Yukito Ayatsuji (born 1960) is a Japanese writer of mystery and horror novels. He is one of the founders of the Honkaku Mystery Writers Club of Japan, dedicated to the writing of fair play mysteries inspired by the Golden Age greats. In 1992 he won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award for his novel The Clock Mansion Murders. The Decagon House Murders was Ayatsuji's debut novel and is the first of his works to be translated into English.
One of the “20 of the Best Classic Murder Mystery Books of All Time,” Town & Country “His celebration of traditional whodunits plays with the mystery genre in a wonderfully self-referential way . . . With each new murder, the remaining members of the group must use their knowledge of the genre to find the killer and try to stay alive.” —Esquire, “The 50 Best Mysteries of All Time” “A terrific mystery, a classic of misdirection very much in the manner of Agatha Christie or John Dickson Carr.” —Washington Post “Behold, the perfect escapist drug! If I could crush this book into a powder and snort it, I would.” —Vulture “Ayatsuji’s brilliant and richly atmospheric puzzle will appeal to fans of golden age whodunits . . . Every word counts, leading up to a jaw-dropping but logical reveal.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “A stunner of a plot, with an ending which I simply could not believe when it was first revealed . . . Rivals Soji Shimada’s The Tokyo Zodiac Murders for sheer audacity and ingenuity.” —At the Scene of the Crime “A knowing tribute to classic crime, it features all manner of puzzles, including locked rooms, jigsaws and magic tricks.” —Mark Sanderson, The Times “A a thrilling homage to Christie’s And Then There Were None, following a group of amateur sleuths on a trip to a lonely island, the site of several unsolved murders. In the opening chapter, one character remarks: “Enough gritty realism please! What mystery novels need are a great detective, a mansion, a shady cast of residents, bloody murders, impossible crimes and never-before-seen-tricks played by the murder.” It’s impossible not to agree.” —The Guardian