This page is an index of works reviewed on the blog that are written by Japanese authors (this list does not include Manga).
A
Takemaru Abiko
The 8 Mansion Murders
An impossible crime story in which a businessman is shot in the heart with a crossbow in a deserted courtyard.
Though its puzzle may not be quite as ingeniously constructed as either The Moai Island Puzzle or The Decagon House Mystery, other shin honkaku titles published by Locked Room International, I think it is most accessible of the three and it might make a good first step for readers beginning to explore this style of Japanese crime writing.
Alice Arigsugawa
The Moai Island Puzzle
A mixture of treasure hunt and impossible crime story set on an island covered in wooden moai statues.
Though not perfect, I think if you are able to look past its sometimes dull protagonist and investigative procedure, there is some excellent material here.
Yukito Ayatsuji
The Decagon House Murders
A group of mystery-loving students visit an island where they are eliminated one-by-one.
I enjoyed discovering how neatly these story strands fit together and felt largely satisfied with the cleverness of the ending.
Tetsuya Ayukawa
The Red Locked Room
This collection of seven stories originally published between 1954 and 1961 contains a mix of impossible crime and unbreakable alibi stories featuring Ayukawa’s two series detectives – Chief Inspector Onitsura and the gifted amateur Ryūzō Hoshikage.
A very strong collection of locked room and unbreakable alibi stories. Based on this sampler let’s hope more Ayukawa will follow!
C
Shunshin Chin
Murder in a Peking Studio
A man involved in passing bribes to government officials in China is murdered in his locked studio moments after receiving $250,000 which mysteriously vanished.
The historical details are excellent and do a good job of conveying a sense of place and time. The locked room, while it takes a minute to arrive, is good enough to justify the read on that score alone.
H
Tokuya Higashigawa
Lending the Key to the Locked Room
A man is surprised to find his friend murdered in his apartment where all the windows are locked and the door secured with a chain.
An excellent example of a lightly comic puzzle mystery with some clever plotting.
Keigo Higashino
The Devotion of Suspect X
An inverted crime story in which a high school math teacher tries to cover up a murder committed by his neighbor.
I am most impressed by the way the construction of the narrative echoes the key themes of the novel. The novel is layered extremely cleverly, building up to a really interesting and satisfying conclusion.
Malice
An inverted crime story in which we know the who and the how but are left to puzzle over why the crime was done.
What Higashino does particularly well is explore questions of what it means to be creative and the nature of the publishing industry while telling an interesting, character-driven mystery.
Newcomer
A recently divorced woman who is a new arrival in the Nihonbashi district of Tokyo is found murdered in her apartment.
Never breathtaking but very readable, this is an enjoyable and surprisingly traditional mystery story with some very appealing subplots.
K
Natsuo Kirino
Out
A woman murders her abusive husband and enlists the help of her coworkers to dispose of the body.
A dark and gruesome crime story with rich, dimensional characters.
M
Seicho Matsumoto
Inspector Imanishi Investigates
A body is found placed under a train moments before it is to depart. The face has been battered beyond recognition, preventing the police from easily identifying the deceased. With only a few very vague clues, Inspector Imanishi works to figure out their identity and why they were murdered.
A very competent, if leisurely-paced, police procedural. As interesting for the issues it discusses as the case itself.
A Quiet Place
In this character-driven story, a Japanese businessman learns of his young wife’s death while away and returns home to find he has questions about the account of her death.
…while I think it is ultimately a very successful novel that contains some wonderful character and thematic moments, it is perhaps less compelling as an example of the mystery genre.
Kanae Minato
Confessions
This book explores the circumstances leading to the murder of a schoolteacher’s very young child by two of her teenaged students.
A powerful, fascinating and utterly devastating read. The subject matter is much darker than I typically like but it is handled very well.
Penance
This book explores how a horrific murder affects the lives of the four children who discovered the body and the penance they each feel obliged to pay for failing to identify the murderer.
A really dark and powerful read that is just as devastating as the author’s debut work, Confessions.
N
Fujimori Nakamura
The Gun
An inverted crime story about a young man’s discovery of a gun and an exploration of his psychology as he starts to fantasize about using it.
The problem is that as the novella strikes one note repeatedly, it ends up feeling a little repetitive by the point we reach the end and it fails to develop any great moments of surprise or the sense that the reader is engaging in an act of discovery.
My Annihilation
A young man discovers a manuscript in a cabin in the woods apparently written by the person whose identity he has been trying to usurp.
…readers should not come to this expecting a quick or easy read. My Annihilation is, as the title may suggest, a heavy and often difficult book that delights in confusing and unsettling its reader.
The Thief
An exploration of the life of a thief and a robbery job he gets involved with.
A very short but powerful exploration of the life of a thief with strong characters and thoughtful development of themes.
Shizuko Natsuki
The Third Lady
A professor enters a murder exchange plot with a woman he meets in a hotel during a power cut.
Natsuki’s novel offers an intriguing twist on a classic mystery concept but I struggled with its awkward, contorted start and finish.
Murder at Mt. Fuji
When a young woman confesses to the accidental killing of her wealthy Great Uncle the family agrees to try and protect her by making it seem like the work of an outsider.
This boasts a great set-up but the rushed investigation and resolution phases of the novel made it feel a little anticlimactic.
Death from the Clouds
Following the death of a brilliant engineer, the top executives at his corporation are eliminated one by one.
This novel offers some striking and unusual murder methods and I enjoyed the corporate politics elements of the story, even if it didn’t entirely come together for me with its solution.
O
Riku Onda
Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight
On their last day together in their flat Aki and Hiro decide to confront each other about a murder that took place a year earlier they each believe the other to be responsible for.
A rich and fascinating read that places complex and interesting characters in a truly compelling situation.
Keikichi Osaka
The Ginza Ghost and Other Stories
A short story collection which includes a few locked room adventures.
The Ginza Ghost does at least feature a few stories that I feel will stick with me for a while and I could appreciate Osaka’s skill at inventing interesting puzzles to challenge his readers.
R
Edogawa Rampo
Gold Mask
A costumed individual in a golden mask and cloak commits a series of Detective Akechi Kogorō is called upon to investigate a crime spree orchestrated by a figure seen wearing a golden mask and cloak. On several occasions the Gold Mask is seen committing audacious thefts and is cornered only to miraculously disappear, baffling the police and striking fear into the public’s imagination.
More an adventure-thriller than a fair play detective story, though it does what it does very well.
The Black Lizard and Beast in the Shadows
A collection of two novellas. The Black Lizard is a cat and mouse game between a crime boss attempting to kidnap the daughter of a diamond merchant for ransom and series detective Akechi Kogorō. Beast in the Shadows is a dark and twisted story about sexual obsession.
The Black Lizard is pure pulpy thriller stuff and good fun but Beast in the Shadows is a much darker and more interesting work. That story, while shorter, is worth the cost of the collection in itself.
Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination
A collection of short stories by one of the giants of twentieth century Japanese crime fiction. Some stories are mysteries where others evoke more of an adventure style.
As a whole I was very impressed with the collection and found it to be an enjoyable and absorbing read. There is a good variety of story types and styles here and I imagine that several of these tales will stay with me for a while.
S
Soji Shimada
The Tokyo Zodiac Murders
One of the founding texts in the shin honkaku movement in Japanese crime fiction. It is celebrated as an example of a locked room mystery although I personally found that aspect of the novel disappointing.
The locked room elements of the plot are oversold and the least interesting part of an otherwise fascinating case.
Murder in the Crooked House
A series of locked room murders takes place in a remote mansion.
The puzzle construction is technically impressive but I was unconvinced by the motive both in its conception and how it was clued.
T
Masako Togawa
The Master Key
The author’s first work in which she explores the lives of characters living in an apartment block for single women.
…I was really impressed both by the depth of characterization as well as the sense of unease she builds in this world. At times I was left curious how some elements could be fully resolved, making the ending all the more striking and powerful.
The Lady Killer
A thriller in which we follow a man who goes into nightclubs to seduce women, keeping a diary of his conquests only to find they are starting to end up dead.
I liked the novel a lot and found its characterization and discussion of themes of social isolation and of male and female sexuality to be thoughtful and considered but I do think it is a slightly less polished work than The Master Key.
Slow Fuse
A psychosexual thriller in which a psychiatrist attempts to uncover why his patient has written a confession to killing a woman who is still alive.
…Slow Fuse feels superficial and often a little juvenile. Meanwhile the psychosexual thriller style feels aged and rooted in a form of sexual politics and gender relations that is very much of the period in which it was originally written.
A Kiss of Fire
A novel concerning three men who, as children, witnessed (and perhaps were involved in) a fire that killed an artist. Years later their paths cross again during a hunt for an arsonist.
Though the premise of this story appears heavily reliant on coincidence, the ending is superb and satisfying.
Various
Ellery Queen’s Japanese Golden Dozen
A collection of short stories selected by Fred Dannay showcasing the enormous breadth of styles in Japanese crime fiction at the time.
Several of the stories are really entertaining and imaginative. My pick of the collection is The Kindly Blackmailer in which a barber finds that a new customer intends to blackmail him for his involvement in a hit-and-run.
Old Crimes, New Scenes
A collection of short stories that attempt to illustrate the development of the mystery genre within the Japanese literary scene. Several authors are either not known for their mystery stories or appear for the first time in translation.
An excellent collection of works written over a span of more than a hundred years.
Y
Seishi Yokomizo
The Honjin Murders
The first of the Kosuke Kindaichi stories explores the murder of a bride and groom in a locked room on their wedding night.
An interesting murder story told in a journalistic style. The murder mechanism is a little much for me, but Yokomizo’s choice of killer and exploration of their motivations are excellent.
Death on Gokumon Island
The second Kosuke Kindaichi story sees him travel to an isolated island to prevent three murders. He then ends up solving three murders.
An entertaining read that explores some interesting ideas and contains some striking imagery. The novel’s theatricality is both its strength and its weakness requiring the reader to accept some illogical or risky choices by both the detective and murderer, but I think the key points are clued pretty well.
Mysteries Ahoy! 