8 Must-Read Japanese Mystery Novels
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 มิ.ย. 2024
- If you're in the mood for some mystery and detective novels, it's time to turn to Japan. Let's talk about eight mystery novels by five Japanese authors who are all masters of the craft of detective fiction.
Read more about these books here: booksandbao.com/japanese-mystery-novels/
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2:25 omg i just finished this and blowed my mind, i just find your channel and did a marathon on japanese literature and this was just the perfect book for me bc i loved murder mysterys novels
It's wonderful to see someone actually recommend Natsuo Kirino!!! I've loved her for years and have been recommending her books any time someone asks. Out is definitely amazing but my favorite is Grotesque. Fantastic tale through and through!
i absolutely loved Grotesque!
I agree. Kirino is my joint favourite female writer. Grotesque is a masterpiece. A little-known novel with the same themes running through it is 'Tokyo Noir: Neon Identity' by Nick John.
I loved The Decagon House Murders. I’ve been working my way through the Pushkin Vertigo catalogue of Japanese murder mystery fiction, in part due to your recommendations.
Such great reviews! I just bought "The Noh Mask Murder" by Akimitsu Takagai and now want to read other books of this same genre. Thanks so much!
Have you heard of Keigo Higashino? He's spectacularly good with mysteries and plot twists.
He's been recommended to me a bunch of times and I'm very excited to get to him!
He’s undoubtedly my childhood; I binged reading the majority of his works when I was in primary school, a great epilogue of Japanese mystery genre for me and also is a great appetiser for the Japanese Literature for me 😆
Kiego is a my fav now! Loved his every books.
My favourite book - The devotion of suspect X
He is great one of my new favorite suthors i read 6 of his books yet and loved all of them
Will Will Will! Just added all those to my booklist. Another fantastic set of record! Thank you so much!
I was really looking for someone to give me recommendation about Japanese Mystery Novels after recently completing the book "The Devotion of Suspect X" by Keigo Higashino.Its a wonderful book if one likes psychological thriller. I am so eagar to read more such books.
Thanks for recommending these.
I always have Higashino's novels on my list. I'll dig into his books at some point, I'm sure.
Read “The miracles of Namiya general store”… For me it was the best book by him
Thank you so much for this brilliant video! I got into Japanese mystery novels a bit before you posted it and could barely find any video on the topic at the time. I've read The Honjin Murders and plan to read The Tokyo Zodiac Murders soon. Thank you for your review of The Decagon House Murders, it has convinced me to buy it as well!
You're so very welcome! The Decagon House Murders is an absolute winner. I tore through it. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
I am not sure if I could follow the synopsis, but not because you did a bad job, but because I was in awe how you could remember all of this.
I have to say, that I am not that much into mystery (even loving Sherlock Holmes very much), but now I want to read all these books. So, you must have actually done an amazing job!
It's certainly a tough book to memorise! But one that I felt like I absorbed. It's a part of my brain now. Like I said, this is a pretty new genre for me and I can't get enough of it!
I loved The Devil and the Dark Water last year, so I applaud your taste! I read The Decagon House Murders as my introduction to Japanese mystery fiction, and am looking forward to taking up some of your suggestions. Just really happy there is someone out there geeking out over similar things. Sometimes I forget.
Whatever your kink or your niche, there are a lot of other people geeking out over the same stuff. Always 💜
You should check out the work of Edogawa Rampo, the Edgar Allen Poe of Japan.
Honjin Murders is really good. I wanted to find another Japanese murder mystery and I was lucky to come across Tokyo Express by Seicho Matsumoto, really recommend this one!
Yesss, I cannot wait to read some of these - I’ve had the honjin murders on my bookshelf for ages. Thanks for these recommendations 🙌
Loved the way you introduced the decagon house murders.
Don’t know how good the translation is but „the man behind the scissors“ or „Hasami Otoko“ is another classic I think you would enjoy!
How I wish that I have all the money in the world so I can buy all the books Willow recommended 😅. All the books are so so good. Can't wait to read them all.
Haha even though I get review copies for free I still buy a stupid amount of books!
@@WillowTalksBooks Tell me about it. I even buy books when I don't have money. Lol 😂😂😂😂
I’m a huge fan of the Asian versions of period village mysteries, like the Jodge Dee, Matsuyama Kaze, Tales of the Otori, etc., and was excited to find your channel to get a lead on discovering some new authors.
You have an obvious enthusiasm for the genre and for the books you are recommending, and that.comes across very well in your introductions.
I was worried though that in your energetic discussion you were getting too close to crossing from teasers to spoilers, so I skipped ahead a bit to make sure I had the pleasure of discovering those little arcane bits on my own.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks 👍
Russ
Was randomly recommended this video and immediately subscribed considering that I just pre-ordered “The Decagon House Murders” before finding this channel along with “The Name of the Game is a Kidnapping” by Keigo Higashino. Truly appreciate the diverse taste in books that you discuss!
Thank you so much and I really hope you love Decagon House as much as I did!
I read “and then there were none” just last week and I’ve been reading Japanese mystery novels in Chinese lately because they translate many of them into Chinese.
Very lucky! I'm reading a Christie book at the moment and want to read more Yokomizo as well.
Oh my, well that’s me off to the library to collect all the books I reserved. May is going to be a busy reading month.
I’ve recently discovered your channel and really appreciate the types of books you discuss. You have made my tbr extensively longer too 😊 I LOVED Out and it was my first introduction to Kirino. I haven’t read anything else by the author. Which book would you recommend I try next?
Thanks so much! Hope I haven't crippled your wallet! If you love Kirino and want to see the range of her writing, definitely check out The Goddess Chronicle next. It has a very Greek Mythology kind of tone and story.
Thank you for replying! And duly noted - The Goddess Chronicle it is 😁 I will say I am also very interested in picking up The Master Key you mentioned too - I just need to find shelf space for all of these upcoming purchases now!
I got to check out these books. Makes me think of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s film Cure. I think I will love this and I put a hold for both the Agatha Christie and Yokito Ayatsun book at my local library to start.
YES I have been looking for diverse writers of crime/detective fiction 😭🙌🏼
Have you checked out the honkaku selection from Locked Room International publisher? They have quite a few as well. I liked Moai Island Puzzle quite a bit and recommend it. Locked room murder and a treasure hunt by college students.
Instant sub.
I loved watching the anime about kindaichi as a child i forgot a lot of it so it would amazing to read honjin murders
Read Umineko no Naku Koro ni. It is by far the best mystery ever written.
Thanks for the rec!
Second this. Its a Love letter to the mystery genre done flawlessly
Thank you so much. I read Umineko because of your comment. It is by far the best mystery that I've ever read
A murder mystery podcast i watch, "death of the reader," has been covering a lot of these Pushkin press novels lately.
Just finished Decagon House, i'm shocked it satisfyingly brought all the threads together by the end, the only flaw I see was the motive being a bit weak.
I started watching the Kindaichi case files anime at the same time i read the Honjin Murders, not knowing the connection, a coincidence like you reading And then there were none before decagon. I feel like it had a perfectly good ending then the author added more and more stuff that made the end worse. Odd that you say Crooked house has bad characters, I thought the characters were a strength of Tokyo Zodiac. Just starting the master key now, so i hope it's good.
Surprised how many of these were the first books by their respective authors given how good they were
I recommend Akechi Kogoro's work if you haven't got round to it yet.
Ooh thanks for pointing me to a new podcast! And yeah it is very impressive that so many of these are debut or early novels. These writers have some serious talent. Thanks for the recommendation!
How’s the Kindaichi Case files? What makes you intrigued by it?
@@coleburns5497 - sadly it isn't that good. It's one of the more popular and long running Japanese mystery shows. In early episodes the detective occasionally makes mistakes which i haven't seen much in mystery stories, but that goes away quickly.
@@WorthlessWinner I don’t know about that. Usually finding out the suspect is more intriguing than Conan. Because with Conan it’s more interesting on HOW the murder is done. With Kindaichi, it’s always murders & repetitive, but finding out WHO is more intrigued-TO ME.
You DEFINITELY need to read The Journey Under The Midnight Sun by Keigo Higashino. AB - SOH - LUH -TEH - LY fantastic!
Would make for a ridiculous anime movie, noir-ish. A wild cast of characters to the point where I thought okay, this guy is either a maniac and won't be able to handle this
or this is gonna be a punch-of-a-reading. And it was. Not an easy read, but absolutely worth it. The story flows so seamlessly it feels like you're watching a film.
Also, the crime spans decades (my favourite theme, passage of time and all). The characters grow, develop, you create links with them. Yum.
Also, haven't read, but own, this time set in Hong Kong - The Borrowed by Chen Ho-kei. Also a murder spanning fifty years, there may be a bit of a sci-fi spin on this one as
the superior detective is in coma.
Other stuff by Higashino, The Summer Equation and The Devotion of Suspect X are not as good, although the latter is fine.
Wow, great recommendations! Thank you so much! Journey Under the Midnight Sun sounds fantastic. I've had Higashino on my radar for a while, especially Malice and Miracles of the Namiya General Store. But sounds like I need to start with Midnight Sun so I will!
@@WillowTalksBooks I also thank you for great recommendations. Japanese crime fiction is my soft spot. Also Inspector Imanishi Investigated is not bad, a bit down-to-earth, definitely a reflection of the times (Tokyo, 40's.). I've read 17 by Hideo Yokoyama, which is a news room drama, not really a mistery, pity.
Also, by him, haven't read but... "64". Check it out.
Also, on a different note, highly recommend The Haunting of Hill House.
@@Hwaigon A news room drama sounds like a fun spin! You've definitely piqued my interests with that one, thanks!
I cannot explain how happy I am that Out was on this list. It's so dark and gritty. It is a book that has always given me a book hangover whenever I read it, however the ending is so frustrating
It's an all-time favourite of mine! I've read it twice and, even though it's emotionally exhausting, it's also such an engaging and enveloping read.
Added all to my TBR.
I didn't know Hajime Kindaichi's grandpa has his own novel series.
My god how did I never notice the connection to Kindaichi Case Files before. Heh, that's fun.
yes, and I hope in future time more Kosuke Kindaichi works translate into english. so far, only Honjin case and Inugami Clan I have encountered
@@humaizierahman5996 Yeah, they're both published by Pushkin Press and I assume they're planning on putting out more of his books but translation takes time.
@@humaizierahman5996 They have now translated death on Gokumon island and the village of eight graves as well... The latter is out for sale, but we have to wait for the former one
I have read kindaichi files. Story of grandson
Hajime Kindaichi!!
@@chaoscolby yes
Hi, I like Edogawa Rampo.
His novel is very thrilling, sexy and the best mystery novel.
Loved the Demon Slayer reference. Just ordered The Honjin Murders ⛩️
Excellent choice!
Have you ever read parade by shuichi yoshida
Just finished reading the tokyo zodiac murder and i predicted the culprit early but it was enjoyable
I just finished the Honjin murders
Enjoy it?
I read this 📖 but i have only one complaint that how can katsuko's mother leave her during childhood and went to her village and after her death she didn't not came or anything related to her mentioned. Either i am ovrethinking it or the author feeled lazy to make effort on their mother daughter relationship.
For me i felt it may be not important but if author mentioned their relationship then it seemed more natural and we got to know katsuko's relations and conditions with her uncle and aunt also.
What do you think bao?
The honjin murders is a masterpiece
Aye it’s good innit
Heh. I like Poirot and Marple very much, but I still think you couldn't have picked a better place to start with Christie than And Then There Were None.
Good Poirot books: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, Peril at End House, The ABC Murders
Good Marple books: The Murder at the Vicarage, A Murder Is Announced, The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
Good Christies that don't feature either: Towards Zero, Crooked House, Endless Night
i thought your cat was my cat ahahaha and i was asking "what do you want?" "do you need something ?"when she wasn't even in the room
i was hoping to see "the ruined map" by Kobo Abe
I wrote an article about him a while ago
@@WillowTalksBooks cool, where can i find it?
Right here: booksandbao.com/kobo-abe-must-read-surreal-novels/
I loved Out but I hate the ending
That ending was so upsetting. I get mad everytime I revisit that one
it is a pity that so many interesting japanese detective fictions are not translated into english
girls in the dark by akiyoshi rikako and penance by minato kanae are my favourite, they are too sick. you shoulld read them if you havent
I'll have to put them on my list, thanks!
Have you read The Mill House Murders yet?
No
@@WillowTalksBooks your video helped convince me of decagon house and it was great! I'll be getting Mill House soon.
I forgot the name of the book but someone recommended it , It's written by japanese writer before his suicide does anyone know about it?
No Longer Human?
@@WillowTalksBooksI hope it is this one , Thankyou
I'm glad I discovered your channel. My wallet is not
Haha I’m sorry and you’re welcome
The devil in the dark water was so unbelievably bad. It was like a scooby doo episode. It was so unbelievable. Literally. Everything had to work just perfectly for any of it to make sense. So dumb. Makes me question everything else you say.
I'm pinning this one up on my fridge.
@@WillowTalksBooks I bet you thought that Christie's Roger Ackroyd had a huge twist
@@newyardleysinclair9960 I haven't read it :'(
Honjin Murders absolutely sucks
lol ok hon 💜