In Memoriam: Keigo Higashino - To the Mystery Writer Who Captivated My Youth
July 27, 2026.
A deeply sorrowful piece of news has arrived.
Author Keigo Higashino passed away in the early hours of July 23rd due to colon cancer. He was 68.
He debuted in 1985 after winning the Edogawa Rampo Prize for 'After School'.
Nearly 40 years have passed since then.
'Naoko'.
'Journey Under the Midnight Sun'.
'The Devotion of Suspect X'.
The 'Galileo' series.
The 'Kaga Kyoichiro' series.
'Miracles of the Namiya General Store'.
He became a monumental author whose name is likely known even to those who rarely read Japanese novels today.
Go to the cinema, and
Original work by Keigo Higashino.
Turn on the television, and
Original work by Keigo Higashino.
Go to a bookstore, and
New release by Keigo Higashino.
For such a long time, that was simply the norm.
And so, seeing the word 'deceased' next to this name still does not feel like reality.
Just that.
When writing this memorial article, the first thing that came to my mind was not "Journey Under the Midnight Sun" or "The Devotion of Suspect X".
Longer ago than that.
Before Keigo Higashino became the "national bestselling author" he is today.
Back when he was constantly unleashing strange tricks on the mystery shelves of bookstores.
For me, Keigo Higashino was the mystery writer I was obsessed with in my youth.
So today, while mourning the great bestselling author Keigo Higashino, I would also like to look back as a reader who, back then,
back in those days,
"How is he going to trick me this time?"
looked forward to picking up each new book.
■ What I loved was the "trickster" Keigo Higashino
Of course, his later works are also good.
In fact, it was likely after "Naoko," "Journey Under the Midnight Sun," and "The Devotion of Suspect X" that his reputation as an author was cemented in the public eye.
But what I particularly loved were,
his early, tricky, orthodox mysteries.
"The Clown of the Cross Mansion."
"In a Closed Snow-Covered Mountain Villa."
"The Murder at the Masked Mountain Villa."
And "Which One of Them Killed Her?"
Every time I opened one of his books,
Mansions!
Locked rooms!
Closed circles!
Narrative tricks!
Whodunits!
So that's how you did it this time!!
...There was a time that felt like a theme park of orthodox mysteries.
And what's more, it wasn't just tracing the classic tropes.
He would always do something strange.
This was the fun part of early Keigo Higashino.
■ 'The Pierrot of the Cross Mansion' — A clown doll watches the crime
First, one I can never forget is
'The Pierrot of the Cross Mansion'.
A mansion.
A family.
A murder case.
Up to this point, it's the royal road of orthodox mystery.
However, there is an entity that sees everything in the case.
It is a clown doll.
It cannot speak.
It cannot move.
Naturally, it cannot testify to the police either.
However, only the reader is told what that clown saw.
What kind of perspective is that?
Even though there is an ultimate witness at the murder scene,
it is a doll, so it is useless.
You have already won the moment you come up with a setting like this.
Moreover, it does not end as a mere quirky idea; it even incorporates that 'perspective' into the mystery's mechanics.
Kodansha itself introduces it in the current new edition as a 'precise and fair puzzle-solving mystery.'
Truly,
a way of deceiving that is only possible in a novel.
This is the Keigo Higashino that I, the author, loved.
■ 'Murder in the Closed Snow Mountain Villa' — A snow-covered villa... or is it?
And then,
'Murder in the Closed Snow Mountain Villa'.
If you love orthodox mysteries, you will understand the moment you see this title.
Yes, yes.
It is a snowy mountain, right?
It is isolated from the outside world, right?
The phones probably do not work either.
And then, they'll be killed off one by one, won't they?
One closed-circle mystery coming right up!!
However.
The characters are seven people gathered for a stage actor audition.
The very setting they are about to perform is,
a series of murders occurring in a mountain villa cut off by heavy snow.
Wait a minute.
In other words,
is this a play?
Are people really disappearing?
To begin with, it's not even a snowy mountain.
To readers expecting a classic 'snowbound villa' mystery,
the author challenges them to question that very premise.
It's unfair.
Truly unfair.
But that's what makes it fun.
The more a reader knows the 'conventions of orthodox mystery,' the more they walk right into the author's trap.
In my youth, I was taken in by works like this time and time again.
And every time I was deceived,
I felt a thrill.
It makes you want to read the next one.
I am completely under his spell.
■ "The Murder at the Masked Villa" -- If I had to recommend one early Higashino book, this is also a strong contender.
"The Murder at the Masked Villa" cannot be left out either.
A mountain villa where eight men and women have gathered.
A bank robber on the run breaks in.
Cut off from the outside world, it becomes a de facto locked-room situation.
And then, a murder occurs.
However, looking at the situation,
it is impossible for the robber to be the culprit.
Well then, it must be one of the people here.
It's the worst.
Thus begins the mutual suspicion among the characters.
It is a classic closed-circle mystery.
But of course, it doesn't end normally.
In the current Kodansha new edition introduction,
"How did he come up with an ending like this!?"
is written, and that is truly the case.
For those who don't know the early Keigo Higashino,
"Just try reading one book for now."
If you are looking for a book to give someone, I think this is a very strong candidate.
■ "Which One of Them Killed Her?" — The culprit? Please figure it out yourself
And for me, this is a particularly memorable book.
"Which One of Them Killed Her?"
A woman has been murdered.
There are two suspects.
The victim's brother, a police officer, pursues the truth, and Kyoichiro Kaga gets involved.
The ultimate binary choice.
Which one is the culprit?
The reader also gathers evidence while turning the pages.
And then, the end.
Come on, Kaga-san!
Please act like a great detective!
The culprit is—
He won't tell you.
............Huh?
You're not going to say it!?
This work leaves the final identification of the culprit up to the reader.
In the current Kodansha new edition, in Higashino's own words:
"I wanted to pick a fight with the mystery world."
That is how it is introduced.
I suppose so!!
While a typical mystery novel would have the detective provide the solution at the end,
"I've provided the necessary materials, so solve it yourself,"
he tosses it at you.
However, it is not unreasonable.
It is crafted so that you can properly deduce the answer.
That is why, even after finishing the book, the reader cannot close it.
Go back.
Check.
Think.
The mystery continues even after the novel ends.
It was such an intense experience that I still remember it even now.
■ Back then, just reading a new Keigo Higashino release was a joy in itself
Looking back, I really read so many things.
His debut work, 'After School'.
The origin of Kyoichiro Kaga, 'Graduation'.
'Forest of Sleep'.
'The House Where I Died Long Ago'.
'Malice'.
And then,
The Detective's Rulebook.
After writing so many orthodox mysteries, this man
starts poking fun at the orthodox mystery genre itself.
Locked rooms.
Isolated islands.
Strange mansions.
Dying messages.
The great detective.
A Ranpo Prize-winning author making a mockery of the very tropes that writers have worked so hard to build.
Is he really allowed to do that?
I wondered, while reading it with a laugh.
Looking back now, Keigo Higashino back then was simply playing with the mystery genre.
Looking back now, Keigo Higashino back then was simply playing with the mystery genre.
How to deceive.
How to surprise.
How to exploit the assumptions that readers naturally make.
He set up a different game with every work.
And I, too, was obsessed with those games.
Finding a new Keigo Higashino book at the bookstore.
I buy them.
I read them.
I get deceived.
I feel frustrated.
I buy them again.
……I am a good customer.
But that was what made it fun.
That is why, even now, just looking at the titles of his early works brings back not only the content of those books, but also
the time in my own life when I was reading them.
Books are mysterious things.
■ Eventually, the "Trickster" became a "Storyteller"
And so, Keigo Higashino began to change.
Of course, he did not abandon orthodox mystery.
It is just that human drama began to enter his work with overwhelming power.
One of the major turning points for this was
"Naoko" (Himitsu).
The premise itself is very much a mystery.
However, what remains with the reader at the end is
not
"The trick was amazing."
What is family?
What does it mean to love?
And the meaning of the title.
The very structure of the mystery served as a device to make human emotions explode.
In 1999, this work won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award.
It is surely an essential work in the process of Keigo Higashino evolving from a 'clever mystery writer' into an even greater storyteller.
■ 'Journey Under the Midnight Sun' — No longer contained by mere 'puzzle-solving'
And then,
'Journey Under the Midnight Sun'.
By the time you reach this point,
'Who is the culprit?'
It is no longer a story of that scale.
Starting from a single incident, the lives of two people continue over many long years.
Without explaining their inner thoughts too directly, he constructs a massive narrative through fragments seen by the people around them.
Dark.
Heavy.
Painful.
And yet,
you cannot stop.
The term 'binge-reading' is often used for Keigo Higashino's works.
There is no work that suits him better than this.
But, when you think about it.
The technique of handling a vast number of characters and time, while thoroughly controlling what to show the reader and what to hide,
might be the very same technique of
that authentic mystery writer
who deceived us so thoroughly in his early works.
■ And then, 'The Devotion of Suspect X' — where 'trick' and 'human' become one
And one of the pinnacles reached is,
'The Devotion of Suspect X'.
The Galileo series.
Genius physicist Manabu Yukawa.
Ishigami, a mathematician with a brain that rivals Yukawa's.
The composition of the incident itself is visible at an early stage.
The question is,
what exactly did Ishigami do?
It lies here.
And the moment you reach the truth.
The reader,
'I see!'
is impressed, and at the same time,
I wish I hadn't known.
That is what it makes me think.
The logic of a formal mystery.
The trick.
The misdirection aimed at the reader.
And, human emotion.
Keigo Higashino the early 'trickster' and Keigo Higashino the later 'storyteller'.
Perhaps this work was where those two sides perfectly overlapped.
This work won the 134th Naoki Prize in 2006.
Keigo Higashino went on to become an indisputably popular national author.
■ Manabu Yukawa, Kyoichiro Kaga—Great detectives who leaped off the pages of novels
Keigo Higashino also left behind monumental characters.
First,
Manabu Yukawa.
The 'Galileo' series, in which a scientist deconstructs mysterious phenomena through logic.
With its adaptation starring Masaharu Fukuyama, it spread rapidly even to those who do not read novels.
And,
Kyoichiro Kaga.
Having walked a long path since 'Graduation,' in 'The Newcomer,' he picks up on people's small lies and secrets set against the backdrop of Nihonbashi.
Including the screen version played by Hiroshi Abe, he too has become a figure who symbolizes Higashino's works.
For me, Kaga is someone I have been with since long before "The Newcomer," from
Kaga in "Graduation," "Forest of Sleep," and "Which One of Them Killed Her?"
onward.
When many people came to know Kyoichiro Kaga through television later on,
I had a strange feeling, as if a character I had known for a long time had suddenly become a celebrity.
■It was no longer just mystery. But at its core, it was always mystery.
In "Letters," he depicts the burden carried by the families of criminal offenders.
In "The Hovering Blade," he poses an unanswerable question between juvenile crime and revenge, law and emotion.
In "Miracles of the Namiya General Store," he connects multiple lives through letters that transcend time.
In the Masquerade series, he moves to the glamorous stage of a hotel.
The world of his works continued to expand rapidly.
He can no longer be simply categorized as a "hardboiled mystery writer."
However.
Looking back at Keigo Higashino's works, I think there has always been the same thing at their core.
What information to give the reader, and when.
What to show.
What not to show.
What to make them believe.
And,
at what moment revealing the truth will move the reader's heart the most.
What he was doing in 'The House of the Clown', and
what he was doing in 'Journey Under the Midnight Sun'.
The scale and themes of the works are completely different.
But the design philosophy at their core might be surprisingly the same.
That is why Keigo Higashino, whether writing social commentary, human drama, or fantasy,
keeps you reading.
He makes you turn the next page, no matter what.
That was likely his greatest weapon, one that never changed for decades.
■ 100 Million Copies—The Author Who Became a 'Gateway to Reading'
In 2023, the cumulative domestic circulation of Keigo Higashino's works surpassed 100 million copies.
He also received the Medal with Purple Ribbon that same year.
100 million copies.
It is a number that is almost impossible to imagine.
And what I think was even greater than this number is
the fact that he created a massive number of people who say, 'I don't usually read novels, but I read Keigo Higashino.'
He was no longer just an author for mystery fans.
He was no longer just an author for literature lovers either.
When you go to a bookstore,
and ask for 'one interesting novel'
...
He became a name that people would pick up thinking just that.
Keigo Higashino became one of the massive gateways to reading novels in Japan.
However, for me, before he became that massive presence,
the Keigo Higashino who kept coming up with strange gimmicks on the mystery shelf
is also unforgettable.
In fact, that is where it all began.
■ August 5th, "Eternal Memory"
And there is a coincidence that is far too sad.
August 5, 2026.
The latest full-length novel, the 11th in the Galileo series,
"Eternal Memory"
will be published.
It is the first full-length novel in the Galileo series in four years.
The promotional copy put out by the publisher is,
"Galileo, The Final Mystery"
.
"Eternal Memory".
And "The Final Mystery".
Now that I know of his passing, each of those words carries a completely different resonance than when they were first announced.
Moreover, Bungeishunju had announced a countdown event for the release just five days before the news of his death, on July 22nd.
Until just a few days ago,
"I'll be able to read a new Keigo Higashino soon"
was the kind of time it was.
That is why it is all the more unbelievable.
I truly thought that new books would continue to be released as a matter of course from here on out.
■ What it means for an author you were obsessed with in your youth to be gone
There are works I loved.
If that were all, perhaps it wouldn't have been this lonely.
Back when I was reading Keigo Higashino's works,
I myself was young too.
Going to the bookstore.
Buying a book.
Wanting to start reading it on the way home.
Reading until night.
Getting tricked.
"So that's how it was!"
I would feel frustrated.
And then, I would look for the next work.
Therefore, what has been lost this time is,
"Not being able to read new works by a favorite author anymore"
It is likely not just that.
The author who captivated my youth is gone.
That brings a sense of...
a loneliness, as if being told that a part of my own youth has truly become a thing of the past
that lingers.
Even so, the books remain on the shelf.
If you open the pages,
the clown in 'The Clown of the Cross Mansion' is still watching the incident.
In 'Murder at Shijinso', the strange stage rehearsals begin once again.
If you open 'Which One of Them Killed Her?',
once again, at the end,
you are pushed away with the words, 'Now, think for yourself.'
The works do not change.
There, even now,
is Keigo Higashino, who thought up tricks to surprise his readers.
■ I had been away for a while. But I think I will return once more.
To be honest,
I have been away from Keigo Higashino's works for a while now.
It is not that I have come to dislike them.
It is just that life happened.
Actually, it is the opposite.
Perhaps it is precisely because I read so much of his work during my youth that
at some point,
I started thinking, 'I can read Keigo Higashino anytime.'
I might have started thinking that way.
A new book comes out.
Then another one follows.
So, there is no need to read it right away.
I will read it eventually.
I kept thinking that way for a long time.
But.
'Eventually' never came.
This recent news of his passing has made me realize that.
So, I think I will read Keigo Higashino again for the first time in a while.
What should I start with?
Maybe 'The Pierrot of the Cross Mansion'.
Or 'Murder in the Closed Mountain Villa'.
Even 'Which One of Them Killed Her?' might look different if I read it now.
Of course, there are also many recent works I have yet to read.
And in August,
An "eternal memory" awaits.
A world I was obsessed with and wandered through during my youth.
I haven't visited in a while, though.
Taking this opportunity, for the first time in a long while,
I think I will return to the world of Keigo Higashino.
I am sure that when I open the book,
even after decades have passed, it will remain unchanged,
and the author will be calling out to me from the other side.
"Well then, can you solve this mystery?"
That is what I feel.
Keigo Higashino-san.
You tricked me so many times.
You surprised me so many times.
You made me turn so many pages.
And above all,
thank you for making my youth so captivating.
I pray for your soul from the bottom of my heart.
[Imaginary Cinema]
If you want to watch it, you've already lost.
And this time--
When you want to read, let's come back.
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