Japan Thriller

"For much of her life, sixteen-year-old Makai Akira had been alone and alienated by those around her. Shunned by her peers, bullied at school, and overburdened with chores at home, her life was truly miserable. That all changed for her when she met Asano Tomoe, a new face in their small town. The two quickly became friends, though their newfound friendship would soon be put to the test. Following a tragic incident at their school, Akira found herself accused of murder. Armed with the truth of what happened, she’s now faced with a decision; return to her old, lonely life, or forge ahead, ...

Chosen by Publishers Weekly as a Best Book of 2007, The Snow Empress showcases author Laura Joh Rowland's deep understanding of 17th-century Japan and her impeccable gift of storytelling. This thrilling novel finds samurai detective Sano Ichirõ working to gain freedom for his son by investigating the murder of a lord's beloved mistress.

Lady Shonagon is an imperial courtesan, living at the court of the Japanese Emperor in the 10th century. When a series of disturbing thefts within the palace walls throws the court into confusion and unrest, Shonagon is appointed guide and assistant to Lieutenant Yukinari as he investigates. Together, Shonagon and Yukinari must solve the mysteries and escalating crimes that plague the Japanese court, and their romance blossoms in the tightly enclosed world behind the high palace walls. But soon Shonagon's lover, Tadanobu, becomes uncomfortable with how closely they are working together....

Jun Nakayama was a silent-film star in the early days of Hollywood. By 1964, he is living in complete obscurity, until a young writer, Nick Bellinger, tracks him down for an interview. When Bellinger reveals that he has written a screenplay with Nakayama in mind, Jun is intrigued by the possibility of returning to movies. But he begins to worry that someone might delve too deeply into the past and uncover the events that abruptly ended his career in 1922. Like the changing social and racial tides in California - and the unsolved murder of his favorite director.

Flo is sick of Tokyo. She is stuck in a rut, her translation work has dried up, and she's in a relationship that's run its course. That's until she stumbles upon a mysterious book left by a drunken passenger on the Tokyo Subway.

A murdered princess. A buried secret. A spy with one chance to stop a war. 1975. The Empire of Japan never fell—and neither did its ghosts. When a royal assassination shatters the illusion of order, disgraced intelligence officer Major Suzuki Wataru is pulled back into the field. His mission: uncover the truth—or take the fall. In the decaying shadows of Manchukuo, Suzuki’s only ally is Lieutenant Park Ji-won, a sharp Korean operative with secrets as deep as the Empire’s own. Together, they follow a trail of betrayal that could fracture the global balance of power between Imperial ...

A summer on a remote US air base in Okinawa is the last place teenager Kyle Taylor wants to be. Trapped in the oppressive heat and the even more oppressive silence of his father’s empty guest quarters, he’s a prisoner of paradise. But when he falls in with a group of military brats who know the island’s secrets, Kyle discovers a new, more dangerous kind of prison. Deep in the off-limits jungle lies a sealed Japanese command bunker, a tomb untouched since the final days of World War II. Lured by the thrill of exploring a place no one has entered for eighty years, the teens break the ...

Nicholai Hel, born in the ravages of World War I China to an aristocratic Russian mother and a mysterious German father, raised in the spiritual gardens of a Japanese Go Master, survives the destruction of Hiroshima to emerge as the world's most artful lover and its most accomplished and highly paid assassin. Genius, mystic, master of language and culture, Hel's secret is his determination to attain a rare kind of personal excellence, a state of effortless perfection: shibumi.

Half American, half Japanese, expert in both worlds but at home in neither, John Rain is the best killer money can buy. You tell him who. You tell him where. He doesn’t care about why... Until he gets involved with Midori Kawamura, a beautiful jazz pianist - and the daughter of his latest kill.

In 1945, America has dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan has no choice but to surrender. But instead, the unthinkable occurs. With their nation burned and shattered, Japanese fanatics set in motion a horrifying endgame - their aim: to take America down with them.

In Osaka in 1973, the body of a murdered man is found in an abandoned building. Investigating the crime, Detective Sasagaki is unable to find the killer. Over the next 20 years, through the lens of a succession of characters, Higashino tells the story of two teens, Ryo and Yukiho, whose lives are most affected by the crime, and the obsessed detective, Sasagaki, who continues to investigate the murder, looking for the elusive truth.

Japan, 1709. Amid the ever-treacherous intrigue in the court, Sano Ichiro has been demoted from chamberlain to a lowly patrol guard. His relationship with his wife Reiko is in tatters, and a bizarre new alliance between his two enemies Yanagisawa and Lord Ienobu has left him puzzled and wary. Then a harrowing, almost inconceivable crime takes place. In his own palace, the shogun is stabbed with a fan made of painted silk with sharp-pointed iron ribs.

In modern-day Tokyo, Robin Swann's life has sputtered to a stop. She's stuck in a dead-end job testing antiquities for an auction house, but her true love is poetry, not pottery. Her stalled dissertation sits on her laptop, unopened in months, and she has no one to confide in but her goldfish. On the other side of town, Nori Okuda sells rice bowls and tea cups to Tokyo restaurants, as her family has done for generations. But with her grandmother in the hospital, the family business is foundering. Nori knows if her luck doesn't change soon, she'll lose what little she has left.

Japanese-American Rei Shimura is a 27-year-old English teacher living in one of Tokyo's seediest neighborhoods. She doesn't make much money, but she wouldn't go back home to California even if she had a free ticket (which, thanks to her parents, she does). Her independence is threatened, when a getaway to an ancient castle town is marred by murder. Rei is the first to find the beautiful wife of a high-powered businessman, dead in the snow. Taking charge, as usual, Rei looks for clues by crashing a funeral, posing as a bar-girl, and somehow ends up pursued by police and paparazzi alike.

Acclaimed bestselling novelist Kunihiko Hidaka is found brutally murdered in his home on the night before he's planning to leave Japan and relocate to Vancouver. His body is found in his office, a locked room, within his locked house, by his wife and his best friend, both of whom have rock solid...

As Black Arrow opens, Sugawara Akitada assumes his new post as provisional governor of Echigo, a frigid province in the far north notorious for its hostility to outsiders. But the snow that threatens to completely isolate the region is the least of his problems - which include a local uprising, a series of brutal murders, and a mystery that's as old as the frozen hills and a lot more dangerous.

The Once and Future King returns in this modern day young adult action and adventure novel. If you are familiar with the legends and have seen the excellent movie "Excalibur," then this is the sequel to those events. Sixteen year-old Brian Braddock is having visions of a time long lost, a time and place that he feels somehow strangely connected to. As he strives to figure out what is happening to him he meets a man who reveals himself to be the legendary sorcerer Merlin, he who was the mentor and advisor to one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known. Merlin informs Brian that he ...

In the year 1311, in the highest tower of Cloud of Sparrows Castle, a beautiful woman watches as enemies gather below. As she calmly awaits her fate, she begins to write the secret history of the Okumichi clan...of the gift of prophecy they share and the extraordinary destiny that awaits them.

Japan, 1869. A time of reform and rebellion. Detectives Kazuki and Kawaji are assigned to investigate a series of seemingly impossible murders. Together with the help of a mysterious shrine maiden, can they solve each gruesome death and piece together the dark connection between them?

"Conflicted amidst the web of lies she'd spun for herself, Asano Kaori felt hopeless and constrained, even within her own life. Trapped in a loveless relationship with a murderer, an uncertain future, and burdened with guilt that she could not hope to escape, it was as if fate itself had turned a blind eye to her. That all changed when one of Kaori's lies led to her girlfriend, Makai Akira, introducing two new positive figures into their circle of friends; an athletic upperclassman, Izaki Shinji, and his jokester friend, Nguyen Hien. Though not all is well below the surface, as feelings of ...