Japanese Mystery Fiction

In the winter of 1937, the village of Okamura is abuzz with excitement over the forthcoming wedding of a son of the grand Ichiyanagi family. But amid the gossip over the approaching festivities, there is also a worrying rumour - it seems a sinister masked man has been asking questions about the Ichiyanagis around the village. Then, on the night of the wedding, the Ichiyanagi family are woken by a terrible scream, followed by the sound of eerie music - death has come to Okamura, leaving no trace but a bloody samurai sword, thrust into the pristine snow outside the house.

As a member of a New York Mafia family, Levi Yoder's role is unique: He's a fixer, a solver of problems, a man whose code puts loyalty above all else, yet he's a man with a conscience. In the Inside Man, Levi's search for the kidnapped grandchild of a Japanese mob boss plunges him into a world filled with chaos. When he's falsely accused of a heinous series of crimes, the FBI makes Levi an offer he can't refuse: use his mob connections to help investigate the murders of several undercover agents or find himself in jail awaiting trial, without a way to clear his name.

Set in 1944 Chicago, Edgar Award-winner Naomi Hirahara’s eye-opening and poignant new mystery, the story of a young woman searching for the truth about her revered older sister's death, brings to focus the struggles of one Japanese-American family released from mass incarceration at Manzanar during World War II.

In this gloriously over-the-top tale, Aoyama, a widower who has lived alone with his son ever since his wife died seven years before, finally decides it is time to remarry. Since Aoyama is a bit rusty when it comes to dating, a filmmaker friend proposes that, in order to attract the perfect wife, they do a casting call for a movie they don't intend to produce. As the resumes pile up, only one of the applicants catches Aoyama's attention - Yamasaki Asami - a striking young former ballerina with a mysterious past. But she is a far cry from the innocent young woman he imagines her to be.

She was a monster, sleek and gleaming, designed to strike without warning like the dreaded shark. She was the USS Mako, as fearless and bold as any submarine that ever prowled the blue Pacific. Her mission: seek out and destroy the hitherto invincible ships of the Japanese Imperial Navy - and revenge the earlier defeats of a long and dirty war. Here is the story of the men who pitted their lives against impossible odds in the most dangerous branch of the American armed services.

Down a quiet backstreet in Kyoto exists a very special restaurant. Run by Koishi Kamogawa and her father Nagare, the Kamogawa Diner serves up deliciously extravagant meals. But that's not the main reason customers stop by. The father-daughter duo are 'food detectives'. Through ingenious investigations, they are able to recreate dishes from a person’s treasured memories—dishes that may well hold the keys to their forgotten past and future happiness. The restaurant of lost recipes provides a link to vanished moments, creating a present full of possibility.

Emma Hooper thought coming home to small-town life and the family farm would give her a chance to rest and recover from a traumatic accident. But that was before she started seeing ghosts. It was before Grandma Hooper started singing on the roof, and it was way, way before anybody spotted a ghost in a 19th-century cavalry uniform coming out of an outhouse. Can Emma learn to handle her newfound ability to see spirits, while figuring out a confusing relationship with the handsome local doctor? All while solving the ghastly murder of Preacher Jacob?

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, leaving her estranged son with many unanswered questions. Now in Tokyo, Michiko Oshitani is found dead many miles from home. Strangled to death, left in the bare apartment rented under a false name by a man who has disappeared without a trace. Oshitani lived far away in Sendai, with no known connection to Tokyo—and neither her family nor friends have any idea why she would have gone there.

In the wake of World War II, the Allied forces charged 28 Japanese men with crimes against humanity. Correspondents at the Tokyo trial thought the evidence fell most heavily on 10 of the accused. In December 1948, five of these defendants were hanged, while four received sentences of life in prison. The tenth was a brilliant philosopher-patriot named Okawa Shumei. His story proved strangest of all. Among all the political and military leaders on trial, Okawa was the lone civilian.

Tucked away down a Kyoto backstreet lies the extraordinary Kamogawa Diner, run by Chef Nagare and his daughter, Koishi. The father-daughter duo have reinvented themselves as “food detectives,” offering a service that goes beyond cooking mouth-watering meals. Through their culinary sleuthing, they revive lost recipes and rekindle forgotten memories.

「あたしを?このあたしの器量が気に入ったから嫁にほしいっていうんですか?」 不器量で大女、貧しい棒手振りの娘・お信に舞い込んだのは、美男で有名な木屋の繁太郎との縁談だった!困惑しつつも嫁入りした彼女は、木屋の人々の不可解な言動を目の当たりにし、何かがおかしいと感じ始めるのだが……!?数々の時代劇小説を発表し続ける宮部みゆきの傑作短編集「幻色江戸ごよみ」(新潮社)から、読者に圧倒的な支持を受ける「器量のぞみ」をオーディオブック化しました。朗読は、コメディーからシリアスまで幅広い演技で知られる女優・斉藤由貴。軽やかで優しい声音で、聴き手を物語の世界に引き込みます。怪談なのに、くすりと笑える。怪談だけど、涙がこぼれる。宮部みゆき作品ならではの“人情怪談”をお楽しみください。

In Bullet Train, underworld operative Ladybug was tasked by his handler Maria Beetle with retrieving a suitcase from a high-speed train in Japan. The job did not go according to plan. Will the unluckiest assassin in the world will find things easier this time around? All he has to do is deliver a painting to a hotel guest, a portrait made by his daughter. Easy enough, except when Ladybug makes the delivery, he realizes that the guest is clearly not the guy in the painting. Then he attacks Ladybug, they fight, and the guest ends up dead. How can such simple jobs always go wrong?

Acclaimed best-selling novelist Kunihiko Hidaka is found brutally murdered in his home on the night before he’s planning to leave Japan and relocate to Vancouver. His body is found in his office, a locked room, within his locked house, by his wife and his best friend, both of whom have rock solid alibis. Or so it seems.

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 prophesy, and to protect the three women if he can.

Flo is sick of Tokyo. She is stuck in a rut, her translation work has dried up, and she's in a relationship that's run its course. That's until she stumbles upon a mysterious book left by a drunken passenger on the Tokyo Subway.

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.

神無月、毎年かならず一度だけ行われる押し込みがある。黒装束、黒ずきんに身を包んだその男が脅し取るのは、その場にある現金のみ。襲われる家はばらばらで、共通点も見つからない。欲をかかない鮮やかな手口が特徴の、年に一度の強盗。その最後の現場には、なぜか小豆の粒が落ちていた……。奇妙な押し込みが、同じ人間によるものだと気づいた岡っ引き。病弱な娘のため、良心を押し殺して盗みを働く父親。追う男と追われる男、2人の男それぞれの胸の内とは?現代を代表する作家の1人、宮部みゆきの時代劇短編集「幻色江戸ごよみ」(新潮社)から、ミステリーテイストの傑作短編「神無月」をオーディオブック化しました。朗読するのは、あらゆるジャンルの役柄を演じわけ、“300の顔を持つ男”の異名を持つ俳優・大杉漣。深みのある声が、2人の男の心情を濃やかに描き出します。苦く切なく、しかし温かい。涙なしには聞けない、江戸の一夜の物語をご堪能ください。

Nanao, nicknamed Ladybug - the self-proclaimed “unluckiest assassin in the world” - boards a bullet train from Tokyo to Morioka with one simple task: Grab a suitcase and get off at the next stop. Unbeknownst to him, the deadly duo Tangerine and Lemon are also after the very same suitcase - and they are not the only dangerous passengers onboard. Satoshi, “the Prince”, with the looks of an innocent schoolboy and the mind of a viciously cunning psychopath, is also in the mix and has history with some of the others.

長屋で姉妹同然に育った、しっかり者のお吉と気弱な美少女・お美代。災害や流行り病で天涯孤独となった2人は、「将来、一緒に店を開こう」という約束を心の支えに、寄り添って生きてきた。だがそんなある日、お美代に縁談が転がり込む。それは、門前町の老舗・大黒屋の後添いに入らないかという夢のような話だった。すっかり舞い上がったお美代は、お吉を置き去りにしてあっさりと嫁いでしまう。その2年後、複雑な思いを消化できずにいたお吉は、長屋の差配からお美代の秘密を知らされて!?現代を代表する作家の1人・宮部みゆきの短編時代小説集「堪忍箱」(新潮社)より、名作との呼び声が高い「てんびんばかり」をオーディオブック化。現代劇、時代劇を問わずさまざまな役柄を演じ分けることで定評のある女優・星野真里が、お吉の心を繊細に表現しました。喜びも悲しみも共有し、安定したてんびんのようにつり合っていたはずが、突如上下してしまった2人の人生。友情と嫉妬が交錯する、幼なじみの物語をお楽しみください。

「〈ばんば〉というのは、強い恨みの念を抱いた亡者のことでございます……」 箱根湯治の帰り道、雨に降り籠められた若夫婦。わがままな若妻に頭の上がらぬ婿養子・佐一郎は、宿で相部屋となった老女・お松から、忌まわしい昔語りを聴くことになる――。ミステリーだけでなく、味わい深い時代劇小説でも熱い支持を受ける、宮部みゆきの時代劇短編集「ばんば憑き」(角川書店)。その中から、表題作をオーディオブック化しました。朗読するのは、実力派女優・中嶋朋子。穏やかながら凄みを感じさせる語りが、聴く者を怪談の世界に引き込みます。ぞわりと背筋が寒くなる、極上の怪談を、お楽しみください。