Taku Ashibe

is a Japanese mystery writer. He is a member of the Honkaku Mystery Writers Club of Japan and one of the representative writers of the new traditionalist movement in Japanese mystery writing.

Works in English translation Novel Murder in the Red Chamber (original title: Kōrōmu no Satsujin), trans. Tyran C. Grillo (Kurodahan Press, 2012) Murder in the House of Omari (original title: Ōmarike Satsujin Jiken), trans. Bryan Karetnyk (Pushkin Vertigo, 2025)

Short story "The Horror in the Kabuki Theatre" (original title: "Gohei Gekijō: Kabuki no Kuni Cthulhu Taiji"), trans. Sheryl Hogg (Lairs of the Hidden Gods 2: Inverted Kingdom, Kurodahan Press, 2005) "The Mummy and the Unicorn" (original title: "Miira to Unikōru"), trans. Nancy H. Ross (Strokes of Brush and Blade: Tales of the Samurai, Kurodahan Press, 2019) "The Dashing Joker" (original title: "Shikku-suru Jōkā"), trans. Yuko Shimada (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, September/October, 2020)

Awards and nominations 1990 – Ayukawa Tetsuya Award for New Mystery Writers: Satsujin Kigeki no Jūsan-nin (Thirteen in a Murder Comedy) 2002 – Nominee for Honkaku Mystery Award for Best Fiction: Guran Ginyōru Jō (The Castle of Grand Guignol) 2005 – Nominee for Honkaku Mystery Award for Best Fiction: Murder in the Red Chamber 2009 – Nominee for Honkaku Mystery Award for Best Fiction: Saiban'in Hōtei (The Lay Judge Court) 2011 – Nominee for Honkaku Mystery Award for Best Fiction: Kisōkyū Satsujin Jiken 2013 – Nominee for Honkaku Mystery Award for Best Fiction: Suchīmu Opera (Steam Opera) 2018 – Drunkard Bookseller's Award for: Kitan o Uru mise (The Shop that Sells Strange Tales) 2022 – Mystery Writers of Japan Award and Honkaku Mystery Award for Best Fiction: Ōmarike Satsujin Jiken (The Ōmari Family Murder Case)