"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.
