Remembering Keigo Higashino: The writer who made Japanese crime fiction a global obsession

Bestselling crime novelist Keigo Higashino (1958-2026). Bestselling crime novelist Keigo Higashino, who is credited with putting Japanese detective fiction on the global map, died on July 23 of colorectal cancer, his publisher confirmed Monday. He was 68. The family held a private funeral, and will soon be making an announcement about a public memorial. He is best known for The Devotion of Suspect X, Malice, and the Detective Galileo series. He was dubbed as “the Japanese Stieg Larsson” of the West after The Devotion of Suspect X (translated in 2011) became an international bestseller. Over four decades he has written 106 books, which have been translated into more than 40 languages and adapted for film and television in Japan, China, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. He, however, has be