I’m not sure a lot of people necessarily know this about me, but I am a huge fan of mystery stories. Ever since I was a small child watching Scooby-Doo, really. I loved Sherlock Holmes and The Famous Five; I used to enjoy watching Columbo and other mystery dramas on daytime TV. I like the Professor Layton series and games like Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. And of course, I love anime like The Dinner Table Detective and Hyouka. They don’t have to be a crime drama; any kind of mystery is fine. But having said all that, I don’t talk about this a lot because there are not a lot of these stories, especially those that capture my heart and remain on my mind for a long time afterwards.
Maybe it’s because I spend most of my time embroiled in Japanese media, where it feels like English translations of these kinds of stories are in short supply (starting to read things in Japanese has opened a lot of doors there, to be fair!). And that’s one of the reasons when news broke on Monday of Keigo Higashino’s passing, I was devestated.
Despite his prolific output, the first time I came across his work was with The Miracles of the Namiya General Store when Yen Press released it back in 2019. I reviewed it for Anime UK News and was completely engrossed, falling in love with the gentle supernatural story that was filled with emotion but never particularly dark or depressing. This actually isn’t all that similar to his other work, which is more often crime dramas that can be quite dark or psychological. But the one thing it did have in common is how it shows the various sides of being human, both good and bad. Still, I loved that book so much that I immediately went out and bought as many of his works in English translation as I could. And I have continued to do so ever since. Currently I own everything in English except for Invisible Helix, which a friend has an extra copy of for me.
Although I own all but one, I haven’t actually read them all. Some were part of a larger series, and I didn’t feel in the mood to dive in back when I bought them, so they’re in the backlog waiting for the right time. But the titles I have read are the following:
- The Miracles of the Namiya General Store
- Malice
- Naoko
- The Name of the Game is a Kidnapping (I actually own this twice, since I have a newer release I need to read and review at some point)
- The Devotion of Suspect X
- The Keeper of the Camphor Tree
- Guilt (I only just started this one today)
And the thing is, I loved all these books, and after two or three, he quickly became my absolute favourite mystery author. Genuinely I would be surprised if there was a Higashino novel out there that I didn’t enjoy. That’s how good his writing was, and knowing there will be an eventual end to reading his work fills me with such sadness. Yes, the English market only has a fraction of his books, and he wrote so many that even if I started reading them in Japanese, I would have a lot to get through, but there’s still an end. And I hate saying goodbye to things more than anything. And more than that, I always got excited when I saw a new work of his in the release schedule. Knowing I could rely on it to captivate me in its own way. His work is truly special in that way, and eventually I won’t get to feel that excitement any more.
I actually hadn’t read a Higashino book for a while until I recently picked up The Keeper of the Camphor Tree after a doctor’s appointment. I had been looking for Guilt, but Camphor Tree was slightly newer, so they had that and not the former. And maybe it was a case of right time, right book, since I was feeling under the weather, but I could not put that novel down until I was finished. And then I reviewed it just to get my thoughts out. It was the kind of book that reminded me why I love Higashino’s novels but also why I enjoy reading so much in general.
Everyone always goes on about The Devotion of Suspect X being his best work, but while I did enjoy that one, it’s Naoko and The Miracles of the Namiya General Store I think about the most. Naoko is just such an interesting concept, and I think it really thrives on that very human way that Higashino always approached his character writing. I like The Name of the Game is a Kidnapping for being an almost comedic thrill ride at times, which, again, sets it apart from his other work and keeps you on your toes all the way through to the end.
I hope that English publishers will continue to bring us his books so that his legacy lives on and inspires other writers and readers. I plan to slowly make my way through my backlog of his books, savouring each one, and then continue buying more as they find their way to me, be it in English translation or perhaps in Japanese down the road. Apparently, his work is easy to read, and that’s one of the things he was often praised for by his Japanese readers. The literature world just lost a legend, and I don’t think any of us will be able to fully come to terms with this anytime soon. But as a person who has loved mystery stories for such a long time, I will always be incredibly grateful that I came across his work all those years ago. I will never forget the joy I felt reading The Miracles of the Namiya General Store for the first time or turning the pages of Naoko, desperate to reach the end and yet afraid to see how it would end. I am a bookworm, but I wouldn’t be if not for such spectacular writers like Higashino putting out their work. This post is written with that fact in mind, as a thank you for the stories left behind.