Linear, but entertaining enough "DS Yukemuri Suspense Series: Free Writer Tachibana Maki" follows the adventures of a trio of women working writers for a magazine. As they travel around researching onsens in Japan, they happen to come across various mysteries at the locations they visit.
The game itself is amusing, though it takes a while to get over the use of real-life characters. At times you get some unintentional laughs from the pure silliness of the expressions of the characters... The game is in Japanese, so unless you speak it or study it, you won't get much enjoyment from it. The language can be challenging at times, but with a good dictionary or from seeing the context, it's not too horrendous.
The biggest issue with it is the linearity of it. None of the choices you're presented with feel like they make any difference, and it's most often a case of clicking through character dialog followed by clicking the next location on the map. There are no puzzles and only very few places where you're actually challenged to think.
If you're looking for an engaging detective game, look elsewhere (I can recommend "Tantei Kibukawa Ryosuke Jiken Dan: The Masquerade Lullaby"). If you're just looking for a simple, linear mystery-story to practice reading with, it's pretty good, though maybe not worth the full price... Look out for it discounted though.
