Blackmail, revenge, and a bitter political secretIt is the beginning of autumn, 1938. After his recent brush with death, anyone might think he would be happy to take things easy, but as the maple leaves redden, Oshima Kai, ex- soldier and sometime private investigator, is finding the routine of civilian life can be dull, even in a busy city like Tokyo. When sensitive documents go missing from his family's business, he is only too happy to help get them back.But this is a ci...

A killer wields his sword in the search for perfection – will Oshima be able to stop him before he kills again?Oshima Kai thought he could find a little peace as a civilian but he hadn't counted on the currents of violence that lay below the bustling surface of Tokyo life. The dead dogs are a worrying sign, but it is not until a headless corpse is found in the local shrine that Oshima realises he must hunt down a sword-wielding killer.The search takes him back to the army, ...

An injured veteran. A murdered neighbour. And the search for a stolen lacquer bowl.The year is 1938. After two years of fighting in China, Lt. Oshima Kai is back in Tokyo and out of the army for good, injured in the line of duty. He thought he was settling into a quiet life, but when a neighbour is found dead, he is drawn into the hunt for the murderer, and a missing work of art.As Oshima investigates he discovers the bowl holds a secret linked to the brilliant craftsman wh...

From the acclaimed author of Malice and Newcomer, a confounding murder in Tokyo is connected to the mystery of the disappearance and death of Detective Kaga's own mother.A decade ago, Tokyo Police Detective Kyoichiro Kaga went to collect the ashes of his recently deceased mother. Years before, she ran away from her husband and son without explanation or any further contact, only to die alone in an apartment far away, leaving her estranged son with...

New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice • A courageous young Sri Lankan woman tries to protect her dream of becoming a doctor in this “heartbreaking exploration of a family fractured by civil war” (Brit Bennett, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Half).“This book, a careful, vivid exploration of what’s lost within a community when life and thought collapse toward binary conflict, rang softly for me as a novel...

'An irresistible Hitchcockian gem: a fiendishly-plotted crime novel told in crisp, elegant prose' Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train'Matsumoto was Japan's Agatha Christie' Laura Hackett, The Sunday Times'It was a puzzle with no solution. But he did not lose heart.'In a rocky cove in the bay of Hakata, the bodies of a young and beautiful couple are discovered. Stood in the coast's wind and cold,...

'Brilliant.' New York Times'Remarkable.' Irish TimesAugust 1946. One year on from surrender and Tokyo lies broken and bleeding at the feet of its American victors.Against this extraordinary historical backdrop, Tokyo Year Zero opens with the discovery of the bodies of two young women in Shiba Park. Against his wishes, Detective Minami is assigned to the case; as he gets drawn ever deeper into these comple...

Unblinking in its vision of a nation in a chaotic, hellish period in its history, Tokyo Year Zero is a “brilliant, perplexing, claustrophobic … exhilarating” crime novel (The New York Times Book Review).It's August 1946—one year after the Japanese surrender—and women are turning up dead all over Tokyo. Detective Minami of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police—irreverent, angry, despairing—goes on the hunt for a killer known as the Japanese Bluebeard—a decorated fo...

The True Victor Is Happy and Fulfilled to the Very EndHow do we face the issues of aging, sickness, and death?What’s the secret of living long?What are the keys to a healthy life?Is aging a period of decline or an opportunity to bring one’s life to a satisfying conclusion?What example can we set for others in our third stage of life?Drawing on the lives of many individuals down through the ages, SGI President Ikeda discusses these and many other questions that affect us as we grow older. F...

Kosuke Kindaichi arrives on the remote Gokumon Island bearing tragic news - the son of one of the island's most important families has died, on a troop transport ship bringing him back home after the Second World War. But Kindaichi has not come merely as a messenger - with his last words, the dying man warned that his three step-sisters' lives would now be in danger. The scruffy detective is determined to get to the bottom of this mysterious prophecy, and to protect the three women if he c...

WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024'A masterpiece of historical fiction' MONICA ALI, chair of judges for the Women's Prize for FictionSixteen-year-old Sashi wants to become a doctor. But over the next decade, as a vicious civil war tears through her hometown of Jaffna, her dream takes her on a different path as she sees those around her, including her four beloved brothers and their friend, get swept up in violent ...

In the latest from international bestselling author Keigo Higashino, Tokyo Police Detective Kaga is faced with a very public murder that doesn't quite add up, a prime suspect unable to defend himself, and pressure from the highest levels for a quick solution.In the Nihonbashi district of Tokyo an unusual statue of a Japanese mythic beast - a kirin - stands guard over the district from the classic Nihonbashi bridge. In the evening, a man who appears to be very drunk...