Features 12 highly entertaining stories by Japan's leading authors of crime and detective fiction The authors include Kawabata Award winner Yasutaka Tsutsui, Akutagawa Prize winner Seicho Matsumoto, Edogawa Rampo Prize winner Seiichi Morimura and Mystery Writers of Japan Award winner Kyotaro Nishimura This collection was selected and edited by the legendary American crime writers who published over 36 novels and dozens of anthologies under the name Ellery Queen This anthology features a new foreword by Japanese detective fiction expert Satoru Saito

"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.

"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 The 12 stories in this book will lead you through dramatic twists and unexpected turns--a newspaper receives a letter from a man claiming to have been murdered; 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 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 stories 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 Ranpo 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 sure to delight lovers of great detective and crime fiction, as well as true crime podcasts and documentaries. The book features a new foreword by Japanese detective fiction expert Satoru Saito which helps place the stories in the context of Japanese society and modern Japanese literature.

Raised in Japan by American expatriates, Karen Leith now lives a reclusive life in New York, known chiefly for her highly regarded novels, of which the latest has won a major American literary award. When she is found on the floor behind her desk, surrounded by blood, it looks like foul play. But the only possible suspect is Leith’s future daughter-in-law, Eva, who has recently become engaged. Eva swears by her innocence, even though she was the last to hear Leith alive and the first to find her dead. Eva was waiting outside Leith’s office to share the happy news and maintains that no one entered through that door, while the room's other possible exit was locked. The only one who can help her clear her name is mystery writer Ellery Queen, an acquaintance of the victim through New York’s literary circles. Queen intends to unravel the locked-room mystery, but with no murder weapon and too many incriminating fingerprints, this case just might be one even he can’t solve.

Presents six detective stories from Japanese mystery writer, Seicho Matsumoto.he puzzle in these tales lies not so much in "who dunnit" but rather in howt was done.

In the wee hours of a 1960s Tokyo morning, a dead body is found under the rails of a train, and the victim's face is so badly damaged that police have a hard time figuring out the victim’s identity. Only two clues surface: an old man, overheard talking in a distinctive accent to a young man, and the word “kameda.” Inspector Imanishi leaves his beloved bonsai and his haiku and goes off to investigate—and runs up against a blank wall. Months pass in fruitless questioning, in following up leads, until the case is closed, unsolved. But Imanishi is dissatisfied, and a series of coincidences lead him back to the case. Why did a young woman scatter pieces of white paper out of the window of a train? Why did a bar girl leave for home right after Imanishi spoke to her? Why did an actor, on the verge of telling Imanishi something important, drop dead of a heart attack? What can a group of nouveau young artists possibly have to do with the murder of a quiet and “saintly” provincial old ex-policemen? Inspector Imanishi investigates.