An ideal book to curl up with on a winter's night.' - NB Magazine ' The Honjin Mysteries is beautifully writing and highly descriptive, rich in period detail and local custom. This is, in short, a superb winter read.' - Books and Bao 'The beauty of this book is that it's never anything less than fun from beginning to end, but it is also smartly political, and the theatrical elements - the fourth wall-breaking, the static setting, the large cast of eclectic characters - make for a truly engrossing novel. 'The perfect gift for any fan of classic crime fiction or locked room mysteries.' - Mrs Peabody Investigates

It's an absolute pleasure to see his work translated at last in these beautifully produced English editions.' - The Sunday Times The covers alone are enough to get any fan of the genre salivating.' - Japan Times Both set in the late 1930s/early 1940s, they promise to be atmospheric, exciting and knotty whodunits. '2020 may be the year of Seishi Yokomizo. Short and compelling, it will appeal to fans of Agatha Christie looking for a new case to break.' - Irish Times Readers will delight in the blind turns, red herrings and dubious alibis.' - Economist If the whole series is as ingenious and compelling, this translation should be the first of many. 'A beloved Japanese detective at last appears in English. 'With a reputation in Japan to rival Agatha Christie's, the master of ingenious plotting is finally on the case for anglophone readers.' - Guardian Ms Ice Sandwich is her second Mieko Kawakami translation. Her translations include the bestselling memoir Yakuza Moon by Shoko Tendo, the ground-breaking feminist Taeko Tomioka novel Building Waves, and A Quiet Place by the mystery writer Seicho Matsumoto. Originally from Manchester, UK, Louise Heal Kawai has lived in Japan for about 25 years and been a translator of Japanese literature for the past 10.

It won the first Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1948 but has never been translated into English, until now. The Honjin Murders is the first Kosuke Kindaichi story, and regarded as one of Japan's great mystery novels.

He went on to become an extremely prolific and popular author, best known for his Kosuke Kindaichi series, which ran to 77 books, many of which were adapted for stage and television in Japan. He was born in Kobe and spent his childhood reading detective stories, before beginning to write stories of his own, the first of which was published in 1921. Seishi Yokomizo (1902-81) was one of Japan's most famous and best-loved mystery writers.

The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo