Japan book series in reading order

by Chris Bradford

by Susan Spann

by Lian Hearn

by Keigo Higashino

by Junji Ito

Feudal Japan is where Laura Joh Rowland's best known books take place. The Sano Ichiro novels put a samurai investigator to work in Edo during the late seventeenth century, starting with Shinju (1994). Rowland, born in 1953, also wrote a series casting Charlotte Bronte as a detective and another set in Victorian England around the Jack the Ripper killings. Twenty-seven catalogued books reach to River of Fallen Angels (2023), and nothing has followed.

Lian Hearn is the pen name of Gillian Rubinstein, an English-born author who moved to Australia in 1973. The Hearn books are historical fantasies set in Japan: Tales of the Otori opens with Across the Nightingale Floor (2002), then Grass for His Pillow (2003), Brilliance of the Moon (2004) and The Harsh Cry of the Heron (2006), with the Tale of Shikanoko following. Seventeen titles are catalogued to 2020, and revenge, inheritance, succession and honour recur as subjects.

Tracey West, born October 1, 1965, is a children's author who writes for licensed series such as Pokémon and SpongeBob SquarePants. The catalogue lists 356 titles from 1988 to 2027, reaching Heart of the Ruby Dragon (2026), with Claw of the Diamond Dragon due in 2027. Named series include Pokémon chapter books, novelizations and readers, Naruto Chapter Books, LEGO Ninjago Reader, Bakugan Chapter Books, Pixie Tricks, Pet Vet Club and Scream Shop Pick Your Path. Dragon Masters and Heroes in Training appear as recurring lines. Ninja, dragons and plot-your-own stories appear among the subject headings.

John P. Marquand (1893–1960) was an American novelist who first found readers with the Mr. Moto spy stories, beginning with Your Turn, Mr. Moto in 1935. Marquand later earned critical standing for satire, and The Late George Apley brought him the Pulitzer Prize in 1938. A recurring subject in Marquand's fiction is the confining codes of America's upper class and of people trying to join it. The catalogue holds 27 books, from The Unspeakable Gentleman (1922) to Warning Hill (1964).

Shusaku Endo

18 books• 3 series

Shūsaku Endō (March 27, 1923 – September 29, 1996) was a Japanese novelist whose work reflects the outlook of a Japanese Catholic. Silence (1966), a historical novel, was filmed by Martin Scorsese in 2016. Endō received the Akutagawa Prize and the Order of Culture, and Pope Paul VI admitted Endō to the Order of St. Sylvester. Titles in this catalogue include The Sea and Poison (1958), Wonderful Fool (1959), The Golden Country: A Play (1970), A Life of Jesus (1973) and The Samurai (1980).

Haruki Murakami

44 books• 2 series

Haruki Murakami writes Japanese literary fiction in novels and short stories, much of it translated into English and much of it psychological with a fantastic edge. The catalogue holds 44 titles, opening with Hear the Wind Sing (1979) and taking in Pinball, 1973 (1980), A Wild Sheep Chase (1982), Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (1985) and Norwegian Wood (1987). The Rat books and Kishidancho Goroshi are the named sequences, and Super-Frog Saves Tokyo is the most recent entry.

Keigo Higashino writes crime fiction set in Japan. Detective Galileo, Detective Kaga and Detective Godai head the series, and 17 titles are catalogued from Naoko (2004) to Guilt (2026), with The Devotion of Suspect X (2011), Salvation of a Saint (2012) and Malice (2014) among them. Police investigation, murder and family relationships fill the subject tags.

Sujata Massey

23 books• 3 series

Sujata Massey writes mystery and historical fiction. The Salaryman's Wife (1997) opened her Rei Shimura novels, whose Japanese-American antiques dealer works as an amateur sleuth in Tokyo, and the debut took an Agatha Award for Best First Novel. The Flower Master won a Macavity for Best Mystery Novel in 2000. Massey later began the Perveen Mistry series. Her 23 catalogued books reach The Star from Calcutta in 2026.

Chris Bradford is an English author and black belt martial artist, best known for the Young Samurai children's series. Puffin published the first Young Samurai book, The Way of the Warrior, in 2008, and Disney bought the rights that year. Seven further books followed, and a ninth, The Return of the Warrior, marked the series' tenth anniversary in 2018. The Bodyguard series began in 2013 with Hostage, in which teenage bodyguard Connor Reeves protects the US president's daughter. Other series include Ninja, Virtual Kombat, Bulletcatcher and Soul Hunters, and Lunar (2023) is the newest title.

Sugawara Akitada, a government investigator in old Japan, carries I.J. Parker's historical mystery series. Murder, exile and the nobility supply the subjects, and the novels run long, at a median of 388 pages. The catalogue holds 35 books from Rashomon Gate (2002) to Spring Festival in Akaiwa (2023), among them The Dragon Scroll (2005), Island of Exiles (2007) and The Fires of the Gods (2010), plus a Hollow Reed sequence and a run of Akitada short stories and novellas.

Jay Kristoff

26 books• 8 series

Jay Kristoff, born 11 November 1973, is an Australian author of fantasy and science fiction for adult and young adult readers who lives in Melbourne. Stormdancer (2012) is the first catalogued book, followed by Kinslayer (2013), Endsinger (2014), Illuminae (2015), Gemina (2016), Nevernight (2016) and Godsgrave (2017); Allwinter (2025) is the newest of 26 books. Series include Lotus War, Illuminae Files, Nevernight Chronicle, Empire of the Vampire, Lifelike and Aurora Cycle. Japan, shoguns, griffins and space flight appear among the subjects.

Katherine Paterson

70 books• 5 series

Katherine Paterson, born Katherine Womeldorf on 31 October 1932, is an American writer known chiefly for children's novels. Bridge to Terabithia (1977) won the 1978 Newbery Medal, and across four books published between 1975 and 1980 Paterson won two Newbery Medals and two National Book Awards. The catalogue lists 70 books from The Sign of the Chrysanthemum (1973) to Birdie's Bargain (2021), with The Master Puppeteer (1975), The Great Gilly Hopkins (1978) and Jacob Have I Loved (1980) among them. Marvin and Read For Your Life are listed series, and Japan, friendship and grief appear in the subjects.

Kenzaburo Oe

15 books

Kenzaburō Ōe was a Japanese writer, born 31 January 1935, who died 3 March 2023, and a major figure in contemporary Japanese literature. French and American literature and literary theory shaped Ōe's novels, short stories and essays, which take on nuclear weapons, nuclear power, social non-conformism and existentialism. Ōe received the 1994 Nobel Prize in Literature for an imagined world in which life and myth condense into a picture of the human predicament. The catalogue lists 15 books, among them A Personal Matter (1964), Hiroshima Notes (1965), The Silent Cry (1967), A Quiet Life (1990) and Death by Water (2009).

Susan Spann is credited on 9 catalogued books published between 2013 and 2022. Catalogue subjects record historical mystery, ninja, samurai, Buddhist priests, murder and Japan. Claws of the Cat (2013) opens the list and Fires of Edo (2022) closes it, taking in Blade of the Samurai (2014), Flask of the Drunken Master (2015), The Ninja's Daughter (2016), Betrayal at Iga (2017), Trial on Mount Koya (2018) and Ghost of the Bamboo Road (2019). Climb: Leaving Safe and Finding Strength on 100 Summits in Japan (2020) also carries the credit. Shinobi Mystery is the recorded series.

Eric Van Lustbader, born on 24 December 1946, is an American writer of thrillers and fantasy who has also published as Eric Lustbader and Eric V. Lustbader. Lustbader graduated from Stuyvesant High School and from Columbia College with a sociology degree, holds a second-level Reiki degree, and is married to the author and editor Victoria Lustbader. The catalogue lists 55 books, from The Sunset Warrior (1977) to White Wolf (2025). Series include the Sunset Warrior Cycle, Nicholas Linnear/Ninja Cycle, China Maroc, Pearl Saga, Jack McClure/Alli Carson, Evan Ryder and Bravo Shaw. Subjects include espionage, intelligence officers and Japan.

Junji Ito

32 books• 6 series

Junji Ito writes horror manga. Tomie (1987) is the earliest title in a catalogue of 32 that reaches Moan (2025), with Uzumaki, Gyo, Museum of Terror, Black Paradox and Souichi among the collected works. Japanese horror tales, comics and English translations fill the subject tags. Ito is still publishing.

Pearl S. Buck

99 books• 1 series

China is the subject Pearl S. Buck is catalogued for. East Wind: West Wind (1930) is the earliest of 99 entries, followed by The Good Earth (1931), Sons (1932) and A House Divided (1935); House Of Earth is the one named series. Farm life, marriage, families and social customs fill the subject tags. No newer title is dated, and the listing is marked likely complete.

Seishi Yokomizo

4 books• 1 series

Detective Kosuke Kindaichi is the investigator in Seishi Yokomizo's Japanese mysteries. The Honjin Murders (1946) opens the catalogued run, followed by Death on Gokumon Island (1948), The Village of Eight Graves (1949) and The Inugami Curse (1972); later entries include The Devil's Flute Murders (2023) and Murder at the Black Cat Cafe (2025). Eight titles are listed, the most recent She Walks at Night (2026).

Donald Eugene Pendleton (December 12, 1927 to October 23, 1995) was an American author of fiction and non-fiction who created Mack Bolan, a character with hundreds of millions of copies sold since a 1969 debut. From 1980, other authors wrote the Bolan books under the Pendleton name, at first with Pendleton's editorial guidance. Pendleton also wrote six Joe Copp, Private Eye novels and six Ashton Ford, Psychic Detective novels. Early titles include The Insatiables (1967), War Against the Mafia (1969) and Miami Massacre (1970).

Janwillem van de Wetering

31 books• 2 series

Janwillem van de Wetering (1931-2008) was a Dutch author who wrote in both Dutch and English across three separate lines: detective fiction, children's books and Zen philosophy. The Amsterdam Cops mysteries follow the police officers Henk Grijpstra and Rinus DeGier through the Netherlands, while the Hugh Pine books are children's fiction, with porcupines among the subjects. The Empty Mirror (1973) opens a catalogue of 31 titles that closes with Amsterdam Cops in 1999.

Yōko Tawada

15 books• 1 series

Yoko Tawada, born on 23 March 1960, is a Japanese writer based in Berlin who writes in both Japanese and German. Tawada has been writer-in-residence at MIT and Stanford University. Awards won by Tawada include the Akutagawa Prize, the Tanizaki Prize, the Kleist Prize, the Goethe Medal and a National Book Award. The 15 catalogued books run from Where Europe Begins (1991) to Archipelago of the Sun (2025), and include The Bridegroom Was a Dog (1993), Memoirs of a Polar Bear (2014) and The Emissary (2014).

Banana Yoshimoto

12 books

Banana Yoshimoto is the pen name of the Japanese writer Mahoko Yoshimoto, born 24 July 1964. From 2002 to 2015 the name was written in hiragana. The catalogue holds 12 books from Kitchen (1988) to Dead-end Memories (2022). The Premonition, Asleep, Goodbye Tsugumi, Lizard, N.P., Amrita, The Lake and Hardboiled & Hard Luck are among the titles. Subject tags include Japan, cousins, female friendship and single-author short stories.