Japanese crime mystery novels become popular in the UK, especially books by Kotaro Isaka

Kotaro Isaka’s The Mantis was nominated for an award this year in the UK, a sign of rising interest there in Japanese crime mystery novels

Reading Time:2 minutes

Kotaro Isaka’s Ax (The Mantis in English) was nominated for a coveted award by the Crime Writers’ Association this year, a sign of the growing popularity in the UK of Japanese crime mystery novels.

Published: 11:11am, 5 Aug 2024

Japanese crime mystery novels, once under-represented in English-speaking countries, are gaining popularity in Britain.

Leading the charge is mystery writer Kotaro Isaka, whose works have been shortlisted twice in three years for Britain’s Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) awards.

In May 2024, his novel Ax (The Mantis in English) was nominated for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award, which honours outstanding mysteries, including espionage and adventure fiction. Established in 2002 to honour James Bond author Ian Fleming, the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger is one of 13 Dagger awards presented.

Four of the six finalists in this category this year were US authors, with Missouri-born Jordan Harper winning for his Hollywood-set novel Everybody Knows.

British publisher Pushkin Press, known for producing Japanese works by mystery writer Seishi Yokomizo and others, won the CWA Daggers award in the publisher category this year, further boosting the presence of Japanese mystery novels.

Although no Japanese author has ever won a CWA Dagger award, Isaka is edging closer to the accolade after he was also nominated for his novel Maria Beetle (Bullet Train), which was shortlisted for Crime Fiction in Translation in 2022. Bullet Train was adapted into a film starring Brad Pitt.