Ellery Queen's Japanese Mystery Stories: From Japan's Greatest Detective & Crime Writers

by Ellery Queen (Editor), Satoru Saitō (Foreword), Yasutaka Tsutsui

"As an anthologist, Ellery Queen is without peer, his taste unequalled. As a bibliographer and a collector of the detective short story, Queen is, again, a historical personage. Indeed, Ellery Queen clearly is, after Poe, the most important American in mystery fiction." -- Otto Penzler, from Detectionary: A Biographical Dictionary of Leading Characters in Mystery Fiction

A newspaper receives a letter from a man claiming to have been murdered--it's impossible but the truth is not so simple; five strangers who share the same initials are invited to spend the night in a luxury hotel but one of them is a murderer.

The 12 stories in this book will lead you through dramatic twists and unexpected turns. The legendary Ellery Queen selected these stories by award-winning Japanese authors from among many thousands published in postwar Japan. Each story features an unusual crime and a complex set of clues investigated by a diverse and colorful cast of characters that includes a calculating inspector, a tenacious journalist, and a determined scientist.

The thrilling stories in this volume include:
Ellery Queen's Japanese Mystery Stories is a collection that is sure to delight lovers of great detective and crime fiction. The book features a new foreword by Japanese detective fiction expert Satoru Saito which places the stories within the context of Japanese society and modern Japanese literature.

Genres: Mystery, Japan, Short Stories, Japanese Literature, Crime, Fiction, Asian Literature

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

aka Barnaby Ross.
(Pseudonym of Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee)
"Ellery Queen" was a pen name created and shared by two cousins, Frederic Dannay (1905-1982) and Manfred B. Lee (1905-1971), as well as the name of their most famous detective. Born in Brooklyn, they spent forty two years writing, editing, and anthologizing under the name, gaining a reputation as the foremost American authors of the Golden Age "fair play" mystery.

Although eventually famous on television and radio, Queen's first appearance came in 1928 when the cousins won a mystery-writing contest with the book that would eventually be published as The Roman Hat Mystery. Their character was an amateur detective who used his spare time to assist his police inspector father in solving baffling crimes. Besides writing the Queen novels, Dannay and Lee cofounded Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, one of the most influential crime publications of all time. Although Dannay outlived his cousin by nine years, he retired Queen upon Lee's death.

Several of the later "Ellery Queen" books were written by other authors, including Jack Vance, Avram Davidson, and Theodore Sturgeon.

Reviews

[Sumit RK · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ellery Queen's Japanese Mystery Stories: From Japan's Greatest Detective & Crime Writers as the title suggests is a collection of 12 stories by arguably Japan’s greatest detective and crime writers. Ellery Queen has selected these stories by award-winning Japanese authors, from among many thousands of stories published in postwar Japan.

Each story has a unique setting and features an unusual plot and some diverse set of characters. At the beginning of each story Satoru Saito – an Associate Professor of Japanese Literature at Rutgers University – provides background information on each writer. He describes their writing style, the context of the story in Japanese literature, and a hint of what you can expect from the story that follows.

The best thing about the book is that it features several authors from different eras with different writing styles and with a lot of unique storylines. Each story has some unique idea or narrative style which will keep you engaged. Of the 12, most were either good to excellent with very few missing the mark. The ones I really liked were Too Much About Too Many by Eitaro Ishizawa, The Cooperative Defendant by Seicho Matsumoto, A Letter From the Dead by Tohru Miyoshi, The Kindly Blackmailer by Kyotaro Nishimura, No Proof by Yoh Sano, Invitation From The Sea by Saho Sasazawa and Write In, Rub Out by Takao Tsuchiya

Overall, This compilation offers a different flavor of mystery, focusing mainly on unusual characters and unpredictable storylines, then blood and gore. The writing is excellent and there are several new themes that you may have never encountered before. This book will serve nicely as an introduction to the world of Japanese mysteries with a good and diverse selection of mystery stories.

Many thanks to the publishers Atlantic Monthly Press and Edelweiss for the ARC.

[Bella Azam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ellery Queen's Japanese Mystery Stories

Behold mystery fans, if you love crime mystery stories with deductions, psychological problems and fascinating plotline, then you will find this collection to be an enjoyable one. I myself enjoyed this a lot more than expected.

Curated by Ellery Queen, a master in mystery stories themselves, this collection of 12 short stories were written postwar Japan with established authors like Masako Togawa and Seicho Matsumoto heralded their own and some newly authors yet to be translated into English that produce excellent story, I wished we get more from them. Ranging from crime detective, noir thriller, mystery & horror, a solid brilliant collection were made

From classic investigate noir style from Matsumoto, a fantastical letter from the dead in River of Styx to the newspaper, sinister comes in form of a boy, romantic thriller of a couple on the cliff, the kindly blackmailer that kept on pushing a barber to a drastic decision, an investigation on an seemingly related cases which a common point of these is the monkey mask, 8 people were invited to the seaside hotel and exposed for a murder, a facial restoration of a skull led to unravelling of a female victim, inmates were kept as blood supply to vampire, a suicide that isn't as simple as it may appear, and perfectly lovely ladies who are thieves broke into a rich lady' house.
delivered

Some of my favourites are Masako Togawa's vampire which is so damn good! I live for the concept the so called vampire institution where these inmates are kept to provide their blood to the vampire as he sucked them but then the twist dang that twist. Kinda wished this story get fleshed out more bcus this was amazing. Another stories like Kindly blackmailer was fascinating, Invitation to the Sea reminded me of Agatha Christie, love A letter from the dead and Devil of a boy too

Super enjoyable and highly recommended for those wanting some mysteries in their life

Overall, an enjoyable read for me who adored mystery stories. Ranging from crime detective, noir thriller, mystery and horror, i think this is a solid collection. Got introduced to some new authors which I wished we get their full length novels bcus I'm hooked by their stories.

Rating each stories below
1. Too much about too many - Eitaro Ishizawa 4✨️
2. The cooperative defendant - Seicho Matsumoto 3✨️. A bit too classic investigate, very complex which doesnt excite me much but Matsumoto always delivered
3. A letter from the dead - Tohru Miyoshi 4.5✨️. I felt this is so brilliant, combining mysterious element of the land of dead and if ghost do send letter to the newspaper and then slowly they unravelled.
4. Devil of a boy - Seiichi Morimura 4✨️. This is pretty interesting too even if its predictable but i like how sinister it can be especially when the devil in form is a young boy
5. Cry from the cliff - Shizuko Natsuki 3.8✨️. More on a romantic thriller sort of, its the kind of story that played with the emotion of the characters and how it can affect the relationship
6. The kindly blackmailer - Kyotaro Nishimura 4.8✨️. This one is so damn good. I was immediately hooked to this one and felt its such an incredible mysterious and unique one
7. No proof - Yoh Sano 4✨️. Its well thought, kind of unique in terms of story telling which led us to follow the investigation thru the discussion between the detectives as they talked about incidental death, self defense and how they all tied together
8. Invitation from the sea - Saho Sasazawa 4.5✨️. Reminded me a lot of Agatha Christie's And then there were none and i like how no sinister murders but a set up to help expose the murderer behind a suicide case
9. Facial restoration - Tadao Sohno 3.8✨️. Its unique for sure but that one intimate scene is so out of the place 🤣
10. The vampire - Masako Togawa 5✨️.OMG TOGAWA DID IT AGAIN. THIS IS FREAKIN BRILLIANT. I live for the concept the so called vampire institution where these inmates are kept to provide their blood to the vampire as he sucked them but then the twist dang that twist
11. Write in, Rub Out - Takao Tsuchiya 3.8✨️. Another case of solving the suicide of a wife and its simple yet the ending is so good
12. Perfectly lovely ladies - Yasutaka Tsutsui 4✨️. Quite thrilling and interesting about several ladies as thieves, that only stole petty little valuables

[Philipp · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not really a fan of Ellery Queen's detective fiction, but I am a fan of Japanese Honkaku crime fiction, so when I found this collection I had to jump on it.

The introduction by Queen is funny - 'I don't know much about Japanese crime-fiction, the publisher just sent me a pile and I selected the ones I liked' - but they had good taste in choosing. Weirdly, this collection is not featured on Queen's Wikipedia-page.

The stories are well-spread in theme and structure, if you're familiar with Japanese crime-fiction, you'll get some more unfamiliar writers here, Queen did not include anything from the classic 'big' names, probably due to not being familiar with the field.

My favorite story was the last one - Yasutaka Tsutsui's Perfectly Lovely Ladies (it's the same author who wrote the story that became the amazing Paprika, but also The Girl Who Leapt Through Time ). It's about eight women, fed up with their financial situation, going on a crime spree to steal from (and murder) the rich. I feel a bit of a connection there. It did remind me quite a bit of Natsuo Kirino's Out, just much more polite.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published in 1978 as 'Japanese Golden Dozen', this collection turned out to be a curious one. The logic and method used by Frederic Dannay to select these stories were more mysterious than any of the stories, since very few of these stories had even the slightest resemblance to those published in the EQMM during 1960-s & 1970-s. Perhaps the idea was to mystify the readers with character studies and exotic locales that would be as far from EQMM as possible. If that had been the aim, then this book succeeds too well.
Among these character studies and social narratives, punctuated by death and misery from time to time, I would remember the following~
1. Tohru Miyoshi's "A Letter From The Dead";
2. Kyotaro Nishimura's "The Kindly Blackmailer";
3. Saho Sasazawa's "Invitation From The Sea".
If a collection of translated works of Saho Sasazawa's ever gets published, I would lap it up ASAP. But the others...
Higashino has ruined us, you know. We have started expecting nuanced, gentle characters radiating warmth and humour amidst all the depravity and sorrow life can throw upon them. After reading his works, these so-called gourmet meals taste like sawdust.
I leave this collection with fond memory of Sasazawa's gentle, witty story. The rest have already become ghosts.

[Ethan Stan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though I'm a big amateur student of Japanese history, I haven't explored Japanese literature beyond a few Murakami novels. This collection was an unexpectedly excellent introduction to a genre I never even thought to look into.

[yengyeng · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neat and diverse collection of short stories, most of them engaging, but my favourite is the character study of Perfectly Lovely Ladies written by Yasutaka Tsutsui who also wrote Paprika. I could totally see elements of the mental workings of the characters in Satoshi Kon's Paranoia Agent.

[Stephen Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

A so-so glimpse into Japanese detective fiction. Personally, I don’t think the detective/crime/mystery genre thrives in the short story format. The pacing often felt rushed and the resolutions abrupt. Many of these pieces seemed like they needed another hundred pages/just be novels to deliver a more satisfying reveal.

That said, there were a few gems here, and I did appreciate being introduced to new Japanese writers. Still, a number of stories struck me as below average, and one in particular felt outright icky and misogynistic—the male lead was a creepy pervert which the author unsuccessfully tries to portray as a refined, rational figure. The author may specialize in the romance mystery genre, but there was nothing remotely romantic about that story.

Because of this unevenness, I’m a bit skeptical of this book's curation of “The Golden Dozen.” I realize the anthology was put together long ago, but I had expected a sense of timelessness. Instead, the selection feels more like they grabbed whatever was sitting on their shelves.

Also, the edition I read was from Tuttle and this is already the second book of theirs I’ve come across with noticeable spelling errors, which really shouldn’t be the norm. It feels as though their reputation rests more on the novelty of being a publisher of Japanese works in translation rather than on maintaining editorial standards. But this is just my opinion

[Dmitry Ryabchuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 12 stories selected for this collection are of interest to both detective fans and people interested in Japan. I am personally not the biggest detective fan, but as an anthropologist I did enjoy the book quite a bit. The stories are not only shaped by different periods of detective story development in Japan, but also have small details that are reflective of Japanese culture overall. Attitudes to women, stereotypes about relationships, perception of life, death, cheating and other heavy topics are weaved alongside interesting puzzle-solving by Japanese detectives. The only other thing I would suggest is that the book is best consumed gradually, a few stories at a time.

[Thea · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars, rounded up. All of the stories were enjoyable, but there were several errors that should have been caught with proofreading, especially after having been published for decades???

[Patrick Sherriff · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good selection of detective stories by a dozen Japanese writers active in the '60s and '70s. What's interesting is the oh-so-Japanese concerns of the stories -- seeking justice for wronged businessmen, suicide notes with doctored kanji characters, vampires with a taste for different blood types, murderous primary school children and a gang of brand-conscious murderesses. The situations are distinctly Japanese, the writing is engaging, with twists and dark humour in abundance.

Download my starter library for free here - http://eepurl.com/bFkt0X

[Gerald Kinro · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the title says, this is an anthology of 12 short stories by leading Japanese mystery writers. Of the 12, there were only three stories that I just could not get into. The rest went from fairly good to very good, a mixed bag. Those that I did not like were all narrative, sans scenes of movement or dialog with no action. Overall, I liked it.

[Benjamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a few different authors, with a lot of unique ideas. Some were better than others, some were more detail-oriented than others, which I think is important in the genre, but all were interesting.

[Mance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what a great book. I found it at my library and ended up sitting around for a few hours and reading the whole thing then and there.

[Melissa Goodnight · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read. Not all the stories are amazing, but a majority of them are quite good. Nice compilation, and certainly worth a read.

[Athirah Idrus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: 4.5 stars

Had my sister who’s as passionate about mystery books not put this into my radar, I would have missed out on what is now to me arguably the best collection of Japanese murder mysteries. I’m always on my tiptoes with compilation of short stories because they almost always have extremely bad ones, lumped together with the exceptionally excellent stories, which would unfortunately average out the rating, which seems a bit unfair to the individual authors, I think.

As a mystery fan, the name Ellery Queen, which is a pen name of a duo who happened to be cousins, is not new to me. As one of the household names in the genre, they have often been mentioned in other works by writers I admire. Regretfully I have yet to experience myself their writing. Based on this collection, however, I am assured of their credibility, as least where their taste in mystery books is concerned. I would definitely try their works in future.

This collection specially curated by Frederic Dannay (one half of Ellery Queen) had stellar picks. I rated almost all of them at least 4 stars and above. Out of the 12 stories featured, I rated only three below 4 stars. I was even more impressed to learn that Frederic had almost zero exposure to Japanese fiction, let alone Japanese murder mysteries when he was approached to come out with this selection.

Before reading this book, I would consider myself someone who is quite well versed with Japanese murder mysteries because they seem to make up about probably half of the things I read. However, I learned that perhaps I’m not as thoroughly exposed to the genre as much as I had hoped. Other than a couple of authors already familiar to me, I discovered many more through this collection and I am excited to try their other full length novels soon!

These were the stories I particularly loved in the book (5 stars!):
-Devil of a Boy by Seiichi Morimura
-Perfectly Lovely Ladies by Yasutaka Tsutsui
-The Kindly Blackmailer by Kyotari Nishimura
-The Cooperative Defendant by Seicho Matsumoto
-A Letter from the Dead by Toru Miyoshi

I would have gladly given the book a full 5-star rating but I was extremely put off by The Vampire by Masako Togawa which was a shame because I had been looking forward to her short stories as I was very taken in by her two other novels that I read. I even considered DNF-ing the story even though it was such a short one! That was how repulsed I was.

Another ick was the number of typos and misspelled names found in the book. For other publishing houses, I would probably close one eye but I hold Tuttle to a higher standard. Surely a publisher that’s known for their language books should be held to higher standards than these amateurish typos that they even got the author names incorrectly, with one mentioned twice wrongly within the same page?

Regardless, I don’t think this collection should be overlooked despite these minor icks. Solid collection, highly recommended!

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

A compilation featuring Japanese detective novels, this book is a little dated nowadays but packed full of well known Japanese detective fiction authors like Seicho Matsumoto.

A very interesting collection of stories, on the whole I quite enjoyed them all barring one that was a turkey in my opinion, a vampire rather featuring blood transfusions and blowjobs. Very odd one that.

I would rate the stories individually as follows:

1. Too Much About Too Many by Eitaro Ishizawa.
A confidant of many secrets is murdered at a party but who killed him? Or was it suicide? Short and sweet read, it fell flat towards the end, I'd have liked more for the resolution and felt the end let it down. 3/5"

2. The Cooperative Defendant by Seicho Matsumoto.
A very clever short story, I enjoyed this one and I do enjoy the authors work that I have read previously. 3.5/5"

3. A Letter From the Dead by Tohru Miyoshi.
A good twist in this one, not a favourite so far but enjoyable nonetheless." 3/5

4. Devil of A Boy by Seiichi Morimura.
I enjoyed it. I saw the end coming before the climactic event." 3/5

5. Cry From The Cliff by Shizuko Natsuki.
I quite enjoyed this, I saw the guilty party from a mile off. Short but sweet as they say. 3.5/5"

6. The Kindly Blackmailer by Kyotaro Nishimura.
Another enjoyable read and a twist at the end, though not a twist if you pay attention to the title and dialogue. 3.5/5

7. No Proof by Yoh Sano.
Very interesting, a monkey mask at the centre and how is the crime interpreted. I cant decide on the consequence myself. 3/5

8. Invitation From The Sea by Saho Sasazawa.
Superb short story, my favourite of the bunch so far. 5 strangers invited to an expensive hotel to root out a murderer. 4.5/5

9. Facial Restoration by Tadao Sohno.
This one was ok, a bit odd and supernatural but decent. Could have done without the sex scene though. 3/5

10. The Vampire by Masako Togawa.
Very odd and didnt enjoy this one at all. All blood transfusions with a blowjob thrown in for good measure 1.5/5

11. Write In, Rub Out by Takao Tsuchiya.
Not too bad this one, one of the weaker ones into he collection. 3/5

12. Perfectly Lovely Ladies by Yasutaka Tsutsui.
Interesting a gang of lady thieves go about their business of being female Robin Hoods. Decent but nothing special 3/5"

Based on this my rating would be 3.15/5 but I would say this is a solid 3.5/5 book, some good stories and authors I would love to read more of. Sadly I doubt that beyond Seicho Matsumoto and Masako Togawa there is much available from these authors in English, which is a shame.

3.5/5 rounded down.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are several things I enjoyed about this diverse collection of stories. First and foremost is that, even as a mystery story novice, I could tell that the approaches here were due in large part to cultural differences and we simply would not get stories like these. One story's solution was literally "wait and see how things develop." Another one had the detective get it wrong, feel badly about it, but it was also the preferred outcome because the perpetrator was otherwise incredibly wronged throughout. Western, especially American stories, don't resolve quite like that. I also appreciated the fact that each story was prefaced with a short bio about the author. I've seen collections where this information is frontloaded in the intro, not included with the story itself. This, I honestly believe, is better design. It was also just a fairly solid collection. Even the stories I didn't care much for were more interesting than I've seen in collections that obviously included stories just to have a full load.

I'm tempted to write about each story individually, but instead I'll just suggest you just find a copy of the book if you're interested. Particular standouts for me were "A Letter from the Dead," "Devil of a Boy," and "The Kindly Blackmailer." The stories "The Vampire" and "Perfectly Lovely Ladies" are also worth checking out because they're not really mystery stories. They're crime stories, sure, but there's not much of anything to solve. But on top of all of that, they're well written.

So, I checked this collection out along with a number of other mystery anthologies. Of all of this, this one stood out the strongest. When I finally return them to the library, this will likely be the only one I'll have read in its entirety.

[Nermine Tadross · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm enjoying this anthology of modern Japanese mystery short stories compiled in the 1970s by Ellery Queen. The collection includes important names in Japanese mystery writing during the 1960s and 70s. There's an excellent introduction by Ellery Queen (Frederic Dannay and Manfred B Lee) in which they give a summarized idea about the genre of detective fiction in Japan and then a short biography of each author.
Most of the stories are excellent and those are the ones that I liked most: "No Proof" by Yoh Sano, deals with an interesting type of murder; murder by fright and discusses how it stands from the legal point of view.
"The Vampire" by Masako Togawa, which might have been the inspiration of Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, but here Togawa deals with blood donors.
"Devil Of A Boy" by Seiichi Morimura has echoes of William March's The Bad Seed but with a distinct Japanese flavor. And "Perfectly Lovely Ladies" by Yasutaka Tsutsui has a strange sense of humor mixed with a disturbing story.
"Too Much About Too Many" by Eitaro Ishizawa,"The Cooperative Defendant" by Seicho Matsumoto and "A Letter From The Dead" by Tohru Miyoshi all have a delicious unexpected endings.
The collection is very diverse and some of the ideas are unique even to big fans of the genre. The Japanese names, places, traditions and daily life make it a perfect introduction to Japanese literature in general and the detective genre in particular.

[Lisa Kucharski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had this book on my TBR pile for a while. And after reading all the currently translated Sieshi Yokomizo books (with another coming out in 2024) I spotted this and decided to finally read it. Yokomizo wrote pretty much within the Golden Age and used many of the methods of Carr and Christie. The stories in this book are all after WW2 time and it shows in the events going on. What I was hoping for were mysteries like Yokomizo's but found a lot more psychological stories about crime- similar to the collection by Patricia Moyes Who Killed Father Christmas and Other Unseasonable Stories.

The two stories that felt most like a detection of a crime were Too Much About Too Many, Facial Restoration, and Invitation from the Sea. I would describe the feeling of all the stories is the creeping terror that could be right next door to you. Let's face it crime is highly destructive to society and many of these stories focus on showing you that it lurks in many places.

There is an introduction to the book and an introduction before each story with some information about the authors. This was really helpful to read in that you understood that Ellery Queen/Frederic Dannay was asked by The Suedit Corporation of Tokyo to undertake this project- which shows how wide an audience Ellery Queen and the Ellery Queen Magazine has.

I would say this is a unique book and since it is in English, a great way for one to read some mysteries by authors in Japan.

[Izzati · Rating 4 out of 5]

First published in 1978 as Japanese Golden Dozen, this is so far the best collection of short stories I have ever read, and I have read quite a few. Most of the short stories were 5 star reads for me, except a few which were a little too romantic or sexual, the typical elements that are not my cup of tea.

While I think Dannay, the one half of the pseudonym Ellery Queen did a swell job on his selection, there were some inaccuracies in his introduction. The biggest error was in referring to Seishi Yokomizo as Masahi and then Masashi Yokomizo. And through out my copy of the book, there were a lot of spelling errors and full stops being written as commas instead, which really took away from the stories for me. The most confusing was the sentence "I don't regret telling you Move you" which was supposed to be "I don't regret telling you I love you".

My 5 star reads are:
⭐The Cooperative Defendant by Seicho Matsumoto
⭐A Letter From the Dead by Tohru Miyoshi
❤️Devil of a Boy by Seiichi Morimura
❤️The Kindly Blackmailer by Kyotaro Nishimura
⭐Invitation From the Sea by Saho Sasazawa
⭐Write In, Rub Out by Takao Tsuchiya
❤️Perfectly Lovely Ladies by Yasutaka Tsutsui

With ❤️ being my top 3 favourites.

[Ad · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book when I was for the first time in Japan in the early 1980s - it was then a new collection, published in 1978, and the 12 writers selected were all going strong at that time. Some are still regarded as classical authors, first and for all Matsumoto Seicho, but also Togawa Masako, Natsuki Shizuko, Nishimura Kyotaro and Morimura Seiichi - and not to forget Tsutsui Yasutaka. But it is a snapshot of the Japanese detective fiction world of 40 years ago - a photo now discolored by age. Why keep reprinting it ad nauseam (yes, some stories are not bad...)? Why not ask a group of translators to make a new anthology? Even if we would now make a collection of stories from the 1970s or 1980s, our choice would be different... And we don't need Ellery Queen...

[Georgia Atkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting introduction to some early Japanese mystery writers and their work. I enjoyed the clever plots and neat glimpses into Japanese culture.

My reading experience was somewhat marred by offensive attitudes and language within many of the translated stories (sexism, homophobia, etc.). This edition's selected stories and translations date back to 1978, and I note that only two of the twelve authors featured are women. In future, I would be inclined to seek out more varied collections of Japanese stories and authors (or simply more modern translations, which might make for a better read).

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far:

Too much about too many / Eitaro Ishizawa --2
The cooperative defendant / Seicho Matsumoto --2
A letter from the dead / Tohru Miyoshi --
Devil of a boy / Seiichi Morimura --
Cry from the cliff / Shizuko Natsuki --3
The kindly blackmailer / Kyotaro Nishimura --
No proof / Yoh Sano --2
Invitation from the sea / Saho Sasazawa --3
Facial restoration / Tadao Sohno --
The vampire / Masako Togawa --
Write in, rub out / Takao Tsuchiya --
Perfectly lovely ladies / Yasutaka Tsutsui--

[Paulo Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are a nice collection of detective short stories. They are likely from the 60's and 70's (maybe 80's) so it is interesting to see the writing style and the social landscape of the time.

This is the first book I read of this type, and I was surprised how many of the short stories were rich and entertaining all the way, but they fell short in the ending.

It seems the Japanese writers are all about the journey, and the end is just a small part of the story. After I took this to the heart, the remaining stories were way more enjoyable.

[Vincent · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't finish this. I just didn't have enough interest in any of the stories to keep going.

I'm a mystery reader and somewhat of a Japanophile. I read Ellery Queen magazine for many years and I've been to Japan several times. I can deal with slice of life manga or anime, but all the stories I sampled in this volume just seemed so dry and bloodless (even those involving murder!) that my interest wasn't sustained.

[Christine]

I'm upset that this cover depicted on GoodReads is so much better than even the one I have. Which is already quite good. Anyway, I loved this book. Not a single story I would skip. The last one was especially hideous. I can't get enough of short stories nowadays. And these little mysteries are so perfectly cut-and-dried. I missed maybe one critical plot point, out of carelessness. The rest were very satisfying and clear.

[Alan M · Rating 4 out of 5]

12 deliciously cunning short stories from Japan, chosen by Ellery Queen and first published in 1978. There will be something here to suit every taste, and is the perfect book to have by your bed and read just one story a night. The characters and situations also makes this an interesting historical survey of Japanese society. Perfect for fans of classic crime fiction.

[Mehedi Sarwar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection contains the 12 best Japanese mystery novel selected from the post world war 2 to end of 70s era. Mystery Writers Association of Japan selected these stories from about 25,000 stories, hence the quality of the whole collection is very rich.

The stories felt fresh, unique and ahead of time.

[Edie Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t decide between giving this 4 or 5 stars. Some of the stories were good, some excellent and some exceptional. But all If them were entertaining. Each entry differed from the next and I never got bored. So five stars it is!

[Mimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

an interesting read and good sampler of midcentury Japanese detective stories