Japanese Crime and Mystery FictionLike this list

9 items

• The Decagon House Murders

  Ayatsuji, Yukito, 1960-

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  Japanese writers were huge admirers of classic Golden Age mysteries, especially those of puzzlemasters Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr. In this book, Ayatsuji not only pays homage to the greats of that tradition but also puts his own spin on…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Honjin Murders

  Yokomizo, Seishi, 1902-1981,

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  England has Hercule Poirot, Japan has Kosuke Kindaichi. This 1973 locked room mystery is the eccentric detective's first of many outings, and he must figure out how a masked man, eerie music, and a bloody katana in the pristine snow fit together to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Aosawa Murders

  Onda, Riku, 1964-

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  I love when a murder mystery revisits a seemingly solved crime and reveals that the truth might be different and more complex. When all attendees - but one - are poisoned at a birthday party hosted by the Aosawa family and an unconnected suspect…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Newcomer

  Higashino, Keigo, 1958-

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  What I really enjoy about this book is that it takes a novel approach to the detective novel. Instead of following Tokyo Police detective Kyoichiro Kaga as he investigates the murder of a woman who just moved to the area, each chapter is from the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Murder in the Crooked House

  Shimada, Sōji, 1948-

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  A theme in many of the books on this list is how often the crimes occur in houses as twisted as the people who commit them. The titular "crooked house" is literally built on a slant, and the way to the solution of the locked-room murder that occurs…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Out

  Kirino, Natsuo, 1951-

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  This is less a murder mystery and more a book about murder, since it begins with a wife's murder of her abusive husband and how her fellow (female) night shift coworkers at a bento lunch box factory help her cover it up. This book shines a light on…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Master Key

  Togawa, Masako, 1933-2016,

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  Seven years earlier, a man in women's clothes is struck by a car and dies, a child goes missing, and a man and a woman bury a child's body in the basement of the K Apartment for Ladies. Now, the apartment building is scheduled to be moved several…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Strange Pictures

  Uketsu,

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  Publishers Weekly describes this horror mystery book as "part police procedural and part Pictionary." Through a series of ominous illustrations and diagrams drawn by three different individuals, the reader can piece together the stories of their…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Suspicion

  a Novel

  Matsumoto, Seichō, 1909-1992,

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  This slim novel from one of the founding fathers of the mystery genre in Japan is less concerned with solving the crime as it is with finding the truth. A woman with Yakuza ties survives a car crash that kills her husband, and the court of public…Read moreRead more of this annotation