Mystery - Korean and Japanese Crime - Christchurch City Libraries
Korean and Japanese crime fiction revitalise old genre tropes, blending hard-boiled noir and golden age mystery with twisting narratives and specific cultural contexts and histories. Often hinging off a seemingly simple crime, these stories quickly become complex, multilayered mysteries, with nuanced and well-developed characters. Intense and gripping, you'll be hooked right up until the final sentence! A Christchurch City Libraries List
On the day criminal psychologist Seonkyeong begins a series of interviews with a renowned serial killer , she returns home to find her stepdaughter Hayeong on her doorstep, left in her custody after a terrible accident. As her interviews with Yi…
This Korean noir thriller is packed with quirky characters, dark humour, and page-turning action. Reseng grew up knowing that one day he would have to fill his mentor's shoes and become a professional assassin - this isn't Reseng's idea of the…
‘Human Acts’ is a superb example of International Booker Prize winner Han Kang’s haunting and lyrical prose. Set in 1980, a variety of interconnected perspectives recount the tragic death of a student who was killed during violent riots in the…
When the body of a young girl is discovered in Seryong Lake, a blanket of suspicion falls over the nearby village. As the police investigation reaches its shocking, tragic conclusion, a security guard from the nearby dam is convicted and imprisoned.…
In this tightly-plotted, fast-paced procedural mystery, divorced single mother Yasuko Hanaoka leads a quiet life, working at a bento shop. Quiet, that is, until her brutish ex-husband reappears on the scene, and an ensuing act of violence plunges…
Drawing upon locked-room mystery traditions, The Decagon House Murders is a landmark in Japanese honkaku fiction— that is, Japanese mysteries that pay homage to the Golden Age mysteries. A university mystery club set off for a week on a remote…
A classic of Japanese crime literature, The Inugami Curse is an engaging, macabre, whodunnit murder mystery. Set in 1940s Japan, the wealthy head of the Inugami Clan dies, and his death sparks a series of bloody, bizarre murders. Steeped in Japanese…
This classic locked-room murder mystery introduces one of Japan's best-loved detective characters, amateur sleuth Kosuke Kindaichi. A strange and sinister masked man appear in a rural Japanese village, and later, a pair of newlyweds are found…
This contemporary Japanese crime novel weaves together distinct narratives to resonant effect. Centred around the strange murders of 17 people at a party in the 1970s, each chapter presents a different perspective on the crime. Uncertainty,…
In the seventeen years that have passed since Kim Ha-on was murdered, her little sister Da-on has suffered. Though two boys were named suspects, neither was ever convicted of the crime. Still wrought with grief and trauma, Da-on takes it upon…
Near the beginning of this story, you'll find out whodunnit. Mystery solved... right? That's usually the end of the tale, but the real conundrum in this novel lies in the motive. Detective Kaga must figure out exactly why a bestselling novelist was…
“Diary of a Murderer” examines the deepest, darkest parts of human nature.The titular story follows a serial killer with dementia, who must reckon with his fading past whilst also protecting his daughter from her potential fellow-murderer boyfriend.…
A classic of Japanese crime literature, "Inspector Imanishi Investigates" is Japan's answer to Agatha Christie. When an unidentifiable body turns up dead on train tracks, the few clues surrounding it are not enough to lead to a resolution. But…
