Japanese Crime Fiction

Get to know some of the key authors of Japanese crime fiction with this bundle!

The Decagon House Murders is the 1987 debut of Yukito Ayatsui and considered the first revivalist honkaku (or 'orthodox') mystery novel - taking influence from the golden age of mystery writing in the 1920s and 30s. Borrowing a structure from Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None' (frequently referenced by the characters), six characters journey to a remote island where things soon turn sinister... breathing new life into a familiar structure, this is a great introduction to the world of Japanese crime fiction.

Seishi Yokomizo's The Honjin Murders takes a similarly classical approach to the genre, and introduces Kosuke Kindaichi, Japan's answer to Sherlock Holmes. First written in the 1940s but only translated into English in 2019, this is a thrilling locked-room mystery that alludes to its many influences, such as John Dickson Carr and Gaston Leroux, while illuminating the the traditions, customs and class-based tensions of rural Japanese life.

Nobel prizewinner Kenzaburo Oe completes this bundle with The Silent Cry, often deemed the most important Japanese novel of the post-war period. While steeped in Japanese culture and history, this accomplished analysis of the human condition speaks to broad truths that cross boundaries of language and geography. Two brothers return to their family home in a remote forested valley as a local supermarket magnate offers to buy their ancestral storehouse, leading to a confrontation that dredges up complex family history and long-held grudges.