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Yutaka Maya

まや ゆたか

Maya Yutaka

Pen Names: Yoshihiko Horii（Birth/legal name）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1969-05-29 （Ueno, Mie Prefecture (now Iga)）
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Mystery writer
Active Years
1991-
Memberships
Honkaku Mystery Writers Club (Chair)
Influenced By
Ellery Queen, Peter Dickinson, Mushitaro Oguri (homage/influence)

Education

Mie Prefectural Ueno High School
Country: Japan
Kyoto University, Faculty of Engineering
Faculty of Engineering
Country: Japan
Belonged to a mystery-fiction study group and began writing short stories while enrolled

Awards

Japan Mystery Writers Association Award (64th)
2011
Work: The One-Eyed Girl
Organization: Japan Mystery Writers Association
Result: 受賞
Honkaku Mystery Award (11th)
2011
Work: The One-Eyed Girl
Organization: Honkaku Mystery Writers Club
Result: 受賞
Honkaku Mystery Award (15th)
2015
Work: Goodbye, Gods
Organization: Honkaku Mystery Writers Club
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Darkness with Wings: The Last Case of Mercator Ayu

1991 Mystery

Debut work featuring the detective Mercator Ayu. Contains elements and homages that exemplify the author's characteristic approach.

Honkaku mysteryHomageLogical puzzle-solving
Translations
  • Youyi zhi an (Chinese edition)

The One-Eyed Girl

2010 Mystery

A challenging work that questions the role of the detective and logic; recipient of major mystery awards in 2011.

Reexamination of detective archetypeLogic vs. uncertainty
Adaptations
Translations
  • The One-Eyed Girl (Chinese edition)

The Aristocratic Detective

2010 Detective fiction (short stories)

One of his notable works. The titular aristocratic detective has others do the deductions; adapted into a TV drama in 2017.

Antithesis to armchair detectiveBlack humor
Adaptations
  • [TV drama] Kizoku Tantei (The Aristocratic Detective) (2017)
Translations
  • The Aristocratic Detective (Chinese edition)

Thus Spoke Mercator

2011 Mystery

A short-story collection that deeply pursues logicality and the structure of honkaku mysteries.

LogicalismQuestioning narrative structure
Translations
  • Thus Spoke Mercator (Chinese edition)

Bibliography

  • Darkness with Wings: The Last Case of Mercator Ayu
  • Sonata of Summer and Winter
  • Crow
  • The Wooden Prince
  • The One-Eyed Girl
  • The Aristocratic Detective
  • Goodbye, Gods
  • Fossil Girl
  • Thus Spoke Mercator

Adaptations

  • Kizoku Tantei (TV drama adaptation, 2017)
  • The One-Eyed Girl (manga adaptation)

Translations of Works

  • The Aristocratic Detective → Guizu zhendian (Chinese)
  • The One-Eyed Girl → Du yan shao nu (Chinese/Taiwanese)
  • Crow → Ya (Chinese)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Honkaku-oriented, logic-driven proseIntricate devices and multilayered foreshadowingFrequent cult/obscure references favored by enthusiasts
Recurring Motifs
Quotations from classical musicReferences to anime, manga and tokusatsuClues embedded in names and lines of dialogueExaggerated, non-daily settings

Legacy

A novelist noted for unique logical puzzles and niche, cult appeal; award-winning and influential in contemporary Japanese mystery fiction, with TV adaptations and overseas translations.

Academic Societies

  • Honkaku Mystery Writers Club

In Popular Culture

  • Kizoku Tantei adapted into a Fuji TV drama in 2017

Trivia

  • Legal name: Horii Yoshihiko.
  • In 2011 he won both the Japan Mystery Writers Association Award and the Honkaku Mystery Award for '隻眼の少女'.
  • Since 2022 he has served as chair of the Honkaku Mystery Writers Club (incumbent).