Japanese Mystery Fiction

Japanese Tales of Mystery & Imagination, the first volume of its kind translated into English, is written with the quick tempo of the West but rich with the fantasy of the East. These nine bloodcurdling, chilling tales present a genre of literature largely unknown to people outside Japan, including the strange story of a quadruple amputee and his perverse wife; the record of a man who creates a mysterious chamber of mirrors and discovers hidden pleasures within; the morbid confession of a maniac who envisions a career of foolproof "psychological" murders…

Nestled deep in the mist-shrouded mountains, The Village of Eight Graves takes its name from a bloody legend. In the 16th century, eight samurais, who had taken refuge there along with a secret treasure, were murdered by the inhabitants, bringing a terrible curse down upon their village. Centuries later, a mysterious young man named Tatsuya arrives in town, bringing a spate of deadly poisonings in his wake. The inimitably scruffy and brilliant Kosuke Kindaichi investigates.

Danger awaits best friends on the island of Malta, where one will be accused of murder and the other of being a spy on the run. A missing journalist cannot tell the world he is still alive by becoming a mystery writer's alibi. When Hiromi came back to Paris to settle an old score, she had no idea her target might be hiding on the island of Malta. But, now, she has a chance to redeem her reputation by neutralizing a rogue agent and capturing the mystery writer who hides agency secrets in his novels.

LA gardener Mas Arai returns to Hiroshima to bring his best friend’s ashes to a relative on the tiny offshore island of Ino, only to become embroiled in the mysterious death of a teenage boy who was about the same age Mas was when he survived the atomic bomb in 1945. The boy’s death affects the elderly, often-curmudgeonly, always-reluctant sleuth, who cannot return home to Los Angeles until he finds a way to see justice served.

Within the premises of the Japanese Consulate in London a perfidious assasination came to pass. In order to avoid diplomatic affairs and to quickly solve this murder the responsible intelligence officer turns to Sherlock Holmes.

A treacherous murder rattles the Japanese embassy in London. The in-house secret service agent turns to Sherlock Holmes for help in quickly solving the case before it provokes a diplomatic crisis.

A treacherous murder rattles the Japanese embassy in London. The in-house secret service agent turns to Sherlock Holmes for help in quickly solving the case before it provokes a diplomatic crisis.

A treacherous murder rattles the Japanese embassy in London. The in-house secret service agent turns to Sherlock Holmes for help in quickly solving the case before it provokes a diplomatic crisis.

A treacherous murder rattles the Japanese embassy in London. The in-house secret service agent turns to Sherlock Holmes for help in quickly solving the case before it provokes a diplomatic crisis.