Nonami, Asa 1960-

PERSONAL:

Born 1960, in Tokyo, Japan.

CAREER:

Writer.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Japanese Mystery and Suspense Award, 1988, for A Happy Breakfast; Naoki prize, 1996, for The Hunter.

WRITINGS:

Kogoeru Kiba, Shinchosha (Tokyo, Japan), 1996, translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter as The Hunter: A Detective Takako Otomichi Mystery, Kodansha International (New York, NY), 2006.

Also author of about fifty mystery and suspense novels, including A Happy Breakfast. Works have been translated into Korean and Chinese.

SIDELIGHTS:

Japanese author Asa Nonami has written numerous novels and stories, primarily in the mystery and suspense genre. Her works have been translated into Chinese, Korean, and more recently into English. The Hunter: A Detective Takako Otomichi Mystery is the first of Nonami's novels to be published in America. The book centers around female detective Otomichi, who struggles with her family's disapproval over her career decision and a lack of respect from her male colleagues. Now divorced, Otomichi refuses to back down. In The Hunter, she sets out to capture a killer with a vicious approach to his murders. A reviewer for Japan Today online dubbed the book "a gripping mystery thriller that also delves deeply into the hearts and minds of its protagonists." Booklist contributor David Pitt called it "a razor-sharp crime novel that will leave readers hungry for more." Sarah Weinman, reviewing the mystery for Time Out New York online, found it "a fascinating look inside Japan's police culture and the mind of one woman who finds inner strength and redemption in seedy places."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 1, 2007, David Pitt, review of The Hunter: A Detective Takako Otomichi Mystery, p. 64.

Publishers Weekly, December 4, 2006, review of The Hunter, p. 38.

ONLINE

BookPage,http://www.bookpage.com/ (August 30, 2007), Bruce Tierney, review of The Hunter.

Bookslut,http://www.bookslut.com/ (March 1, 2007), "International Man of Mystery."

Japan Today Online,http://www.japantoday.com/ (November 8, 2006), "Woman Detective in a Man's World."

New Mystery Reader Web site,http://www.newmysterreader.com/ (August 30, 2007), review of The Hunter.

Time Out New York Online,http://www.timeout.com/newyork/ (August 30, 2007), Sarah Weinman, review of The Hunter.

USA Today Online,http://www.usatoday.com/ (January 31, 2007), Carol Memmott, "Book Roundup: Crime Novels."

Washington Post Online,http://www.washingtonpost.com/ (March 11, 2007), Dennis Drabelle, "Murder Served Up Hot from Ancient Rome to Modern Japan."