Honobu Yonezawa (米澤穂信), Yonezawa Honobu, born 1978) loved making up stories even as a child and began writing fiction at the age of 14. By the time he got to university he was posting stories on his own website. After graduation he continued writing while working in a bookstore, and first got into print in 2001 when Hyoka (Ice Cream), a YA mystery novel he submitted for the Kadokawa School Novel Prize competition, earned an honorable mention. Sayonara yosei (Farewell, Sprite), a critically acclaimed story of the relationship between Japanese high-school boys and a girl from war-torn Yugoslavia, helped cement his reputation when it was published in 2004. Since then he has been a regular presence on lists of the year's best mysteries. Oreta ryukotsu (Broken Keel) won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Novels in 2011. Though known especially for his distinctive and fresh blending of the tale of youth with the whodunit, Yonezawa has also made forays into science fiction, as with 2006’s Botorunekku (Bottleneck) and 2007’s Inshitemiru (Try Indulging), a sinister "murder game" story. In 2013 he published the novel Rikashiburu (Recursible). He is a leading figure among Japan's younger generation of mystery writers.
The last story with the hostage at the family restaurant and the drowsiness story were pretty good and the rest were serviceable. Very very “Honkaku Mystery” with not much atmosphere and characterization, which isn’t really my jam but these mysteries were all well written enough. I actually think Yonezawa is best when he is focusing on the characters, so I was a little disappointed but this isn’t bad by any critique.