Japanese Fiction Thrillers

In 1890, the first Japanese diplomatic delegation arrives in London to open an embassy. Cyrus Barker, private enquiry agent and occasional agent for the Foreign Service Office, is enlisted to display his personal Japanese garden to the visiting dignitaries. Later that night, Ambassador Toda is shot and killed in his office and Cyrus Barker is discovered across the street, watching the very same office, in possession of a revolver with one spent cartridge.

From Mieko Kawakami, award-winning author of Breasts and Eggs, comes a bold novel of sacrifice and the tumultuous bonds of sisterhood, set in the gritty Tokyo of the 1990s. “I can never forget the sense of pure astonishment I felt when I first read Mieko Kawakami.” —Haruki Murakami Hana...

With My Annihilation, Fuminori Nakamura, master of literary noir, has constructed a puzzle box of a narrative in the form of a confessional diary that implicates its reader in a heinous crime. Delving relentlessly into the darkest corners of human consciousness, My Annihilation interrogates the unspeakable thoughts all humans share that can be monstrous when brought to life, revealing with disturbing honesty the psychological motives of a killer.

Enter a world of samurai and geishas, ninjas and Zen masters in this “rousing tale of Shogun Japan” (New York Post) from the acclaimed author of Autumn Bridge. “Triumphant . . . terrific . . . This is a riveting read, alternately playful and suspenseful.”—People The year is 1861. After...

Ken Hideyoshi is the new guy in Halawa Correctional Institute. He’s tough looking, a hard case. His cellmate is Cal—the mute tattoo artist of the prison who murdered his own wife. Ken, already inked with a gang symbol and a Japanese emblem, eventually asks Cal to create an elaborate tattoo on his back, in kanji script, of Musashi’s Book of the Void.

真冬の欧州を走る豪華列車オリエント急行には、国籍も身分も様々な乗客が乗り込んでいた。奇妙な雰囲気が漂う車内で、いわくありげな老富豪が刺殺体で発見される。偶然乗り合わせたポアロが捜査に乗り出すが、すべての乗客には完璧なアリバイが……ミステリの魅力が詰まった名作の新訳版。（解説　有栖川有栖）

ポアロのもとに届いた予告状のとおり、Ａで始まる地名の町で、Ａの頭文字の老婆が殺害された。現場には不気味にＡＢＣ鉄道案内が残されていた。まもなく、第二、第三の挑戦状が届き、Ｂの地でＢの頭文字の娘が、Ｃの地でＣの頭文字の紳士が殺され……。新訳でおくる、著者全盛期の代表作。（解説　法月綸太郎）

相撲と本格ミステリ、奇跡の邂逅　立ち合いの瞬間爆発する力士、頭のない前頭、連日、殺されていく対戦予定の力士……。相撲と本格ミステリ、奇跡のコラボレーション

Originally published in 1922 and translated by Takashi Kojima, this classic short story was the inspiration for Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film Rashomon, about the murder of a samurai. Told from the perspective of multiple witnesses.

When her cozy hometown is visited by death, Emma's investigative skills are enlisted by a secretive ghost. But with the uncooperative spirit holding so much back, and with the handsome local doctor pressing Emma for answers, will she ever get to the bottom of the case? Or will the Hollow be forever haunted by the secrets of the past?

The acclaimed author of the celebrated literary horror novels The Hunger and The Deep turns her psychological and supernatural eye on the horrors of the Japanese American internment camps in World War II. 1944: As World War II rages on, the threat has come to the home front. In a remote corner...

微笑む女（北海道） それまで微笑を絶やさなかった女の顔が、彼女が振り向いた途端大きく歪んでその瞳に初めて涙が浮かんだ。次の瞬間彼女は久しぶりに人の肌の温もりを感じていた。最後の嘘（大阪） 夫の鷹揚な声を聞きながら、なぜだか懐かしくてたまらなかった。鈍感で無神経。不恰好で自分勝手。だが夫は嘘をつかない。

月刊誌『ミレニアム』の発行責任者ミカエルと、背中にドラゴンのタトゥーを入れた型破りな女性調査員リスベットが、孤島で起きた少女失踪事件に挑む。

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.

Akira Kido is a divorce attorney whose own marriage is in danger of being destroyed by emotional disconnect. With a midlife crisis looming, Kido's life is upended by the reemergence of a former client, Rié Takemoto. She wants Kido to investigate a dead man - her recently deceased husband, Daisuké. Upon his death she discovered that he’d been living a lie. His name, his past, his entire identity belonged to someone else, a total stranger.

神奈川県警みなとみらい署暴対係の警部・諸橋は、暴力団の間で〈ハマの用心棒〉と呼ばれ怖れられている。ヤクザの抗争に巻き込まれ、両親を失った諸橋の暴力団に対する憎悪は特別深いのだ。大学生が自室で変死体となって発見された。死因はヘロインの中毒死。市内では薬物検挙数が目に見えて増えているという。白い粉で俺たちのハマを汚すな! 絶好調、シリーズ第二弾。

神奈川県警みなとみらい署刑事組織犯罪対策課暴力団対策係係長「ハマの用心棒」こと諸橋のもとを県警本部監察官の笹本が訪ねてきた。県警本部長が諸橋、そして相棒の城島との面会を希望しているという。横浜・山手の廃屋で、中国人の遺体が発見された。被害者は中華街で一財産を築いたが、三年前から消息不明だった。

みなとみらい署暴対係係長諸橋と相棒の城島は、居酒屋で暴れた半グレたちを検挙する。彼らは東京を縄張りにする「ダークドラゴン」と呼ばれる中国系のグループだった。翌々日、関東進出を目論む関西系の組長が管内で射殺される。横浜での抗争が懸念される中、捜査一課があげた容疑者は諸橋たちの顔なじみだった。捜査一課の短絡的な見立てにまったく納得できない「ハマの用心棒」たちは――。(解説:西上心太)

CI SONO DUE COSE CHE IO NON RIESCO ASSOLUTAMENTE A SOPPORTARE: LE FEMMINISTE E LA MARGARINA. Rika è una giornalista in una rivista maschile. È l’unica donna nel suo posto di lavoro e spesso viene trattata come una segretaria, quando non peggio. Per cercare di farsi strada lavora giorno e notte e tutto ciò che riesce a cucinare quando la sera torna tardi a casa è un ramen preconfezionato. Da tempo però un pensiero la assilla: vuole intervistare Manako Kajii, la cuoca gourmet accusata di aver assassinato gli uomini d’affari con i quali si intratteneva, dopo aver cucinato per loro.

Inspired by the real-life Glico-Morinaga kidnapping, an unsolved case which terrorized Japan for two years, Lady Joker reimagines the circumstances of this watershed episode in modern Japanese history and brings into riveting focus the lives and motivations of the victims, the perpetrators, the heroes and the villains. As the shady networks linking corporations to syndicates are brought to light, the stakes rise, and some of the professionals we have watched try to fight their way through this crisis will lose everything—some even their lives.