1 August 2026
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Japanese mystery author Keigo Higashino dies at 68

3 sources · Japan

Who reported this

  • Kyodo News Japan · Centre · Non-profit publisher cooperative
  • NHK Japan · Centre · Public · Statutory corporation, reception-fee funded
  • The Japan Times Japan · Centre · News2u Holdings

What the colours mean

  • Left
  • Centre-left
  • Centre
  • Centre-right
  • Right
  • Hatched: the outlet is state-affiliated or state-controlled

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Every source for this story reports from Japan.

Every outlet covering this story shares the same political lean; read with that in mind.

Keigo Higashino, a best-selling Japanese mystery author, has died of cancer at the age of 68. His publishers announced on Monday that he passed away on Thursday, the 23rd of the month. Sources identify the cause as bowel, colon, or colorectal cancer.

Higashino is known for numerous popular novels including "The Devotion of Suspect X," which won the Naoki Prize, and "White Night." He also created the Galileo series featuring physicist Manabu Yukawa; this series sold over 10 million copies and was adapted into films and television dramas starring Masaharu Fukuyama. His total body of work consists of 106 publications, with the final installment in the Galileo series scheduled for release on August 5.

Originally from Osaka, Higashino began writing while employed as an engineer at Denso Corp. He became a full-time writer after winning the Edogawa Rampo Prize in 1985 for "Hokago." In 2023, he was awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon by the Japanese government. His cumulative domestic print run exceeds 100 million copies.

His work achieved significant international success in China and South Korea. Additionally, "The Devotion of Suspect X" received a nomination for Best Novel at the Edgar Allan Poe Awards in the United States, and his book "Newcomer" was shortlisted for the British Crime Writers' Association's Dagger awards.

How each side framed it

Centre
Outlets of this lean provided factual accounts of Higashino's career and death with consistent framing.

Sources

Faithfulness score: 1.00 (fraction of claims supported by the sources, self-judged).