” by Hisashi Kashiwai, is the first in a Japanese mystery series based on food. This past year the English translation of the work was completed by Jesse Kirkwood and published by Putnam, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Unlike the usual mystery series in which diners drop dead after a meal, in this novel the father-daughter detectives reunite customers at the Kamogawa Diner with beloved foods from their past.

The mere two-hundred pages of this easy to read tome are packed with life’s most precious philosophies. Nagare, the chef and owner of the diner was a former police officer who took an early retirement to do detective work of another sort. His restaurant advertisement boldly claims, “We find your food.” In six short chapters, Nagare and his daughter Koishi interview clients to track down the time, place and moment of their cherished memories of foods that evoke special people and places in their lives. Here is a beef stew, there is a mackerel sushi, in another case nabeyaki udon, all evoking tears and gasps at first bite as memories come flooding back.

One special dish was a Napolitan spaghetti eaten when the character was just five years old and her grandfather had taken her to the zoo. She can’t ask grandfather what the dish was because he now has dementia. With skill Nagare tracks down the dish and the restaurant where her grandfather had taken her, and recreates the recipe, telling her, “your grandfather must have taught you that eating food wasn’t’ just about enjoying it, but also being grateful for it.”

As it turn out, Napolitan spaghetti is now considered a children’s dish, but was created for General MacArthur by Chef Shigetada Irie at the Hotel New Grand in Yokohama after World War II. Its base is ketchup because tomato sauce was scarce in Japan at that time. The combination of ingredients may seem strange to us, but the dish is actually quite good. This would be an easy and inexpensive way to feed the kids.

Napolitan Spaghetti

Olive oil

4 hot dogs, sliced

1/2 green pepper, sliced

5 mushrooms, sliced

1 small onion, cut in half and sliced

4 tablespoons ketchup

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon butter

1 egg fried

6 oz. spaghetti, cooked, or more

Salt and pepper to taste

Prepare spaghetti. Heat olive oil in skillet and fry hot dogs for about 4 minutes. Add vegetables and cook until just tender. Add ketchup and stir. Add Worcestershire sauce and stir. Add butter and allow to melt then stir in. When spaghetti is done, drain and add to pan, tossing with the sauce. Cover to keep warm. Fry eggs (one per person) in oil or butter, covering to keep the yoke soft. Remove when white has set but yoke is still soft. Plate spaghetti and top each with a fried egg. If you are adding the eggs, the USDA recommends egg yolks should be cooked through for children.

Reach Melony Carey at foodbythebook@gmail.com.