Keigo Higashino, the bestselling author who has created numerous masterpiece mysteries, has achieved tremendous popularity with his “Masquerade” series (published by Shueisha), which has surpassed 4.7 million copies in cumulative sales. The first installment, Masquerade Hotel, was adapted into a live-action film in 2019 and became a huge hit, grossing 4.64 billion yen at the box office. Two years later, the “oil and water” buddy once again takes on a difficult case. Playing the unconventional detective Kosuke Nitta is Takuya Kimura, who has appeared in many blockbuster films and TV dramas and remains at the top across a wide range of fields, including music and commercials. Nitta, whom Higashino said was written with Kimura specifically in mind, is a perfect fit. Kimura × Higashino × director Suzuki has become an exquisite marriage unique to Masquerade. And playing Nitta’s partner, the overly serious hotelier Naomi Yamagishi, is the talented actress Masami Nagasawa, who has shown her range from comedy to serious roles in the Confidence Man JP series, the film MOTHER, and the musical Furimun Sisters, and who also won the Best Actress Award at the 44th Japan Academy Prize. The one-of-a-kind “buddy” is back. The setting is once again Hotel Cortez Tokyo. To catch the murderer who will appear at the New Year’s Eve countdown party, Nitta once again stands at the hotel front desk as an undercover investigator who “suspects everything.” Meanwhile, Yamagishi, who has been promoted from front clerk to concierge, strives to provide guests with the finest possible experience by “trusting the customer” as a hotel professional. Even after two years, the two remain unable to reconcile their ways of thinking. Then comes a star-studded cast of uniquely memorable performers representing Japanese cinema, playing the party guests, i.e. suspects, who appear one after another. Everyone looks suspicious, and the mystery only grows deeper.