{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20260418T162306Z","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/4805315520?tag=bookfrontier-20","asin":"4805315520","authors":["Ellery Queen","Satoru Saito","Satoru Saitō","Yasutaka Tsutsui","Seichō Matsumoto","Masako Togawa","Seiichi Morimura","Kyōtarō Nishimura"],"book_id":"9784805315521","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/ellery-queen-s-japanese-mystery-stories-4805315520","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9784805315521.jpg?v=20260418T162306Z%3A2026-04-19T10%3A16%3A55Z","description":"\"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: - \"Perfectly Lovely Ladies\" by Kawabata Award winner Yasutaka Tsutsui: Eight women fight the high cost of living using violent means but will they get away with murder? - \"The Cooperative Defendant\" by Akutagawa Prize winner Seicho Matsumoto: After a man confesses to a killing, he retracts his confession and accuses the detectives of coercion. But who is right? - \"Devil of a Boy\" by Edogawa Rampo Prize winner Seiichi Morimura: A schoolboy may still be very young but he is as sinister as the most hardened of criminals…or is someone else involved? - \"The Kindly Blackmailer\" by Mystery Writers of Japan Award winner Kyotaro Nishimura: A man involved in a fatal hit-and-run is blackmailed by a mysterious witness. Who is this enigmatic stranger? 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.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9784805315521","publication_date":"20200804","publisher":"Tuttle Publishing","slug":"ellery-queen-s-japanese-mystery-stories","subtitle":"From Japan's Greatest Detective & Crime Writers","title":"Ellery Queen's Japanese Mystery Stories"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"FIC022050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Mystery Anthologies","score":0.7789,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LCO004030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Japanese Literary Collections","score":0.7517,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT004230","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Mystery & Crime Crit","score":0.7463,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"FIC022050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Mystery Anthologies","score":0.7789,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LCO004030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Japanese Literary Collections","score":0.7517,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT004230","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Mystery & Crime Crit","score":0.7463,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"FIC022050","confidence_band":"high","label":"Mystery Anthologies","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"FIC022080","confidence_band":"high","label":"International Crime Fiction","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"FIC022090","confidence_band":"high","label":"Private Eye Fiction","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Mystery Anthologies","score":0.7789,"slug":"mystery-anthologies"},{"label":"Japanese Literary Collections","score":0.7517,"slug":"japanese-literary-collections"},{"label":"Mystery & Crime Crit","score":0.7463,"slug":"mystery-crime-crit"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers who enjoy Mystery Anthologies","Good for readers interested in short stories","Good for fans of Mystery"],"related_lists":[{"intro":"","slug":"shelf-fic022050-mystery-detective-collections-anthologies","title":"Mystery & Detective Collections & Anthologies Books","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/lists/shelf-fic022050-mystery-detective-collections-anthologies"}],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Otto Penzler","Ace Atkins","Lawrence Block","& 0 more"],"book_id":"9781936661190","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781936661190.jpg?v=20260418T162306Z%3A2026-04-19T10%3A16%3A55Z","score":17.7501,"title":"In Pursuit of Spenser","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781936661190"},{"authors":["Otto Penzler - 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