Japanese Murder Mysteries

It has been half a year since Akiyama Daijiro became a samurai; half a year since he left his father Kohei – the wisest swordsman in the land – to set up his own blade school by the cool of the river. Ever since, amid the swaying bamboo groves, he waits patiently for his first disciple.

But his serenity is soon disrupted by the visit of a mysterious samurai with an unhonourable offer: in exchange for a vast sum of gold, he must attack and injure the daughter of the Shogun’s most senior counsellor. Troubled by the proposal, Daijiro, alongside his father and Mifuyu, a female warrior without match, soon set out into the underworld of Edo-era Japan to uncover the conspiracy, before quickly finding themselves embroiled in a series of increasingly perilous adventures . . .

Widely considered to be the greatest work by Shotaro Ikenami, the master of Japanese historical fiction, The Samurai Detectives is a twisting, page-turning portrayal of one of the most intriguing, evocative periods in the history of Japan.

High in the mountains, a sudden rockslide traps ten hikers in an abandoned bunker, nicknamed 'The Ark'. Then it starts to flood. There is only one chance of survival - in order for the rest of them to escape, someone must be left behind.

As they struggle to decide who to abandon, the group is torn apart by a brutal murder. And it won't be the last. Can they unmask the murderer and reach safety before the water rises? Or will The Ark become their tomb?

Tokyo, 1947. The Pink Labyrinth is one of the bomb-scarred city's most shady neighbourhoods. There, in the dead of night a patrolling policeman catches a young Buddhist monk digging in the back yard of The Black Cat Cafe, a notorious brothel.

In the shallow grave at his feet lie the dead body of a woman, her face disfigured beyond recognition, and the corpse of a black cat. Who is the murdered woman, and how was she connected to the infamous establishment? And where did the dead cat come from, given that the cafe's feline mascot seems to be alive and well? The brilliant sleuth Kosuke Kindaichi investigates, but as he draws closer to the truth, he finds himself in grave danger...

A sinister hidden room. A dead space between two walls. A sealed cellar.

A child's face glimpsed at a window. Every house hides secrets. But some secrets are far darker than others.

More than a million readers have discovered the terrible truth behind these strange houses. Now it's your turn.

Japan's rich tradition of murder mysteries is captured well in this selection.