The Decagon House Murders

The Decagon House Murders
Author: Yukito Ayatsuji
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2021-05-25
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1782276343

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"Ayatsuji's brilliant and richly atmospheric puzzle will appeal to fans of golden age whodunits... Every word counts, leading up to a jaw-dropping but logical reveal" — Publishers Weekly A hugely enjoyable, page-turning murder mystery sure to appeal to fans of Elly Griffiths, Anthony Horowitz, and Agatha Christie, with one of the best and most-satisfying conclusions you'll ever read. A classic in Japan, available in English for the first time. From The New York Times Book Review: "Read Yukito Ayatsuji’s landmark mystery, The Decagon House Murders, and discover a real depth of feeling beneath the fiendish foul play. Taking its cues from Agatha Christie’s locked-room classic And Then There Were None, the setup is this: The members of a university detective-fiction club, each nicknamed for a favorite crime writer (Poe, Carr, Orczy, Van Queen, Leroux and — yes — Christie), spend a week on remote Tsunojima Island, attracted to the place, and its eerie 10-sided house, because of a spate of murders that transpired the year before. That collective curiosity will, of course, be their undoing. As the students approach Tsunojima in a hired fishing boat, 'the sunlight shining down turned the rippling waves to silver. The island lay ahead of them, wrapped in a misty veil of dust,' its sheer, dark cliffs rising straight out of the sea, accessible by one small inlet. There is no electricity on the island, and no telephones, either. A fresh round of violent deaths begins, and Ayatsuji’s skillful, furious pacing propels the narrative. As the students are picked off one by one, he weaves in the story of the mainland investigation of the earlier murders. This is a homage to Golden Age detective fiction, but it’s also unabashed entertainment."

The Decagon House Murders 2

The Decagon House Murders 2
Author: Hiro Kiyohara
Publisher: Kodansha America LLC
Total Pages: 162
Release: 2021-09-21
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN: 1636993656

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The manga based off the best-selling The Decagon House Murders novel by Yukito Ayatsuji! The members of a particular university's Mystery Club travel to a ten-sided house on a remote island...which just happens to have been the scene of a gristly, and unsolved, mass murder. Armed with details of the murder and keys to the property, they set out to dig deeper...but can they trust the "facts" of the case? And moreover...can they trust each other? After arriving on the island, the Mystery Club discover mysterious tablets with things like "Detective" and "Murderer" written on them. They initially see it as a tasteless prank, but later that night, the tablet reading "First Victim" ends up on somebody's door, and the group is forced into solving a real mystery... Meanwhile, on the mainland, Kawaminami and Shimada are getting closer to the secret of the island after receiving letters from Seiji Nakamura, who's supposed to be dead...!!

The Tattoo Murder Case

The Tattoo Murder Case
Author: Akimitsu Takagi
Publisher: Soho Press
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2003-07-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1569471568

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Kinue Nomura survived World War II only to be murdered in Tokyo, her severed limbs discovered in a room locked from the inside. Gone is the part of her that bore one of the most beautiful full-body tattoos ever rendered. Kenzo Matsushita, a young doctor who was first to discover the crime scene, feels compelled to assist his detective brother, who is in charge of the case. But Kenzo has a secret: he was Kinue’s lover, and soon his involvement in the investigation becomes as twisted and complex as the writhing snakes that once adorned Kinue’s torso. The Tattoo Murder Case was originally published in 1948; this is the first English translation.

How to Order the Universe

How to Order the Universe
Author: María José Ferrada
Publisher: Tin House Books
Total Pages: 84
Release: 2021-02-16
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1951142314

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A San Francisco Chronicle and Southwest Review Best Book of the Year and A World Literature Today Notable Translation of the Year “A dreamscape of a book. I adored this compelling, wise, and utterly unique coming-of-age tale.” —Tara Conklin For seven-year-old M, the world is guided by a firm set of principles, based on her father D’s life as a traveling salesman. Enchanted by her father’s trade, M convinces him to take her along on his routes, selling hardware supplies against the backdrop of Pinochet-era Chile. As father and daughter trek from town to town in their old Renault, M’s memories and thoughts become tied to a language of rural commerce, philosophy, the cosmos, hardware products, and ghosts. M, in her innocence, barely notices the rising tensions and precarious nature of their work until she and her father connect with an enigmatic photographer, E, whose presence threatens to upend the unusual life they’ve created. María José Ferrada expertly captures a vanishing way of life and a father-daughter relationship on the brink of irreversible change. At once nostalgic, dangerous, sharply funny, and full of delight and wonder, How to Order the Universe is a richly imaginative debut and a rare work of magic and originality.

The Tokyo Zodiac Murders

The Tokyo Zodiac Murders
Author: Soji Shimada
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2015-09-15
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1782271422

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Astrologer, fortuneteller, and self-styled detective Kiyoshi Mitarai must in one week solve a macabre murder mystery that has baffled Japan for 40 years. Who murdered the artist Umezawa, raped and killed his daughter, and then chopped up the bodies of six others to create Azoth, the supreme woman? With maps, charts, and other illustrations, this story of magic and illusion, pieced together like a great stage tragedy, challenges the reader to unravel the mystery before the final curtain.

Inspector Imanishi Investigates

Inspector Imanishi Investigates
Author: Seicho Matsumoto
Publisher: Soho Press
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2003-07-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1569470197

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In the wee hours of a 1960s Tokyo morning, a dead body is found under the rails of a train, and the victim's face is so badly damaged that police have a hard time figuring out the victim’s identity. Only two clues surface: an old man, overheard talking in a distinctive accent to a young man, and the word “kameda.” Inspector Imanishi leaves his beloved bonsai and his haiku and goes off to investigate—and runs up against a blank wall. Months pass in fruitless questioning, in following up leads, until the case is closed, unsolved. But Imanishi is dissatisfied, and a series of coincidences lead him back to the case. Why did a young woman scatter pieces of white paper out of the window of a train? Why did a bar girl leave for home right after Imanishi spoke to her? Why did an actor, on the verge of telling Imanishi something important, drop dead of a heart attack? What can a group of nouveau young artists possibly have to do with the murder of a quiet and “saintly” provincial old ex-policemen? Inspector Imanishi investigates.

Lady Joker, Volume 2

Lady Joker, Volume 2
Author: Kaoru Takamura
Publisher: Soho Press
Total Pages: 601
Release: 2022-10-18
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1641290307

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“A novel that portrays with devastating immensity how those on the dark fringes of society can be consumed by the darkness of their own hearts.” —Yoko Ogawa, author of The Memory Police This second half of Lady Joker, by Kaoru Takamura, the Grand Dame of Japanese crime fiction, concludes the breathtaking saga introduced in Volume I. Inspired by the real-life Glico-Morinaga kidnapping, an unsolved case that 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. Will the culprits ever be brought to justice? More importantly—what is justice?

Lady Joker, Volume 1

Lady Joker, Volume 1
Author: Kaoru Takamura
Publisher: Soho Press
Total Pages: 601
Release: 2021-04-13
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1616957018

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One of Japan’s great modern masters, Kaoru Takamura, makes her English-language debut with this two-volume publication of her magnum opus. Tokyo, 1995. Five men meet at the racetrack every Sunday to bet on horses. They have little in common except a deep disaffection with their lives, but together they represent the social struggles and griefs of post-War Japan: a poorly socialized genius stuck working as a welder; a demoted detective with a chip on his shoulder; a Zainichi Korean banker sick of being ostracized for his race; a struggling single dad of a teenage girl with Down syndrome. The fifth man bringing them all together is an elderly drugstore owner grieving his grandson, who has died suspiciously after the revelation of a family connection with the segregated buraku community, historically subjected to severe discrimination. Intent on revenge against a society that values corporate behemoths more than human life, the five conspirators decide to carry out a heist: kidnap the CEO of Japan’s largest beer conglomerate and extract blood money from the company’s corrupt financiers. Inspired by the unsolved true-crime kidnapping case perpetrated by “the Monster with 21 Faces,” Lady Joker has become a cultural touchstone since its 1997 publication, acknowledged as the magnum opus by one of Japan’s literary masters, twice adapted for film and TV and often taught in high school and college classrooms.

Murder in the Crooked House

Murder in the Crooked House
Author: Soji Shimada
Publisher: Pushkin Press
Total Pages: 343
Release: 2019-01-31
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1782274642

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The sequel to the acclaimed Tokyo Zodiac Murders – a fiendish locked room mystery from the Japanese master of the genre The Crooked House sits on a snowbound cliff at the remote northern tip of Japan. A curious place to build a house, but even more curious is the house itself – a maze of sloping floors and strange staircases, full of bloodcurdling masks and uncanny dolls. When a guest is found murdered in seemingly impossible circumstances, the police are called. But they are unable to solve the puzzle, and more bizarre deaths follow. Enter Kiyoshi Mitarai, the renowned sleuth. Surely if anyone can crack these cryptic murders it is him. But you have all the clues too - can you solve the mystery of the murders in The Crooked House first? Born in 1948 in Hiroshima prefecture, Soji Shimada has been dubbed the 'God of Mystery' by international audiences. A novelist, essayist and short-story writer, he made his literary debut in 1981 with The Tokyo Zodiac Murders, which was shortlisted for the Edogawa Rampo Prize. Blending classical detective fiction with grisly violence and elements of the occult, he has gone on to publish several highly acclaimed series of mystery fiction. He is the author of 100+ works in total. In 2009 Shimada received the prestigious Japan Mystery Literature Award in recognition of his life's work.

The Moai Island Puzzle

The Moai Island Puzzle
Author: Alice Arisugawa
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016-03-15
Genre: College students
ISBN: 9781523935130

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"First published in Japan in 1989 by Taokyao Sogensha Co., Ltd. as Kotao Pazuru"--Title page verso.