Esteemed mystery writer Keigo Higashino died of colon cancer on July 22. He was 68. His publisher, Kodansha, announced the news on Monday, adding, “We believe the works he produced will continue to captivate many readers. Please continue to enjoy Mr. Higashino’s novels.” His funeral was held privately with family members. A public memorial will also be held. Details will be announced once arrangements have been finalized.
Born in Osaka on February 4, 1958, Higashino started writing while in high school. After graduating from Osaka Prefecture University with a Bachelor of Engineering degree, he began working as an engineer at Nippon Denso Co, while continuing to write in the evenings and on weekends. In 1983, he submitted unpublished mystery novels for consideration for the annual Edogawa Rampo Prize. He won the award in 1985 for Hokago (After School).
Following that success, Higashino decided to give up his job as an engineer and pursue a career as a full-time writer. His best-known novel, The Devotion of Suspect X, was released in August 2005. A crime thriller about a genius math teacher who helps his neighbor cover up the accidental murder of her abusive ex-husband, the novel won the prestigious 134th Naoki Prize and the 6th Honkaku Mystery Award.
The novel was part of Higashino’s broader “Detective Galileo” book series, which was produced for a hugely popular live-action drama series on Fuji TV broadcast on Fuji TV in 2007 and 2013. It starred Masaharu Fukuyama as the enigmatic physicist Manabu Yukawa. In 2008, the movie Suspect X served as a direct, big-screen continuation of the first series, featuring the same main cast members. Other popular novels from the “Detective Galileo” series include Salvation of a Saint (2012), A Midsummer’s Equation (2016) and, most recently, Invisible Helix (2024). Eternal Memory, the latest novel in the series, is scheduled for release in Japan on August 5, 2026.
