Born in 1958, Keigo Higashino studied electrical engineering and worked as a salaryman until he won the Edogawa Rampo Mystery Award in 1985. Originally a detective novelist, he has branched out to other genres, including science fiction. He's the author of the Detective Galileo series of mysteries which include the Edgar Award finalist The Devotion of Suspect X.
Priase for Higashino: Higashino is a deft conjurer of human relationships, and while this is first and foremost a tale of grief-- thankfully, no one calls Naoko a story of redemption--he infuses it with spasms of sharp humor. --East Bay Express The novel flips suddenly...in wonderfully pleasing fashion, from pathetic tragedy to social satire and domestic comedy with themes of love, work, sex and education. How could we have ever imagined, without the help of a novel like this, that Japanese life could be so fraught with suffering and so entertaining all at once? --Alan Cheuse for the Dallas Morning News A popular Japanese author of crime novels, Higashino doesn't disappoint with this plot-driven, sleek novel of low-down crime in the world of high business. --World Literature Today