He uses desire to ensnare others, he uses blood as temptation, he uses his appearance as a disguise. Like a wolf, he hunts for prey in the shadows. He is among the FBI’s most wanted list of serial killers. He lives by his own law, the Lex Talionis. He does things his own way, independent and reckless. He gave himself his own name: Sha Qing... more>>

————

The first time the two officially met:

“The purpose of the prison is not to destroy people’s lives; it’s meant to replace the broken chains of law and morality, to bind the beast in their hearts again, until it is completely subdued,” said Leo.

“Everyone has beasts in their hearts, agent, and so do you.” Sha Qing extended an index finger and pointed at Leo’s heart.

“Yes, but unlike you, I will use those iron chains to lock it tightly in a cage.”

“It’s not as easy as you think, Leo. Things are always changing, and often beyond your control …”

With his blood-stained lips, he suddenly kissed the stunned FBI agent.

The salty bloody taste spread in their mouths and the fiery contact was enough to burn the tips of their tongues.

Leo’s eyes suddenly felt heavy, but his face did not show any irritation from being calculated upon.

“Have you foreseen this in your plans ?” He raised his wrist with effort, then slowly closed his eyes.

Sha Qing looked down and saw that a pair of steel handcuffs had fastened his left wrist with the other’s right arm.

He lowered his head and kissed the sleeping man’s wet, dusty hair, and said in a soft voice:

“Goodbye, brave young lion.”

He then dislocated his own hand to remove the shackles that bound them together.

Sha Qing stood up and walked away, until his figure disappeared into the darkness… <<less

Physically confronting your abusive superior might be cool and satisfying when it happens in a drama, but, as Kazuo Sugishita is learning, it's less cool when you're sitting at home afterwards, terrified to learn how you'll be punished when you return to work the next day. The sentence he faces sounds surprisingly lenient - just a temporary reassignment to the company's entertainment department while things blow over. But he changes his mind when he gets the specifics: Kazuo has been assigned as manager-in-training (read "servant") to Shiro Hoshizono, the "Star Watcher": A pompous, showoff-y, completely insufferable talent with no actual talents except using his sickeningly sweet words and foreign model looks to seduce lonely middle... more>> aged women into paying for the privilege of hearing him speak.

The day after his new assignment, Kazuo and Hoshizono leave for Saitama Prefecture, where Hoshizono has been recruited to become an image character for a campground in the mountains, alongside a group of other colorful characters, including a romance novelist with the looks of Cleopatra but the personality of someone's grandpa and a UFO obsessed conspiracy theorist.

But the morning after their arrival, their host is found strangled to death in his lodge, the road back is buried in an avalanche, and... you can probably see where this is going.

Turns out, despite how he comes across normally, Hoshizono is actually a genius detective!

The novel features a unique chapter naming scheme where each chapter is titled as a three to four sentence summary of its own contents, focused upon what information about the case is discovered and what evidence appears, for ease of reference.

A nominee for the 50th annual Mystery Writers Association of Japan Award, long story category. <<less

The once wealthy and powerful Ryuuzen clan has been all but destroyed. Their misfortune began in 1960, when a majority of the family was wiped out when their vacation villa was buried under a landslide. However, search and rescue teams discovered something even more shocking: A majority of the bodies they discovered showed obvious signs of having been mu*dered before the landslide.... more>>

As though it were a trigger, what came to be known as "The Curse of the Ryuuzen Clan" spread throughout the descendants of the family's only survivor. By mu*der, by su*cide, by accident... it seemed none who held the name "Ryuuzen" could live to see the age of 35, and now, the family has been reduced to a single woman, lying in a hospital bed, days away from death.

Kamo Touma was once just another of the endless parade of sleazy tabloid journalists looking to exploit a prominent family's tragedy to sell magazines, but Ryuuzen Rena's kindness melted his frozen heart, driving him to quit his old job and become an investigative journalist specializing in overturning cases of false arrest. Eventually, he and Rena were married, but now, the curse threatens to steal away their happiness.

Kamo prays for a miracle, and his prayers are answered by the Hourglass of Miracles, an artifact spoken of in rumors and urban legends, said to grant one wish to anyone who obtains it.

"Meister Hora", a guide for those who obtain the hourglass, tells Kamo there is only one way to break the curse and save Rena: He must travel back in time to the year 1960 and catch the culprit of the original Ryuuzen Family massacre.

Who was the culprit of the mu*ders that took place almost 60 years ago? Why did they steal away the lives of the Ryuuzen clan? What is the true nature of the "Curse of the Ryuuzen Clan?" And perhaps most mysteriously of all... What is Meister Hora's goal in all this?

Winner of the 29th annual Ayukawa Tetsuya Award. <<less

There exist in this world a set of six daggers that carry a terrible curse: the ability to inflict a death beyond time. Those under the daggers' curse shall reincarnate without end, never able to know happiness and always drawn to die once more by the dagger. This is the story of "Raine" and "Marie", two souls bound by the daggers' curse to kill one another, over and over again.... more>>

France, 1243. Lapis Lazuli Castle is the name of an insignificant relay fort nestled away in a forest east of Carcassonne. Its ruler, Count Geoffroy, and his only daughter, Marie, are both believed to be insane. The root cause of their shared madness is the mysterious disappearance of Geoffroy's wife three years ago, which caused Geoffroy to grow detached from humanity and cast Marie into a deep depression. After three years of wandering in a state halfway to nonexistence, Marie works up the nerve to ask her chief bodyguard, Sir Raine, to investigate her mother's death, confiding that on the night of her mother's disappearance, she had witnessed something impossible. However, her investigation only prompts a new tragedy.

The French-German border, 1916. As World War I rages on, Raine and Marie's latest reincarnations live the life of a sub-lieutenant in the French army and a medic with the Red Cross, respectively. The two lovers are reunited at the site of the Battle of Verdun, but no sooner have they met then Raine finds himself faced with a barrage of impossible circumstances. An enemy soldier's head suddenly vanishes, right before his eyes. One of his subordinates reports the same thing happening to an ally. Four more headless bodies vanish from a flooded bunker in the minute he looks away. These baffling events are a prelude to the return of their old tragedy.

Northern Hokkaido, 1989. Kimiyo, age eighteen, is already dying, an inoperable tumor in her hypothalamus leaving her with less than a year to live. Refusing to despair in the face of her tragic circumstances, she spends her remaining days with her friends at "The Library at the End of the World", a private library so called due to its isolated nature. One day, a man named Kito approaches her out of the blue, regaling her with a story about a set of cursed daggers, knights in the 13th century, and the two of them being cursed, fated lovers. Naturally, Kimiyo is intensely skeptical, but the events that come next don't require her to believe in them.

Arriving at the scene of these three tragedies is Snowy, an enigmatic figure of indeterminate gender who claims to be "a detective charged with managing the world's chaos". <<less

A newlywed couple are mu*dered in their bridal chamber on their wedding night leads to open fighting between Ouyang and Sima Manors. Amazing Constable Shen Ying personally takes on the case.... more>>

A gold hairpin holds the key to finally exposing the truth of this mu*der case…

The Bloody Bridal Chamber is Book #4 of Hong Kong author Ximen Ding’s Amazing Hawk Constables wuxia mystery series. <<less

In this world, There are Confucians, Daoists, Buddhists, Demons, and Arcanists.... more>>

Xu Qi'an, a police academy graduate, suddenly finds himself waking up in a prison, set to be exiled to the frontier three days later...

His initial goal was to protect himself in this world with no human rights and to be able to live a leisurely life as a rich man.

...

Many years later, Xu Qi’an looks back on the past, with long-dead enemies and friends, as well as the numerous bones he has left behind.

As the Yangtze River flows eastward, the waves wash away the heroes; right and wrong, success or failure will all turn into nothing but history.

However, just like the sun’s rays gleaming over the towering mountains, after each sunset, a new sun will rise. <<less

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the gaming industry has seen an explosion in popularity. One of the most popular games ever released is Mystery Maker, a VR RPG where players can create baffling puzzles in a virtual space and challenge other players to solve them.... more>>

As a promotional stunt for the game's upcoming sequel, eight real life great detectives have been hand chosen by Kurata Chikage, executive director of MegalodonSoft, to challenge each other to a match in a demo of Mystery Maker 2. Among them are Kamo Touma, a magazine contributor well known for his investigative work overturning false convictions, and his wife's cousin Ryuuzen Yuki, a recently debuted mystery novelist.

However, on the day of the demo event, the detectives are all drugged. When they awaken, they find their smartwatches are locked to their wrists and they are shown videos of their families and loved ones being held hostage. They are contacted by a Gamemaster, who tells them that if they wish to save themselves and their families, they must play a death game called "Delicious Death for Detectives".

As scheduled, the eight of them will play Mystery Maker 2's demo, and the Detectives will challenge the mu*der puzzles created by the mu*derer. If the Detectives are not able to reveal the mu*derer and their tricks before the time limit, all players will be killed. However, if the mu*derer is exposed, both they and their hostages will be killed. And if a Detective makes an accusation but gets even the tiniest detail wrong, they will be mu*dered by the Gamemaster's secret accomplice, the Executioner.

Now the only way for the eight detectives to survive is to expose the mu*derer and Executioner lurking among them, even if they must risk their lives and those of their compatriots to do so.

Which is an especially big problem for Kamo, because he's the one who's been chosen as the mu*derer! <<less

As an extraordinarily handsome young character, rookie police officer Akechi, along with middle-aged Kobayashi and other amusing companions, faces challenging cases. Will Akechi be able... more>> to solve these cases successfully? <<less

The hearse with the weird odor slowed to a stop before the entrance. The sound of pebbles could be heard bouncing on the ceiling. There were footsteps coming from the corridor, and there seemed to be someone sawing next door. The door knob to the room rattled slightly, and the faucet in the bathroom kept dripping even though it had been screwed shut. There was a rubber ball that rolled on its own underneath the bed. Wet footsteps started to surface one after another on the floor.... more>>

At 3 am, Chen Ge held a cleaver in his hand as he hid beside the room heater. The call he was trying to make was finally answered. “Landlord, is this what you meant by ‘the house can be a little crowded at night’‽” <<less

The investigation of a severed limbs case was stalled. Lu Junchi, captain of the Major Crimes Unit, went to the Chinese police academy to ask for advice. Captain Lu originally thought he would get the advice of a respected old professor. Unexpectedly, he met the sick and weak beauty, Su Hui, who gave him some advice.... more>>

Before the reasoning, Lu Junchi belatedly wondered if this Beauty Su was just a pretty face. After the actual evidence, Lu Junchi belatedly thought that this Beauty Su wasn’t a pretty face, he was the one who was silly and foolish.

Lu Junchi was grateful for Su Hui’s help in this case. He appreciated Su Hui’s talent but was afraid that the weak and sick Su Hui wouldn’t be able to live a convenient life. Therefore, he became a Daddy Long Legs uncle and sent warmth to Su Hui day and night. He sent and sent…

Later, he took the big beauty home.

Captain Lu didn’t know that this crippled beauty Su Hui, who had extremely poor eyesight, was deaf in one ear and could run 200 meters in three minutes, would turn out to be a criminal psychology profiling expert who scared criminals. He didn’t know that Su Hui had multiple identities or that he was an old acquaintance…

Su Hui was proficient in criminal psychology portraits and had extremely meticulous reasoning ability. He went deep into the hearts of the criminals to reveal their secrets. He had the courage to go into extreme danger and walked through a hail of bullets with no fear. His heart was like a rock as he fought against evil, like a reed that couldn’t be defeated. He looked so weak while actually being so tough.

No one knew that his world was actually a foggy mess on the verge of collapse. The surrounding liveliness was like a silent movie to him. This was until he met the person who helped him put everything together, retrieving his lost memories and finding the truth of everything to put him back on the road of life.

Su Hui: Do you know what ‘hope’ is in my dictionary?

Lu Junchi: ?

Su Hui: It is you. <<less

He Wei took over a mu*der case in an abandoned mansion, and the deceased Cheng Zesheng, Male, a pianist, was killed by gunshot.... more>>

At the same time, in the same mansion, Cheng Zesheng was leading a team to inspect the scene. The deceased, He Wei, male, a company employee, died of suffocation.

Different worlds, and different professions, the only thing in common was that they had died in each other’s world.

What was it that connected the protagonists of the mu*der investigation in the two parallel worlds? With the collision of time and space, the two parallel spaces had quietly changed. He Wei gradually found that this was an unsolvable situation. Struggling in the cycle of fate, how could Cheng Zesheng be saved?

Without meeting, there would be no beginning.

When the clock strikes zero, would he still stand the opposite? <<less

In Jianghu, there is a mysterious clan of unknown origin who practise a strange religion. In every generation, a girl will be chosen from within... more>> the clan to serve as their Sacred Maiden, who must then take a vow of celibacy. The mother of the girl who has been selected to be the Sacred Maiden does not want her daughter to spend the rest of her life in solitude. She notices Chu Liuxiang and thinks he might be an ideal spouse for her daughter, so she sets up an elaborate plan to lure him into taking a series of challenges to assess his suitability. <<less

Jinhai City Public Security Bureau newcomer Wu Yu is meek and mild, a man of few words, and completely unconcerned about the trials and tribulations... more>> placed before him by his strict boss. All he wants is to simply get by at his job, be paid on time, and play the role of a background actor. Nobody knew that this young man had a massive bounty placed on his head by a drug lord, as well as the youthful heroic spirit of a dragon-slayer from the abyss. <<less

Foreboding clouds raced across the skies above the city.... more>>

Three years ago, as a consequence of Commander-in-Chief Jiang Ting’s error in judgement during an anti-drug operation in Gongzhou, a chain of explosions occurred at the scene and caused the Narcotics Division to suffer heavy casualties. Now three years later, Jiang Ting, whose flesh and bones should’ve faded from existence after dying at the line of duty, actually miraculously woke up from a vegetative state.

His heroic soul could not rest – he must return to the mortal world from the depths of hell and exert all that he has in order to bring the bloody and inconceivable truth to light. <<less

To survive in the world he transmigrated into, Model Citizen Gu Xizhou became a demonic cultivator.... more>>

But then… but then he transmigrated back.

The returned Gu Xizhou was furious. The student that had sacrificed his body to reincarnate him had used a demonic array meant for summoning evil spirits. He, Gu Xizhou, had been a law-abiding citizen who upheld the core socialist values prior to transmigration, the very picture of a model citizen. So how had he become a heinous malicious spirit since his return from transmigration?! <<less

Zuo Qinghou was a famous martial artist in the Jiangnan region and the master of Cup-Throwing Manor. His beloved daughter, Zuo Mingzhu, died after contracting a strange disease. In the meantime, another young maiden, Shi Yin, also died from illness. At the moment of Shi Yin’s death, Zuo Mingzhu suddenly returned to life and claimed that she was Shi Yin. It seemed that if Shi Yin’s spirit has possessed Zuo Mingzhu’s body. Zuo Qinghou asked his close friend, Chu Liuxiang, to help him resolve the bizarre case.... more>>

Through his calm and wit, Chu Liuxiang gradually unraveled the mystery and learned the intricate love story involving young men and women from feuding influential families in Wulin. <<less

This is the first of the five novels that are collectively known as The New Legend of Chu Liuxiang [楚留香新傳].... more>>

Rumor has it that a strange island called the Bat Island contains numerous treasures and luxuries. The island was actually a black-market auction place featuring exclusive items, such as martial art manual that was not supposed to be passed on to outsiders, as well as secrets, of Jianghu. From time to time, the island’s master, who was known as the ‘Bat Prince’, would send exclusive invitations to select guests to visit the island to participate in this auction. All business deals were conducted inside a pitch-black cave to maintain secrecy.

Through a series of serendipitous events, Chu Liuxiang and his friends Hu Tiehua and Zhang San make their way to Bat Island with other companions. Along the way, some of their companions were mysteriously mu*dered. On the island, they eventually uncovered a sinister plot masterminded by the ‘Bat Prince’. <<less

This is the third and the last part of the story arc collectively known as The Legend of Chu Liuxiang [楚留香傳奇]. Although not absolutely necessary, reading the first two books is recommended, since there are references to these books.... more>>

Returning from the Great Desert (see Book 2), Chu Liuxiang and Hu Tiehua have a series of encounters with Li Yuhan and his wife, Liu Wumei, a former apprentice of the Stone Avalokiteśvara (Shi Guanyin). Eventually, these encounters led Chu Liuxiang to the final showdown against the Shuimu Yinji, the mistress of the Holy Water Palace, and solved the mystery of the ‘Trush’.

The chapter started from chapter 63 as the continuation from The Great Desert which ended at chapter 62. <<less

The witch, Eleonora Asil, has fifteen previous convictions.... more>>

And the transmigrator, Noah Park, had no intentions of being involved in the novel’s original plot of the dragon beheading the villainess. With that thought in mind, she abandoned her title as The Wicked Witch and sought to live a long and peaceful life.

So she heads down to the countryside wrought with deep remorse for all her misdeeds. And all should be happy… or she thought.

“Please raise me!”

And so it would seem that she stumbled upon the heroine’s pet dragon — the black-haired kid that would turn ballistic and obsessive later on — imprinted the villainess as his mother. And to make matters worse, the male lead suspects her as the prime culprit of stealing the dragon.

“How long should I keep up with you?”

She thought he’d arrest her right away, but seems like the male lead was slowly becoming the dragon’s butler.

“Can I hug you?”

“No.”

“Then… can you hold me?”

The villainess believes that the dragon needs a bit of taming.

‘Oh, male lead, won’t you sign a life contract as a real butler?’ <<less

The Rainy Mansion was a house that looked damp and gloomy even on a sunny day. It was a place where the boundary between the living and the dead was ambiguous.... more>>

When a mu*der case happened at the Rainy Mansion, it seemed it could be easily solved because the heritance dispute among the residents was well known.

The detectives investigating the case were perplexed by the strange deduction made by Ayano Hayase, a beautiful woman who was freeloading at the mansion.

“The open roof is a locked-room.”

“There is a granny ghost inside the closet.”

It was said that the criminal cases at the Rainy Mansion would always end up being cold cases. And now, a serial mu*der had occurred there.

A rookie detective, Tanimoto, was working hard to solve the case while being puzzled by words and action of the poker face beauty Ayano. <<less

Jun Zishu was interning as a fate changer. Her character setting was designated as her mission target’s cousin, and her goal was to save her mission targets from their tragic fates.... more>>

Thus…

Maid: Miss Cousin, Miss Cousin, the Young Miss fell into the pond!

Jun Zishu: Okay, I’m coming!

Servant: Miss Cousin, Miss Cousin, the Young Miss’s fiance ran away with another person!

Jun Zishu: Okay, I’m coming!

…

Subordinate: Miss Cousin, Miss Cousin, not good!

Jun Zishu: Okay, shut up. I know what you’re trying to say!

Subordinate: Erm...

What should have been an innocent relationship between cousins had evolved into the mission target wanting to bed Jun Zishu/love rivals becoming lovers/the female protagonist falling in love with the female side character(Jun Zishu)/Jun Zishu becoming the female protagonist’s lover’s sweetheart.

Every scenario you could possibly think of.

Miss Cousin was very busy today as well. <<less

Disco Wednesdayyy, an American detective specializing in missing children, lives with six-year old Kozue Yamagishi in Chofu City, Tokyo. One day, a seventeen-year-old girl "invades"... more>> Kozue's body right before his eyes, and with it, the door to the biggest case in human history opens. A soul thief, a black bird man who embodies all evil, and a series of deaths of great detectives gathered in a strange cylindrical house—— "You are at the center of this disaster." Just Facts! Chasing only the truth, run through three thousand worlds, Disco! <<less

A series of short stories on the theme of familiar mental issues. Composed of seven chapters. A cunning and strange counselor reveals the true nature of his clients’ mental problems through counseling. However, this may not necessarily yield satisfactory outcomes for the counselor…?... more>>

The chapters are not connected to each other, so you can start reading from any point. The protagonist is basically an armchair detective, but occasionally he goes outside. A lot of mental health miscellaneous.

Chapter 1 to 14 => A story of the protagonist’s encounter with the heroine.

Chapter 15 to 22 => A story of an elderly person troubled by noise in the neighborhood.

Chapter 23 to 31 => A story of a mother who is distressed by her son’s domestic violence.

Chapter 32 to 44 => A story of a woman who desires to learn the truth of her fiancé’s death.

Chapter 45 to 54 => A story of a high school girl who wishes to have cosmetic surgery.

Chapter 55 to 65 => A story of a man who is troubled by the vision of a black cat. <<less

If life could start over, she would never do such a s*upid thing as “justify bravely” again.... more>>

Since saving this dead little demon on the road at the age of seven, her life has fallen into a miserable situation.

From her mother, down to the soft-footed junior brothers in the martial arts hall, are all coaxed to be submissive by this dead little demon who looks like a beautiful flower boy.

As everyone knows, he’s just using his appearance to win love and sympathy. In fact, he is an ungrateful highest-ranking bastard who will frame her!

Since she was a child, she didn’t know how many suffocating losses she had suffered from him.

Since she can’t afford to provoke him then she can always avoid him, right?

However, he just won’t go away, wandering around her with his old love and still wickedly ruined her love affair repeatedly!

This bastard! She hates him the most! He can just go to hell──

Horses! Why did he become a victim of a car explosion?

Although she told him to go to hell before, if he really dares to die, she… she will definitely… definitely break down… <<less

This is the kingdom of Fazan.... more>>

During a party at the royal castle, the First Prince declares to his fiance:

“Millia: regrettably, I am breaking my engagement with you.”

And the moment before Lady Millia, the Prince’s Fiance, was about to be sentenced to deportation…

The body of the First Prince’s paramour was discovered!

Lady Millia, whose engagement was just broken, was suspected of being the mu*derer, however…

She was a detective in her previous life?!!

And so she challenges the mystery to prove her innocence. <<less