Keigo Higashino, a leading Japanese mystery novelist, has passed away from colon cancer at the age of 68.
Publishing company Kodansha announced on its official website that Higashino died in the early hours of July 23. His funeral was held as a private family ceremony, per the wishes of his family.
Born in Osaka, Japan, in 1958, Higashino graduated from Osaka Prefectural University with a degree in electrical engineering and worked as an engineer at an automotive parts company. He began writing novels while working and made his official debut in 1985 with 'After School,' which won the 31st Edogawa Rampo Prize.
Initially focusing on traditional detective fiction, Higashino later expanded his themes to explore human guilt, family relationships, social prejudice, and ethical issues in science and technology, establishing himself as a prominent popular novelist in Japan.
In 1999, he received the 52nd Mystery Writers of Japan Award for 'Secret,' a story about a family living with hidden secrets. This work was also nominated for the Naoki Prize, significantly raising his profile in the literary world.
In 2006, Higashino won the 134th Naoki Prize and the 6th Honkaku Mystery Award for 'The Devotion of Suspect X,' featuring the genius physicist Manabu Yukawa. The novel dominated Japan's mystery rankings and was nominated for the Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America in 2012.
'The Devotion of Suspect X' and the 'Galileo Series' gained immense popularity for their unique cases and intricate logical structures, with the series selling over 16 million copies since Yukawa's first appearance in 1996. Subsequent titles included 'Detective Galileo,' 'Precognitive Dreams,' 'The Saint's Rescue,' 'The Equation of Mid-Summer,' and 'The Parade of Silence.'
The 'Kyoichiro Kaga Series,' featuring detective Kaga Kyoichiro, is also among his notable works. Starting with 'Graduation,' it includes titles like 'The Sleeping Forest,' 'Evil,' 'Red Finger,' 'The Newcomer,' and 'The Wings of the Giraffe.' 'The Wings of the Giraffe' won the 48th Yoshikawa Eiji Literary Prize in 2014.
Higashino consistently published works that crossed genre boundaries, including the 'Masquerade Series,' 'White Night,' 'Letter,' 'The Bond of Stars,' and 'The Miracles of the Namiya General Store.'
'The Miracles of the Namiya General Store' won the 2012 Chuo Koron Literary Prize, while 'Dreams' received the 2013 Shibata Renzaburo Prize. He was awarded the Noma Publishing Culture Prize in 2019 and the Kikuchi Kan Prize in 2023, the same year he received the Order of the Rising Sun from the Japanese government for his contributions to academia and the arts.
Higashino's works set unprecedented sales records in the Japanese publishing market. By 2023, he had published 100 books, surpassing 100 million copies sold domestically, and by 2025, his total sales, including international editions, exceeded 160 million copies. Kodansha's official guide lists a total of 106 works.
Many of his works have been adapted into films and dramas. In Japan, the 'Galileo' series, featuring Masaharu Fukuyama as Yukawa, was a box office success, and adaptations of 'White Night,' 'Secret,' 'The Bond of Stars,' 'The Newcomer,' 'The Miracles of the Namiya General Store,' and 'Masquerade Hotel' have also been produced.
In South Korea, numerous works, including 'The Devotion of Suspect X,' 'White Night,' 'The Miracles of the Namiya General Store,' and 'Letter,' have been translated and published, gaining a wide readership. 'The Devotion of Suspect X' was reinterpreted as the film 'Suspect X,' while 'White Night' was adapted into 'White Night: Walking in the White Darkness.'
Higashino served as the chairman of the Mystery Writers of Japan from 2009 to 2013 and was a judge for the Naoki Prize from 2014 to 2019, evaluating the works of emerging authors.
His final new book is the 11th installment in the Galileo series, 'Eternal Memory,' set to be published on August 5 by Bungei Shunju. This will be Higashino's 106th work and marks the 30th anniversary of Yukawa's debut.
'Eternal Memory' begins with a case involving detective Kaoru Utsumi being attacked by an elderly man. The publisher has introduced the work as the latest full-length novel in the Galileo series and plans to release it as scheduled.
* This article has been translated by AI.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.