The Aosawa Murders
Written by Riku Onda, translated by Alison Watts — At the heart of The Aosawa Murders is a puzzle – who could have poisoned 17 people at a gathering at a house belonging to the Aosawa family, and who could have had a motive to…
Giri/Haji – new BBC drama with a Japenese edge
Remember how Robert Mitchum when to Japan in The Yakuza? Or how Michael Douglas was an American in Tokyo in Black Rain? Well, the BBC is set to flip that East-West crime fiction paradigm around. Giri/Haji is a fascinating new series that sees a Japanese…
Prefecture D
Written by Hideo Yokoyama, translated by Jonathan Lloyd-Davies — Prefecture D is the third book to appear in English translation by Japanese crime author Hideo Yokoyama, whose English debut Six Four was a big hit in 2016. Like Six Four and Yokoyama’s English follow up,…
First look: Ryuko
She smokes cigars, rides a motorbike, packs twin tommies and she has a dragon tattoo. But Ryuko isn’t from Sweden, and she’s not like anything Japanese crime fiction has sent us so far. Today we’re bringing you a first look at this manga graphic novel…
Newcomer by Keigo Higashino
Translated by Giles Murray — The translations of The Devotion of Suspect X and Malice have put Japanese author Keigo Higashino on the map in English-speaking countries, at least among those who enjoy discovering crime books from other cultures around the world. In Malice, reviewed…
Japanese crime fiction: Six of the best
The Japanese love to read. A combination of near-universal literacy and long commute times means that you’re likely to see trains full of everyone from high school students to company owners with an open manga, paperback or kindle. This, coupled with a less clear distinction…
The Dark Maidens
Written by Rikako Akiyoshi, translated by Kristi Fernandez, art by Booota — Every now and then you find yourself reading a book you’d never normally discover. Maybe you read a review and it sounded interesting, maybe you were late for a train and had to…
Cult X by Fuminori Nakamura
Translated by Kalau Almony — Cult X is an ambitious novel, one that pushes boundaries and redefines what crime fiction can be. At 512 pages, it’s also the size of a house brick, with a huge amount of information crammed into the beautiful hardcover pages….