Japanese Crime

WATERSTONES BEST FICTION BOOKS OF 2023 PICK The Kamogawa Food Detectives, translated from Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood, is the first book in the bestselling, mouth-watering Japanese sleuthing series for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold. What’s the one dish you’d do anything to taste just...

*THE JAPANESE CRIME CLASSIC - ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD* 'One of the great masterpieces of Japanese crime fiction and one of the must-read books of this or any year' David Peace Tokyo, 1995. Five men meet at the racetrack every Sunday to bet on horses. They have little in common except a deep...

In the winter of 1937, the village of Okamura is abuzz with excitement over the forthcoming wedding of a son of the grand Ichiyanagi family. But amid the gossip over the approaching festivities, there is also a worrying rumour - it seems a sinister masked man has been asking questions about the Ichiyanagis around the village. Then, on the night of the wedding, the Ichiyanagi family are woken by a terrible scream, followed by the sound of eerie music - death has come to Okamura, leaving no trace but a bloody samurai sword, thrust into the pristine snow outside the house.

Kosuke Kindaichi arrives on the remote Gokumon Island bearing tragic news—the son of one of the island’s most important families has died, on a troop transport ship bringing him back home after the Second World War. But Kindaichi has not come merely as a messenger—with his last words, the dying man warned that his three step-sisters’ lives would now be in danger. The scruffy detective is determined to get to the bottom of this mysterious prophesy, and to protect the three women if he can.

The heartwarming, award-winning Japanese sensation, My Grandfather, the Master Detective is an affectionate, cosy whodunit – and a story of living your days to the fullest. Perfect for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold. There used to be a cafe called Mon Cheri at Nishi Waseda where members...

The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller 'I can never forget the sense of pure astonishment I felt when I first read Mieko Kawakami' – Haruki Murakami 'The most exciting Japanese novelist at work today' – The Times A heart-stopping story of teenage girls on the brink in 1990s Tokyo from the...

1992年に千葉県内で起きた身も凍る惨殺劇。幼い子供から大人の男性まで一家4人が殺害。逮捕されたのは19歳の少年だった。4人の命を奪った主犯の少年が19歳だったことから世間は揺れた。そして少年19歳に下された判決は死刑。

Brought to you by Penguin. A thrilling crime classic, from the bestselling author of Tokyo Express Tokyo, 1960. As the first rays of morning light hit the rails at Kamata Station, a man’s body is found on the tracks. With only two leads – a distinctive accent and a single word, ‘kameda’...

In December 1937, in the capital of China, one of the most brutal massacres in the long annals of wartime barbarity occurred. The Japanese army swept into the ancient city of Nanking and within weeks not only looted and burned the defenseless city but systematically raped, tortured and murdered more than 300,000 Chinese civilians. Amazingly, the story of this atrocity- one of the worst in world history- continues to be denied by the Japanese government.

From Conan Doyle and Rudyard Kipling to Satyajit Ray and R. K. Narayan, this text is a collection of spine-chilling tales of the supernatural from India...

Brought to you by Penguin. While on a business trip to Kobe, Tsuneo Asai receives the news that his wife Eiko has died of a heart attack. Eiko had a heart condition so the news of her death wasn't totally unexpected. But the circumstances of her demise left Tsuneo, a softly spoken government...

Makoto Saigo is half-American and half-Japanese in small-town Japan with a set of talents limited to playing guitar and picking fights. With rock stardom off the table, he turns toward the only place where you can start from the bottom and move up through sheer merit, loyalty, and brute force―the yakuza. Saigo, nicknamed “The Tsunami”, quickly realizes that even within the organization, opinions are as varied as they come, and a clash of philosophies can quickly become deadly. One screw-up can cost you your life, or at least a finger.

A decade ago, Tokyo Police Detective Kyoichiro Kaga went to collect the ashes of his recently deceased mother. Years before, she ran away from her husband and son without explanation or any further contact, leaving her estranged son with many unanswered questions. Now in Tokyo, Michiko Oshitani is found dead many miles from home. Strangled to death, left in the bare apartment rented under a false name by a man who has disappeared without a trace. Oshitani lived far away in Sendai, with no known connection to Tokyo—and neither her family nor friends have any idea why she would have gone there.

Bloomsbury presents In The Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami read by Kenichiro Thomson A rollercoaster ride from the cult master of the psycho-thriller 'A blistering portrait of contemporary Japan, its nihilism and decadence wrapped up within one of the most savage thrillers since The Silence of the...

During the National High School Cultural Festival ceremony, Yoshiyuki Shimizu - the current Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and a literary giant - was fatally stabbed by a man who rushed out from backstage. The arrested suspect, 37-year-old Akatsuki Nagase, began publishing his memoirs in a weekly magazine following his arrest.

Brought to you by Penguin. A biting psychological thriller from the bestselling author of Tokyo Express, now available in English for the first time Onizuka Kumako is a fierce woman: tall, beautiful, and not afraid to speak her mind. In Tokyo bars, she seduces customers and commits petty crime...

Brought to you by Penguin. An immersive journey through trees in Japan by celebrated writer Aya Koda – now available in English for the first time ‘Trees are not just living things, but feeling beings, like us. Better keep a watchful eye over them…’ Ezo spruce, hinoki, cherry blossoms...

Brought to you by Penguin. THEIR MISSION IS MURDER. HIS IS REVENGE. A propulsive new thriller from the bestselling author of BULLET TRAIN. Suzuki is just an ordinary man until his wife is murdered. When he discovers the criminal gang responsible he leaves behind his life as a maths teacher and...

From the only American journalist ever to have been admitted to the insular Tokyo Metropolitan Police press club: a unique, firsthand, revelatory look at Japanese culture from the underbelly up. At nineteen, Jake Adelstein went to Japan in search of peace and tranquility. What he got was a life...

Even in hell, Bitcoin talks. This modern take on an old Japanese saying still holds true. Cryptocurrency was supposed to do for money what the internet did for information, but it didn't work out that way. Its virtual existence unleashed real-world chaos―especially in the homeland of its mysterious creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Tokyo was the center of the world's largest Bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, until that company collapsed with nearly half a billion dollars' worth of Bitcoin gone missing. It might be the greatest heist in history. If it was a heist.