Rintaro Norizuki

Ellery Queen dynamic duo: Manfred B. Lee and Frederic Dannay

Ellery Queen is Alive and Well and Living in Japan

By Ho-Ling Wong

May 28, 2011

Crime novel critic Kiyoshi Kasai focuses in his books on “orthodox” detective novels, which refer to the Golden Age detective novels in the Christie-Queen-Carr tradition. He identifies three distinct “waves” in the development of the orthodox detective novels in Japan , the first (1920-1940s) being the one represented by Edogawa Rampo, while the second is…

Bookshelf of Japanese detective fiction

Exploring Japanese Detective Stories: A Primer

By Ho-Ling Wong

April 25, 2011

Why should you care about the Japanese detective story? Well, Japan has a long and rich tradition in the genre, and even today, the detective novel holds a vital place in Japanese fiction.  From light-hearted travel-mysteries to Golden Age–styled novels, from the ‘social detective’ with his cultural commentary to the grotesque mystery, the Japanese detective…