Masateru Konishi

The heartwarming, award-winning Japanese sensation, My Grandfather, the Master Detective is an affectionate, cosy whodunit – and a story of living your days to the fullest. Perfect for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold.There used to be a café called Mon Cheri at Nishi Waseda, where members of the Waseda Mystery Club spent day after day frothing in excitement over the latest mystery novels. Now, one former member is enlisted by his granddaughter to solve real-life mysteries . . .As a lover of classic crime stories, it’s perhaps no surprise that twenty-seven-year-old schoolteacher Kaede encounters everyday mysteries more often than your average person. Solving them is another matter, though, and the person she always heads to for guidance is her beloved grandfather – who, despite having dementia, retains a keen sharpness of mind.From impossible locked-room murders to confounding missing person cases, the granddaughter and grandfather team ‘weave stories’ in master-and-apprentice fashion. Together, they get to the bottom of case after case. But, all the while, a shadow slowly closes in on Kaede, posing a more insidious threat . . .Filled with charming characters and steeped in references to classic crime – from Christie to Chesterton to Poe – My Grandfather, the Master Detective is a touching, charming mystery by Masateru Konishi. For fans of The Thursday Murder Club. Translated from the Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai, winner of the Lindsley and Masao Miyoshi Traslation Prize 2025.

There used to be a café called Mon Cheri at Nishi Waseda where members of the Waseda Mystery Club spent day after day frothing in excitement over the latest mystery novels and now he and Kaede solve mysteries together . . .As a lover of classic crime stories, it’s perhaps no surprise that 27-year-old schoolteacher Kaede encounters everyday mysteries more often than your average person. Solving them is another matter though, and the person she always heads to for guidance is her beloved grandfather who, despite having dementia retains a keen sharpness of mind. From impossible locked room murders to confounding missing person cases, the granddaughter and grandfather team ‘weave stories’ in master-and-apprentice fashion to get to the bottom of a variety of cases. All the while, a shadow slowly closes in on Kaede, posing a more insidious threat . . .Steeped in references to classic crime from Christie to Chesterton to Poe, My Grandfather, the Master Detective playfully nods to forebears of the genre, while also carrying the light-hearted, escapist hallmarks of cosy crime books which have recently captured readers’ imaginations. Meanwhile, its charming characters and affectionate focus on relationships bring to mind heart-warming Japanese titles such as Before the Coffee Gets Cold.

He’s not your average Grandpa. As a lover of classic crime stories, it’s no surprise that schoolteacher Kaede encounters everyday mysteries more often than your typical twenty-seven-year-old. Solving them is another matter though. For that, she turns to her beloved grandfather, who retains a keen sharpness of mind despite his dementia, and who was once a key member of The Waseda Mystery Club. From impossible locked room murders to confounding missing person cases, the grandfather-granddaughter duo ‘weave stories’ to get to the bottom of every mystery. But all the while, an insidious shadow from Kaede’s past slowly closes in on her . . .