Tsutomu Minakami's Umi no Kiba is a full-length mystery set against a seaside town and the darker side of society. It has the cast of a social mystery while retaining a strong sense of place and human pain.

Beyond the smell of the sea, the social strain that bred the crime comes into view.

Saho Sasazawa's Hitokui is a mystery that begins with a brutal case and exposes violence and desire hidden in the human mind. Its hard-edged prose and unsettling title draw readers into a dark psychological space.

The thing that devours people may be not a monster but the darkness inside human beings.