Under the cliff
drowsiness
Life debt
combustibles
Is it real?

Achieved his fourth Triple Crown!

Two years after "Black Thunder Castle," which achieved the unprecedented feat of sweeping the four major mystery rankings and winning the Naoki Prize, Honobu Yonezawa's latest work, "Combustible," is finally being introduced in Korea.


Published in July 2023, "Combustible" ranked first in "I Want to Read Mysteries!", first in "This Mystery is Amazing!", first in "Shukan Bunshun Mystery Top 10", and second in "Full-Scale Mystery Top 10", achieving another triple crown, becoming the fourth work to achieve the triple crown, following "Night Watch," "The King and the Circus," and "Black Thunder Castle."

It was a year in which a flood of new works were released by both established and established writers, including Keigo Higashino's "You Killed Someone" and Natsuhiko Kyogoku's "The Silkworm's Monument", as well as Riku Onda, Magi Inoue, Satoshi Ogawa, Haruo Yuki, and Tomoyuki Shirai. Therefore, the surprising success of "Combustibles" has a special meaning as it once again demonstrates the growth and status of Honobu Yonezawa as a writer.


Honobu Yonezawa's first police officer × full-fledged mystery

"Combustible" consists of five stories published in the magazine "Ol Yomimono" from 2020 to 2023.
This novel, in which the protagonist is a police officer, is written by Honobu Yonezawa for the first time, and is set in Gunma Prefecture, where large cities and sparsely populated mountainous regions coexist.
These geographical characteristics of Gunma Prefecture are revealed throughout the story.

In an interview for the award ceremony for "This Mystery is Amazing!", Honobu Yonezawa stated that "Combustible" is a work in which the police act as detectives rather than revealing an organization, and therefore is a "police mystery" rather than a "police novel."


That's why "Combustible" takes the form of a simple yet exemplary mystery, with riddles, fair clues, repeated verification, and an unexpected ending.
Readers can deduce the truth based solely on the fairly presented evidence, which is precisely the essence of the mystery genre as revealed by Honobu Yonezawa in an interview commemorating the book's publication.


“I believe that a mystery is a ‘good question’ that, if the reader is determined to solve it and pursues every nook and cranny, can lead to the truth.”

There is a world visible only to Inspector Katsura.

From the title piece, “Inflammables,” which delves into the motive behind a series of arson attacks, to “Bottom of the Cliff,” which searches for an undiscovered weapon, “Sleepiness,” which delves into the discomfort of common eyewitness accounts, “Life Debt,” which focuses on a dismembered body abandoned in a conspicuous location, to “Is It Real?” which searches for the culprit behind a hostage incident.

The person who adds clarity and fairness to the mystery is Inspector Katsura, who leads the Gunma Prefectural Police Investigation Team 1.
He doesn't say unnecessary things, his executives keep their distance, and his subordinates never think of him as a good boss.
But no one doubts his outstanding investigative skills.


He rarely says anything unrelated to the incident.
When a difficult incident occurs, I torture myself to the point of only sleeping about four hours a night for three days, and eat simple meals of sweet bread and cafe au lait to keep my brain working.
We will inevitably discover evidence and hidden motives that were not revealed in the suspect's trivial words and actions and the subtle sense of discomfort at the scene.

This depiction style, in which characters barely appear, is also a first for Honobu Yonezawa as a writer.
A police officer who takes one step at a time to solve cases as a profession and part of life.
The hidden characterization makes the work more fair, and allows readers to more daringly compete with Inspector Katsura's wits.

《Combustible》 is a solid and weighty mystery that is not swept away by the recent glamour of the mystery genre, represented by 'special settings'.
The author's words, "I was very surprised that the work I just wanted to write as a writer was highly evaluated," even convey a sense of a certain level of composure.
Through “Combustible,” readers will be able to fully experience the author’s transformation and further growth.

One new case of Inspector Katsura has already been serialized.
Inspector Katsura collects evidence according to the rules, but he goes one step further than others, and we will see his activities in the next series.

“What I’ve attempted this time is a full-fledged mystery novel, that is, a novel that focuses on solving puzzles.
However, if we write down the minds of the victim, the perpetrator, and the social situation to solve the riddle, we will be connected to nature, the human mind, and this world.
This brings out the fullness, richness, and depth of the novel.
“I think it would be good to write it that way.” _ Honobu Yonezawa, from an interview with ‘The King’s Brunch’