Masao Masuto (EV Cunningham) Books in Order

Masao Masuto works homicide for the Beverly Hills police, but he is not the sort of detective who tries to dominate a room. He is Japanese American, practices Zen Buddhism, tends roses, and pays close attention when people talk. In a city built on wealth, status, and appearances, that patience is often his best tool.

The series opens with The Case of the Angry Actress / Samantha. A Hollywood producer dies after a tense party, and Masuto has to work out which part of the evening was performance and which part was real danger. It establishes the series well: a polished setting, a suspicious death, and people with plenty to lose if their past becomes public.

Beverly Hills is more than a backdrop here. Fast uses its mansions, studios, hotels, and social circles to create cases where celebrity and money can make witnesses guarded. Masuto moves through that world without being impressed by it. He knows an elegant house or famous name cannot make a lie any less useful to a killer.

He notices the small thing that does not belong.

The later books give him a broad range of problems. In The Case of the One-Penny Orange, an odd break-in and a murder seem linked by a tiny, baffling clue. The Case of the Russian Diplomat puts a sensitive international matter on his local beat. The Case of the Sliding Pool begins when a collapsed pool exposes a body hidden for decades, while The Case of the Kidnapped Angel takes Masuto into the dangerous backstage world of Hollywood.

Masuto often works with his partner Sy Beckman, and their cases have the structure of classic police mysteries. The books are compact, but they are not merely puzzles. Family loyalties, business interests, old grudges, and public embarrassment all put pressure on the investigation. Masuto's home life and spiritual practice give the stories a quiet center, even when a case becomes ugly.

The tone is measured rather than hard-boiled. Masuto can be firm when people evade him, but he is not cynical about everyone he meets. He follows evidence, gives people room to reveal themselves, and keeps revising his ideas when the facts change.

Read the novels in publication order, beginning with The Case of the Angry Actress / Samantha. Each mystery stands on its own, but the sequence lets readers settle into Masuto's working methods and the strange tensions beneath Beverly Hills glamour. Masuto Investigates is a useful collection for anyone who wants more of the detective in one volume.