In the hyper-competitive ecosystem of Japanese crime fiction—where hundreds of meticulous mysteries and thrillers flood the market annually—Keigo Higashino stands as an immovable titan. Operating within a crowded literary scene that churns out staggering volumes of genre fiction year after year, Higashino’s legacy rests not merely on prolific output but also on an unorthodox craft that defies easy categorisation.

Higashino, who gave up his profession as an electrical engineer when he began flourishing as a writer, created as many as 106 books in the less than seven decades that he lived. Japan recognised him while he was still in his late twenties for his very first novel, in 1985.

It was not until three decades later that the world got........

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