Mai Mochizuki

Half a year after moving to Kyoto, high school girl Aoi Mashiro brings her late grandfather’s old scrolls to Kura, an antique store nestled in Kyoto’s Teramachi-Sanjo shopping arcade, for an appraisal. One thing leads to another, and she winds up working there part-time. The manager’s son, Kiyotaka Yagashira—nicknamed the “Holmes of Kyoto”—is uncannily perceptive, and together, they solve strange cases relating to the antiques brought to them by clients.

Kyoto bustles with the arrival of the New Year and Aoi Mashiro continues to work at the antique store Kura in the Teramachi-Sanjo shopping district, alongside the owner’s grandson, Kiyotaka Yagashira. On Valentine’s Day, the two of them are invited to a storytelling session at the Yoshida-Sanso Inn, hosted by the popular mystery author Kurisu Aigasa. There they find out that someone tried to murder her three months ago, and her sister asks Kiyotaka to find the culprit.

Kiyotaka and Aoi have finally confessed their feelings for each other and are now dating. One day, they learn of a string of thefts in someone is stealing Buddhist works of art from art collectors. Then Komatsu, the detective they met at Yoshida-Sanso Inn, comes to Kura to ask for help finding his missing daughter. The two cases turn out to be intertwined...

It’s been a year since Aoi started working at Kura, and now spring break is full of a hot springs trip with Kiyotaka and Akihito, a book club party, and more! But at the same time, she is struggling to decide whether to tell Kiyotaka how she feels about him. One day, an editor shows up at Kura under the pretense of doing an interview for a magazine. Then, in the middle of the night, the master forger Ensho steals a Shino tea bowl from right under Kiyotaka’s nose. The next morning a written challenge from Ensho arrives—the mysteries continue in Volume 5 of Holmes in Kyoto!

Aoi has graduated from high school and successfully enrolled in her top pick, Kyoto Prefectural University. Kiyotaka has completed grad school too, and their relationship can finally deepen—or so they thought, but the owner orders Kiyotaka to learn more about the world by working outside of Kyoto! His first placement is at Shokado Garden Art Museum in Yawata City. One weekend, Aoi and Kaori secretly pay his workplace a visit to see how he’s faring, but as it turns out, an unexpected incident is awaiting them there!

Aoi is now in her third year of high school, with entrance exams looming on the horizon. She and Kiyotaka are slowly and clumsily growing closer, but one day, Ensho—Kiyotaka’s nemesis—shows up and asks him to appraise a white porcelain incense holder. However, when Kiyotaka claims that it’s real, the counterfeiter denies it and leaves in an attempt to discredit him. Some time later, Aoi is approached by Ensho after school. Kiyotaka arrives just in time to save her, but then he breaks up with her, sending her into the depths of despair. Two months later, Aoi receives a phone call from the manager. “Kiyotaka came back from Hyogo,” he says. What will become of the two now?

It’s November and winter is just around the corner. Aoi Mashiro continues to work at the antique store Kura in Kyoto’s Teramachi-Sanjo shopping district, alongside the owner’s grandson, Kiyotaka Yagashira. Nicknamed “Holmes,” he’s a young Kyoto man with a bit of a wicked streak. One day they’re visited by a famous kabuki actor named Kisuke Ichikata. Minamiza Theatre’s annual grand show is coming up in December and Kisuke has received a threatening letter. The next day, Kiyotaka and Aoi go to watch him on stage, where he suffers a serious injury. Unrequited love, illicit affairs, hidden feelings—the mysteries continue through Christmas and New Year’s in Volume 3 of Holmes of Kyoto!

High school girl Aoi Mashiro has begun her part-time job at the antique store Kura in Kyoto’s Teramachi-Sanjo shopping district. There, she works with the store owner’s grandson, Kiyotaka Yagashira. Kiyotaka is a young Kyoto man with a gentle demeanor—as well as a fearsome intuition and a bit of a wicked streak. One day, a first-time visitor brings a tea bowl for Kiyotaka to appraise. Kiyotaka immediately identifies it as a fake. Then he and Aoi encounter a priest who introduces himself as Ensho. This man turns out to be an extraordinary counterfeiter. The mysteries continue in Volume 2 of Holmes in Kyoto!

Translated from the Japanese bestseller, this charming and magical novel, inspired by the myth of cats returning favors to those who care for them, reminds us that it’s never too late to follow our stars. In Japan cats are a symbol of good luck. As the myth goes, if you are kind to them, they’ll one day return the favor. And if you are kind to the right cat, you might just find yourself invited to a mysterious coffee shop under a glittering Kyoto moon. This particular coffee shop is like no other. It has no fixed location, no fixed hours, and seemingly appears at random to adrift young people at crucial junctions in their lives. It’s also run by talking cats. While customers at the Full Moon Coffee Shop partake in cakes, coffees, and teas, the cats also consult them on their star charts, offer cryptic wisdom, and let them know where their lives have veered off course—because every person who visits the shop has been feeling more than a little lost. And for a down-on-her-luck screenwriter, a romantically stuck movie director, a hopeful hairstylist, and a technologically challenged website designer, the feline guides will set them back on their fated paths. After all, there is a reason the shop appeared to each of them…