Keigo Higashino is a highly acclaimed Japanese author, renowned for his mystery novels. He has attained a level of popularity in his home country similar to that of James Patterson, Dean Koontz, and Tom Clancy in the United States. Born in Osaka on February 4, 1958, Higashino graduated with a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from Osaka Prefecture University. It was during his time as an electrical engineer at Nippon Denso Co. that he began writing part-time.
Higashino's writing career took off in 1985 when he won the Edogawa Rampo Prize for his novel Hokago at the age of 27. This award, given annually to the best mystery work, marked a significant turning point in his life. Encouraged by this success, Higashino decided to pursue a full-time career as a writer in Tokyo, leaving behind his engineering job.
In 1999, Higashino received the Mystery Writers of Japan Inc. award for his novel Himitsu, which was later translated into English and published as Naoko in 2004. His novel, Yōgisha X no Kenshin, earned him the prestigious 134th Naoki Prize for Best Novel in 2006, a recognition he had been nominated for five times before. One of his most notable works, The Devotion of Suspect X, was the second highest-selling book in Japan in the year it was published, with over 800,000 copies sold. This novel also won the Naoki Prize for Best Novel and was adapted into a successful motion picture in Japan.
Higashino's work has been adapted into numerous movie and television series adaptations, a testament to his storytelling prowess. His popularity in this regard can be compared to that of Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, and Michael Crichton.