Kijo: Japan's Most Notorious Female Criminals: Volume One

by Tara A. Devlin

Evil can lurk anywhere.

A grandmother whose reign of terror over several decades destroyed the lives of numerous families, including her own.

A nurse who ordered the deaths of her friends’ family members so she could collect their life insurance money… by making them do it for her.

A faith healer worshipped and trusted by many, even when people started dying around her…

Japan’s Most Notorious Female Criminals Vol. 1 features 19 horrifying, brutal, and bizarre cases carried out entirely by women. Grandmothers, nurses, businesswomen, housewives, gang matriarchs… Though they may look it to the outside, these are no ordinary women, and their acts shocked an entire nation. Click that buy now button right now to find out why…

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

179 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 10, 2021

About the author

Tara A. Devlin studied Japanese at the University of Queensland before moving to Japan in 2005. She lived in Matsue, the birthplace of Japanese ghost stories, for 10 years, where her love for Japanese horror really grew. And with Izumo, the birthplace of Japanese mythology, just a stone’s throw away, she was never too far from the mysterious. You can find her collection of horror and fantasy writings at taraadevlin.com and translations of Japanese horror at kowabana.net.

Reviews

[Mina Richards · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF - I was trying to get into it but I just couldn't. I didn't finish and I refuse to finish. Maybe it will provide someone else with the enjoyment of learning about these women but the writing threw me off and I couldn't go any further with it.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite being a true crime aficionado, I don’t come across much about Japan, and my Japanese isn’t good enough to search on my own. I follow the author’s YouTube channel (“Kowabana”) and somehow came across her written works through there. Easy to read, a good variety of cases, generally even-handed treatment, with warnings where needed. Unfortunately there were a lot of typos … I assume because this is a self-published work with no or light editing.

[Kathryn Grace Loves Horror]

DNF...for now...
I think I'm just not in the right place for this right now.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of tales of Japan's female criminals. Some are pretty intense.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating collection of stories about Japanese female murderers, most of whom I had not heard of. Well researched and written by Tara A. Devlin whose books about Japan's crimes, urban legends and paranormal mysteries are always gripping from start to finish. I would highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in true crime as many books on murderers simply rehash the same stories about the same criminals that I have read time and again. I had only heard of one of the criminals in this book which made it an interesting and refreshing read. I'm looking forward to reading Volume 2.