Kanae Minato

is a Japanese writer of crime fiction and thrillers. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of Japan and the Honkaku Mystery Writers Club of Japan. She is a 2015 recipient of the Alex Awards.

Life She started writing in her thirties. Her first novel Confessions became a bestseller and won the Japanese Booksellers Award.

In youth she was an avid fan of mystery novels of Edogawa Ranpo, Maurice Leblanc, Agatha Christie, Keigo Higashino, Miyuki Miyabe and Yukito Ayatsuji.

She has been described in Japan as "the queen of iyamisu." Iyamisu (eww mystery) is a subgenre of mystery fiction which deals with grisly episodes and the dark side of human nature. The term was created in 2006 by the mystery critic Aoi Shimotsuki. There has been an iyamisu boom in Japan since around 2012. Kanae Minato, Mahokaru Numata and Yukiko Mari are regarded as representatives of the genre in Japan. The back cover blurb of the Japanese edition of Gone Girl, published in June 2013, was "One of the best iyamisu novels from overseas."

The English edition of Minato's Confessions, published in August 2014, was described by a critic as "the Gone Girl of Japan."

Wall Street Journal selected Confessions as one of the 10 best mysteries of 2014.

Works in English translation Confessions (original title: Kokuhaku), trans. Stephen Snyder (Mulholland Books, 2014) , Penance (original title: Shokuzai), trans. Philip Gabriel (Mulholland Books, 2017) ,

Awards and nominations Japanese Awards 2007 – Shosetsu Suiri New Writers Prize: "The Priest" 2009 – Japanese Booksellers Award: Confessions 2012 – Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Best Short Story: "Umi no Hoshi"

U.S. Awards 2015 – Alex Award: Confessions 2015 – Nominee for Strand Critics Award for Best First Novel: Confessions 2015 – Nominee for Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel: Confessions