My Grandfather, the Master Detective

De: Masateru Konishi, Louise Heal Kawai - translator

There used to be a cafe called Mon Cheri at Nishi Waseda where members of the Waseda Mystery Club spent day after day frothing in excitement over the latest mystery novels, and now he and Kaede solve mysteries together . . .

As a lover of classic crime stories, it’s perhaps no surprise that twenty-seven-year-old schoolteacher Kaede encounters everyday mysteries more often than your average person. Solving them is another matter, though, and the person she always heads to for guidance is her beloved grandfather – who, despite having dementia, retains a keen sharpness of mind. From impossible locked-room murders to confounding missing person cases, the granddaughter and grandfather team ‘weave stories’ in master-and-apprentice fashion to get to the bottom of a variety of cases. All the while, a shadow slowly closes in on Kaede, posing a more insidious threat . . .

Steeped in references to classic crime from Christie to Chesterton to Poe, My Grandfather, the Master Detective playfully nods to forebears of the genre, while also carrying the light-hearted, escapist hallmarks of cosy crime books which have recently captured readers’ imaginations. Meanwhile, its charming characters and affectionate focus on relationships bring to mind heart-warming Japanese titles such as Before the Coffee Gets Cold.

©2025 Masateru Konishi (P)2025 Macmillan Publishers International Limited

Reseñas de la Crítica

The author nails the ending (Nozomi Ohmori, Judge of the 'This Mystery is Amazing!' Prize)

Sure to please the mystery buff in us all, with nods to classic mysteries. A variation of Deaver’s
Lincoln Rhyme.

(Fumiro Kayama, Judge of the 'This Mystery is Amazing!' Prize)

The characters are appealing. Their conversations sparkle! . . . Masateru Konishi will write appealing
stories for years to come . . .

(Asayo Takii, Judge of the 'This Mystery is Amazing!' Prize)