★ The story begins with a naked woman reporting to the police, gradually unveiling a criminal network built around a “pseudo-family,” involving 13 deaths. The intricately woven plot makes it a masterpiece of crime fiction.
★ The author, Hamanaka Aki, is a leading figure in Japanese social mystery fiction. He is a recipient of prestigious awards including the Osamu Hayashi Prize, the Japan Mystery Writers Association Award, and the Junichi Watanabe Literary Prize! Several of his works have been successfully adapted for film and television. His previous novel, “The Scream” (Zekkyō), achieved a high rating of 8.9 on Douban, sold nearly 500,000 copies, and has been hailed by Chinese readers as a “masterpiece of the last decade in mystery fiction”!
★ This book is the author’s major new release scheduled for October 2025. Based on the shocking real-life “Amagasaki Serial Mysterious Deaths Incident” in Japan, it profoundly exposes the systemic flaws behind the principle of “non-interference in civil matters,” holding significant social relevance.
★ The author depicts the dark side of human nature with a restrained touch, avoiding sensationalism or didacticism. Yet, through his calm narration, readers can perceive a profound sense of compassion, which is the unique charm of social mystery fiction.
★ English translation is available for reference.

“I learned that in the real world, it is sometimes possible to achieve the perfect crime seamlessly.”
On November 3, 2011, a naked woman rushed into a police box, bringing an “incident” to light. The woman, who identified herself as Okudaira Mino, had visited the same police box over six months earlier, concerned that “my sister and her husband are being swindled out of money by a strange woman.” However, her case was dismissed based on the principle of “non-interference in civil matters.”
The protection of Okudaira Mino became the catalyst for revealing a series of “death,” “death,” “death”... The “strange woman” who had imprisoned her, Yabe Ruriko, had created a pseudo-family around herself, within which she led acts of confinement and violence under the guise of “discipline.” For decades, she evaded police detection, ultimately being linked to the mysterious deaths of as many as thirteen people.
People who met the woman they should never have encountered, became entangled in the threads of fate and lost their lives. What did “family” mean to Ruriko? And what was “love”?
Modeled on the “Amagasaki Serial Mysterious Deaths Incident” that exposed the pitfalls of “non-interference in civil matters” to all of Japan, this is a thrilling crime entertainment masterpiece!

Hamanaka Aki
Born in Tokyo in 1976, he is a representative figure among Japan’s new wave of social mystery writers. His works are known for their grand yet precise narrative structures. His writing style is calm and restrained, adept at revealing social realities and human dilemmas through understated narration.

【Awards】
2009 - Received the 1st Kadokawa Gakugei Children’s Literature Award (Excellence Prize) for “Rival” (under the pen name Hamanaka Aki).
2013 - Received the 16th Japan Mystery Literature Prize (New Writer Award) for “Lost Care.”
2015 - “The Scream” (Zekkyō) was nominated for the 36th Yoshikawa Eiji Literary Prize for New Writers and the 68th Japan Mystery Writers Association Award (Long Story and Linked Short Story Collection Category).
2017 - “Cocoon” was nominated for the 38th Yoshikawa Eiji Literary Prize for New Writers.
2019 - Received the 21st Osamu Hayashi Prize and the 72nd Japan Mystery Writers Association Award (Long Story and Linked Short Story Collection Category) for “Frozen Sun.” “Blue” was nominated for the 10th Yamada Futaro Award.
2022 - Received the 7th Junichi Watanabe Literary Prize for “Scorching Heat,” and was nominated for the 43rd Yoshikawa Eiji Literary Prize for New Writers and the 35th Yamamoto Shugoro Prize.
2024 - “Pulse” was nominated for the 37th Yamamoto Shugoro Prize.

【Film and TV Adaptations】
Film: “Lost Care” (Released March 24, 2023; Distributors: Nikkatsu / Tokyo Theatres; Director: Tetsu Maeda; Starring: Ken’ichi Matsuyama; Based on the novel “Lost Care”)
TV Drama: “The Scream” (Zekkyō) (March 24 - April 14, 2019, 4 episodes, aired on WOWOW’s “Continuous Drama W” slot; Starring: Machiko Ono)
TV Drama: “The Tragedy of W Prefecture Police” (July 27 - September 21, 2019, 8 episodes, aired on BS TV Tokyo’s “Saturday Drama 9” slot; Starring: Sei Ashina)