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January 16, 2023: The Agatha Christie Prize, 2022
The winner of the 12th Agatha Christie Award for unpublished mystery novels, named after the “Queen of Crime” herself, was published in November 2022 by award sponsor Hayakawa Publishing. The work, Soshite, Yomigaeru Sekai (And Then, the World Reborn), is set in the year 2036, where technological advances have made it possible for the disabled to live through avatars in virtual reality. The severely disabled protagonist is a neurosurgeon who operates successfully on a young girl through an avatar, but after she is threatened by a mysterious shadow, another doctor is murdered. Author Yutaka Nishishiki penned the work while employed in planning and sales for a men’s apparel brand.

July 06, 2022: Bullet Train by Kōtarō Isaka Fails to Win Translation Dagger
Kōtarō Isaka’s Bullet Train (translated by Sam Malissa, original Japanese title: Maria Beetle) was shortlisted for the CWA Translation Dagger in May. The winner, announced on June 29 at the CWA Dagger Awards Gala Dinner in London, was Hotel Cartagena by Simone Buchholz. Congratulations to Ms Buchholz.

July 06, 2022: Japan’s Favorite Detective Novel Translated into English for the First Time
Death on Gokumon Island (original Japanese title: Gokumon-tō) is recognized as one of the finest works of Seishi Yokomizo, who ushered in the age of the detective novel in post-War Japan. This English translation by Louise Heal Kawai was published in Pushkin Vertigo in June 2022.
Inspired by a foreign works including Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None and S. S. Van Dine's The Bishop Murder Case, its inclusion of Japanese sensitivities and unique ideas has earned praise from readers for over three quarters of a century since its initial publication in 1948. Surveys of the detective fiction community in Japan almost always show it in first place.

May 27, 2022: The Edogawa Rampo Prize, 2022
The Edogawa Rampo Prize, the oldest Japanese prize for previously unpublished mystery novels, received 385 submissions for the 68th Prize this year. On May 17, Akane Araki was announced as the winner, for Konoyo no Hate no Satsujin (The End of the World Murders). Ms Araki, only 23 when the book was completed, is the youngest recipient ever to receive the Prize. The work covers the complex search to identify a serial killer by two women—a thirty-something driving school instructor and a twenty-something office clerk—and is set in the Kyushu dystopia as a major asteroid strike is only two months away.

May 27, 2022: Bullet Train by Kōtarō Isaka Shortlisted for Translation Dagger
Bullet Train (original Japanese title : Maria Beetle) by MWJ member Kōtarō Isaka, and translated by Sam Malissa, has been shortlisted for the CWA Translation Dagger (formerly International Dagger) 2022.
The Dagger awards ceremony will be held in London on 29 June, coinciding with National Crime Reading Month <http://www.crimereading.com/>.

P.S. The American movie based on this book is coming soon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IOsk2Vlc4o

April 24, 2020: The announcement of this year’s Mystery Writers of Japan Awards has been postponed until further notice.

October 30, 2019: Newcomer by Keigo Higashino Fails to Win Int'l Dagger
Keigo Higashino's Newcomer (translated by Giles Murray) was shortlisted for the CWA International Dagger Award 2019 in July. The winner, announced on October 24 at the CWA Dagger Awards Gala Dinner in London, was A Long Night in Paris by Dov Alfon. Congratulations to Mr. Alfon.

August 01, 2019: Keigo Higashino Shortlisted for Int'l Dagger
Newcomer by former MWJ president Keigo Higashino (translated by Giles Murray) was shortlisted for the CWA International Dagger 2019.
The winner will be announced on October 24 at the CWA Dagger Awards Gala Dinner in London.

May 15, 2019: Mark X Fails to Win Edgar Award
The winners for the 2019 Edgar Awards were announced by the Mystery Writers of America on April 25. Mark X: Who Killed Huck Finn's Father? by Yasuhiro Takeuchi was nominated in the Best Critical/Biographical category but did not win the award, which went to Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s by Leslie S. Klinger. The MWJ offers its sincere congratulations to Mr. Klinger.

March 22, 2019: Work by a Japanese Literary Scholar Nominated for an Edgar Award
On January 22, the Mystery Writers of America announced the nominations for the Edgar Awards. Mark X: Who Killed Huck Finn's Father? (Taylor & Francis – Routledge), by Hokkaido University Professor Yasuhiro Takeuchi was nominated for Best Critical/Biographical work. This is the first work by a Japanese author to be nominated in the Best Critical/Biographical category. The winning nominations will be announced on April 25.
Professor Takeuchi teaches American literature, and is well-known for his research into Mark Twain, J.D. Salinger, among others. While he writes in Japanese as well, Mark X was written in English, bringing together previously published papers on the subject and adding new observations.
While Professor Takeuchi is not a member of the Mystery Writers of Japan, the nomination of a work by a Japanese author is certainly exciting news for the entire community.
Other Japanese works nominated for Edgars include Out by Natsuo Kirino (trans. Stephen Snyder) and Keigo Higashino's The Devotion of Suspect X (trans. Alexander O. Smith) for Best Novel in 2004 and 2012, respectively, and Kanae Minato's Penance (trans. Philip Gabriel) for Best Paperback Original in 2018.
http://www.theedgars.com/nominees.html
https://www.let.hokudai.ac.jp/book/14563

May 26, 2017: Penance
Penance, written by Kanae Minato and translated by Philip Gabriel, was published by Mulholland Books in April 2017. This is Minato’s third book, but her second in English following Confessions (2014), also from Mulholland.
Minato (b. 1973) made her debut in 2007 with "The Saint," winning a short story award from a Japanese mystery magazine. The following year she rewrote it as the first chapter in Confessions, which became a bestseller and was adapted into a film. Confessions has already been translated into numerous languages including English, French, Italian, German, Chinese, and Korean. The English translation won the American Library Association Alex Award in 2014, and was nominated for both the Strand Magazine Critics Award for Best First Novel and the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel. The Wall Street Journal also listed it as one of the ten Best Mystery Books of 2014.

April 5, 2017: The Name of the Game is a Kidnapping
The Name of the Game is a Kidnapping, written by Keigo Higashino and translated by Jan Mitsuko Cash, was published by Vertical in February 2017.
Keigo Higashino (1958-), ex-president of MWJ, is one of the most popular mystery writers in Japan, as well as in East Asia and the English-speaking world, through titles such as The Devotion of Suspect X.

November 10, 2016: Deep Red released
Deep Red, written by Hisashi Nozawa and translated by Asumi Shibata, was published by Vertical in October 2016. Hisashi Nozawa (1960–2004) is the 1997 Edogawa Rampo Prize recipient for his novel Hasen no marisu, and this is his first work to be translated into English. A review is online at Crime Fiction Lover.
http://www.crimefictionlover.com/2016/11/deep-red/

October 19, 2016: CWA International Dagger Award Winner Announced
On October 11, 2016 the Crime Writers' Association announced the winner of the International Dagger as The Great Swindle, written by Pierre Lemaitre of France and translated by Frank Wynne. Six Four, written by Hideo Yokoyama of Japan and translated by Jonathan Lloyd-Davies, was shortlisted for the award, marking the first nomination of a Japanese work for the CWA Dagger Awards.

October 19, 2016

New Books and Short Stories by MWJ Members

Revised: November 10, 2016

List also includes non-genre works.

January 2016: Gakuto Mikumo, Strike the Blood, Vol. 2: From the Warlord's Empire (trans. Jeremiah Bourque, Yen On)
February 2016: Keigo Higashino, A Midsummer's Equation (trans. Alexander O. Smith, Minotaur Books)
March 2016: Hideo Furukawa, Horses, Horses, in the End the Light Remains Pure: A Tale That Begins with Fukushima (trans. Doug Slaymaker and Akiko Takenaka, Columbia University Press)
Hideo Yokoyama, Six Four (trans. Jonathan Lloyd-Davies, riverrun)
Hideyuki Kikuchi, Vampire Hunter D, Vol. 23: Iriya the Berserker (trans. Kevin Leahy, Dark Horse Books)
Yoshiki Tanaka, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Vol. 1: Dawn (trans. Daniel Huddleston, Haikasoru)
April 2016: Isuna Hasekura, Spice and Wolf, Vol. 17: Epilogue (trans. Jeremiah Bourque, Yen On)
Hideo Furukawa, "The First Asura" (trans. Ryan Shaldjian Morrison, Monkey Business, vol. 6)
Shin'ichi Hoshi, "Shoulder-Top Secretary" (trans. Jay Rubin, Monkey Business, vol. 6)
May 2016: Gaku Yakumaru, A Cop's Eyes (trans. Jan Mitsuko Cash, Vertical)
Tetsuya Honda, The Silent Dead (trans. Giles Murray, Minotaur Books)
Alice Arisugawa, The Moai Island Puzzle (trans. Ho-Ling Wong, Locked Room International)
Yukito Ayatsuji, Another Episode S / 0 (trans. Karen McGillicuddy, Yen On)
Gakuto Mikumo, Strike the Blood, Vol. 3: The Amphisbaena (trans. Jeremiah Bourque, Yen On)
June 2016: Seicho Matsumoto, A Quiet Place (trans. Louise Heal Kawai, Bitter Lemon Press)
Miyuki Miyabe, Puppet Master, parts 4 and 5 of the novel (trans. Ginny Tapley Takemori, Creek and River) (ebook only)
Natsuhiko Kyogoku, The Wicked and the Damned: A Hundred Tales of Karma, Vol. 4, 5, 6 and 7 in the series (trans. Ian M. MacDonald, Creek and River) (ebook only)
July 2016: Yoshiki Tanaka, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Vol. 2: Ambition (trans. Daniel Huddleston, Haikasoru)
August 2016: Tetsuo Takashima, Tsunami (trans. Tom Slattery, Shueisha English Edition) (ebook only)
Miyuki Miyabe, The Gate of Sorrows (trans. Jim Hubbert, Haikasoru)
Shichiri Nakayama, Nocturne of Remembrance (trans. Paul Rubin, Vertical)
September 2016: Gakuto Mikumo, Strike the Blood, Vol. 4: Labyrinth of the Blue Witch (trans. Jeremiah Bourque, Yen On)
October 2016: Hideyuki Kikuchi, Vampire Hunter D, Vol. 24: Throng of Heretics (trans. Kevin Leahy, Dark Horse Books)
Mariko Koike, The Graveyard Apartment (trans. Deborah Boliver Boehm, Thomas Dunne Books)