Book review: 『11文字の殺人』 by Keigo Higashino

11文字の殺人 (11もじのさつじん)
Title: 11文字の殺人 (11もじのさつじん)
Genre:
First published: 1987
Published: 2020
Format: Bunko
Page Count: 356
交際を始めて二カ月が経ったある日、彼が海で亡くなった。彼は生前、「誰かが命を狙っている」と漏らしていた。女流推理作家のあたしは、彼の自宅から大切な資料が盗まれたと気付き、彼が参加したクルーズ旅行のメンバーを調べる。しかし次々と人が殺されてしまう事態に!『無人島より殺意をこめて』―真犯人から届いたメッセージの意味とは!?昭和だから起きた怪事件!

『11文字の殺人』 is one of Keigo Higashino’s first novels. It was first published in 1990 and got a new bunko edition this year (2020) with a new design cover and a bigger font.

Review

This book is a real page-turner. I found it very easy to read, the kind of books where I am able to read 50 pages or more in a row because it is mainly composed of dialogues.

Our protagonist is an author of crime fiction whose partner has been murdered, and who decides to investigate by herself. There is nothing unrelated to the case in the novel, the pace is very quick, we jump from an interview to another, there are almost no descriptions.

I would say that 『11文字の殺人』 is purely entertaining, and that it succeeds in keeping the reader engrossed in the story until the end. It certainly does not have the depth of other books like 『手紙』 or 『虚な十字架』, nor the genius of other whodunnits like those of the Kaga series, but it is a page-turner and an easy read.

To me, it was the perfect book to relax, a book that does not ask any effort on my part and keeps me entertained. I think that it one of the easiest Higashino books I have read, and one that I recommend to people who want to get into reading Higashino but want to start with an easy one.


I’m learning Japanese, Korean and Chinese to read mystery novels and play video games in these languages.

Learning languages has always been one of my favourite hobbies, but I’m not a social person, I don’t like to meet new people and make friends, this is just not me. I keep hearing that languages are meant for communication, that we have to actively use them, talk to people, etc. and for a long time, I thought I was weird to learn languages just for me, just to enjoy media, culture and entertainment in a foreign language, with absolutely zero interest in communicating with natives.

Now I don’t really care what people think, and this blog helped me a lot to stop doubting myself and just do what I enjoy doing.