As for several others, Higashino was to be my gateway drug to Japanese crime fiction and then onwards to Japanese literature in general. This was not the Japan of cherry blossoms and neon skylines but of subway stations, bentobox shops, and cramped side streets. Guilt even has his favourite murder spot—riverbanks—which, in Higashino’s world, seem to exist solely for murderers to go about their job in peace and solitude. Like the character, Higashino was also employed as an engineer in a plant making components for a car company. Also Read | Magic formulaAlso Read | Nanako Hanada: The bookshop woman who refused to close the chapter