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I'm somewhere between 2 and 3 stars for this. It very much wasn't for me, but I guess I can see why other people would like it.
For language difficulty we deal with some dialect (Hiroshima primarily), some historical words (limited), and some older kanji usage. The writing itself doesn't have any particular flourishes and is generally straight forward.
As for the story? It had good bones, and weak execution. I don't like figuring out whodunnit and being disappointed by it. I also didn't find any of the characters particularly compelling and you could tell by how he writes the author barely thinks of women as people. The treatment of three women in the book in particular rubbed me the wrong way, and I can't elaborate too much without spoilers but I'll say I've read many books from the 80s (or earlier) which didn't feel so tone deaf and so I don't believe it's just the era its written in.
Anyways, if the above doesn't bother you and you like train table mysteries with a bit of history thrown in you may enjoy this book.