Critique of Snow Falling on Cedars Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson, is a truthful tale about a post World War II trial in which a Japanese-American fisherman, the first American citizen in his lineage, is accused of killing a well known American fisherman. The accused is Kabuo Miyomoto; dead is Carl Heine Jr. The book takes place in the small town of San Piedro, one of the scenic San Juan Islands in the early 1950s. The relationship of the two men is deeper than being fellow fisherman. Before the war broke out, Kabuo's father had an agreement to buy land from Carl's father. With two payments to go the Miyomotos are