The wise and charming international bestseller and hit Japanese movie—about a young woman who loses everything but finds herself—a tale of new beginnings, romantic and family relationships, and the comfort that can be found in books. Twenty-five-year-old Takako has enjoyed a relatively easy existence—until the day her boyfriend Hideaki, the man she expected to wed, casually announces he’s been cheating on her and is marrying the other woman. Suddenly, Takako’s life is in freefall. She loses her job, her friends, and her acquaintances, and spirals into a deep depression. In the depths of her despair, she receives a call from her distant uncle Satoru. An unusual man who has always pursued something of an unconventional life, especially after his wife Momoko left him out of the blue five years earlier, Satoru runs a second-hand bookshop in Jimbocho, Tokyo’s famous book district. Takako once looked down upon Satoru’s life. Now, she reluctantly accepts his offer of the tiny room above the bookshop rent-free in exchange for helping out at the store. The move is temporary, until she can get back on her feet. But in the months that follow, Takako surprises herself when she develops a passion for Japanese literature, becomes a regular at a local coffee shop where she makes new friends, and eventually meets a young editor from a nearby publishing house who’s going through his own messy breakup. But just as she begins to find joy again, Hideaki reappears, forcing Takako to rely once again on her uncle, whose own life has begun to unravel. Together, these seeming opposites work to understand each other and themselves as they continue to share the wisdom they’ve gained in the bookshop.

In the wee hours of a 1960s Tokyo morning, a dead body is found under the rails of a train, and the victim’s face is so badly damaged that police have a hard time figuring out the victim’s identity. Only two clues surface: an old man, overheard talking in a distinctive accent to a young man, and the word “kameda.” Inspector Imanishi leaves his beloved bonsai and his haiku and goes off to investigate—and runs up against a blank wall. Months pass in fruitless questioning, in following up leads, until the case is closed, unsolved. But Imanishi is dissatisfied, and a series of coincidences lead him back to the case. Why did a young woman scatter pieces of white paper out of the window of a train? Why did a bar girl leave for home right after Imanishi spoke to her? Why did an actor, on the verge of telling Imanishi something important, drop dead of a heart attack? What can a group of nouveau young artists possibly have to do with the murder of a quiet and “saintly” provincial old ex-policemen? Inspector Imanishi investigates.

In the wee hours of a 1960s Tokyo morning, a dead body is found under the rails of a train, and the victim’s face is so badly damaged that police have a hard time figuring out the victim’s identity. Only two clues surface: an old man, overheard talking in a distinctive accent to a young man, and the word “kameda.” Inspector Imanishi leaves his beloved bonsai and his haiku and goes off to investigate—and runs up against a blank wall. Months pass in fruitless questioning, in following up leads, until the case is closed, unsolved. But Imanishi is dissatisfied, and a series of coincidences lead him back to the case. Why did a young woman scatter pieces of white paper out of the window of a train? Why did a bar girl leave for home right after Imanishi spoke to her? Why did an actor, on the verge of telling Imanishi something important, drop dead of a heart attack? What can a group of nouveau young artists possibly have to do with the murder of a quiet and “saintly” provincial old ex-policemen? Inspector Imanishi investigates.

For fans of The Midnight Library and Before the Coffee Gets Cold, this charming Japanese novel shows how the perfect book recommendation can change a reader's life.What are you looking for? This is the famous question routinely asked by Tokyo’s most enigmatic librarian, Sayuri Komachi. Like most librarians, Komachi has read every book lining her shelves—but she also has the unique ability to read the souls of her library guests. For anyone who walks through her door, Komachi can sense exactly what they’re looking for in life and provide just the book recommendation they never knew they needed to help them find it. Each visitor comes to her library from a different juncture in their careers and dreams, from the restless sales attendant who feels stuck at her job to the struggling working mother who longs to be a magazine editor. The conversation that they have with Sayuri Komachi—and the surprise book she lends each of them—will have life-altering consequences. With heartwarming charm and wisdom, What You Are Looking For Is in the Library is a paean to the magic of libraries, friendship and community, perfect for anyone who has ever found themselves at an impasse in their life and in need of a little inspiration.

In una cala rocciosa della baia di Hakata, i corpi di un uomo e di una donna vengono rinvenuti all’alba. Entrambi sono giovani e belli. Il colorito acceso delle guance rivela che hanno assunto del cianuro. Un suicidio d’amore, non ci sono dubbi. La polizia di Fukuoka sembra quasi delusa: niente indagini, niente colpevole. Ma, almeno agli occhi di Torigai Jutaro, vecchio investigatore dall’aria indolente e dagli abiti logori, e del suo giovane collega di Tokyo, Mihara Kiichi, qualcosa non torna: se i due sono arrivati con il medesimo rapido da Tokyo, perché mai lui, Sayama Ken’ichi, funzionario di un ministero al centro di un grosso scandalo per corruzione, è rimasto cinque giorni chiuso in albergo in attesa di una telefonata? E perché poi se n’è andato precipitosamente lasciando una valigia? Ma soprattutto: dov’era intanto lei, l’amante, la seducente Otoki, che di professione intratteneva i clienti in un ristorante? Bizzarro comportamento per due che hanno deciso di farla finita. Per fortuna sia Torigai che Mihara diffidano delle idee preconcette, e sono dotati di una perseveranza e di un intuito fuori del comune. Perché chi ha ordito quella gelida, impeccabile macchinazione è una mente diabolica, capace di capovolgere la realtà. Non solo: è un genio nella gestione del tempo. Con questo noir dal fascino ossessivo, tutto incentrato su orari e nomi di treni – un congegno perfetto che ruota intorno a una manciata di minuti –, Matsumoto ha firmato un’indagine impossibile, ma anche un libro allusivo, che sa con sottigliezza far parlare il Giappone.

「特大考察マップ」付き！ 主人公はあの栗原さん！！ 『変な家』『変な絵』に続く、雨穴「変な」シリーズの集大成！ 2015年、大学生の栗原は、意外な事実を知る。 彼の祖母が、正体不明の古地図を握りしめて、不審死を遂げたという。 その古地図には、７体の妖怪が描かれていた。 これはいったい何なのか。なぜ、祖母は死に際にこんなものを持っていたのか。 謎を探るため、栗原は旅に出る。 そこに待ち受けていたのは、海沿いの廃集落、不可解な人身事故、潰れかけの民宿、因縁に満ちたトンネル、そして古地図に秘められた悲しい事実だった――。 祖母はなぜ死んだのか？ 妖怪の正体は？ ホラー、ミステリー、サスペンス、冒険、青春、恋愛…… 2024年書籍売り上げ1位！雨穴が送る異形の王道小説。 あなたには、この「古地図」の謎が解けますか？

Manabu Yukawa, the physicist known as "Detective Galileo," has traveled to Hari Cove, a once-popular summer resort town that has fallen on hard times. He is there to speak at a conference on a planned underwater mining operation, which has sharply divided the town. One faction is against the proposed operation, concerned about the environmental impact on the area, known for its pristine waters. The other faction, seeing no future in the town as it is, believes its only hope lies in the development project. The night after the tense panel discussion, one of the resort's guests is found dead on the seashore at the base of the local cliffs. The local police at first believe it was a simple accident-that he wandered over the edge while walking on unfamiliar territory in the middle of the night. But when they discover that the victim was a former policeman and that the cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning, they begin to suspect he was murdered, and his body tossed off the cliff to misdirect the police. As the police try to uncover where Tsukahara was killed and why, Yukawa finds himself enmeshed in yet another confounding case of murder. In a series of twists as complex and surprising as any in Higashino's brilliant, critically acclaimed work, Galileo uncovers the hidden relationship behind the tragic events that led to this murder.