Prefecture D: Four Novellas, Paperback

A collection of tense thrilllers, each centered on a mystery and the unfortunate officer tasked with solving it, set in the world of Hideo Yokoyama's bestselling Six Four.

Four novellas: Each taking place in 1998.

SEASON OF SHADOWS
The force could lose face . . . I want you to fix this. Personnel's Futawatari receives a horrifying memo forcing him to investigate the behavior of a legendary detective with unfinished business.

CRY OF THE EARTH
It's too easy to kill a man with a rumor. Shinto of Internal Affairs receives an anonymous tip-off alleging a station chief is visiting the red-light district--a warning he soon learns is a red herring.

BLACK LINES
It was supposed to be her special day. Section Chief Nanao, responsible for the force's forty-nine female officers, is alarmed to learn her star pupil has not reported for duty and is believed to be missing.

BRIEFCASE
We need to know what he's going to ask. On the eve of a routine debate, Political Liaison Tsuge learns a wronged politician is preparing his revenge. He must now quickly dig up dirt to silence him.

Prefecture D continues Hideo Yokoyama's exploration of the themes of obsession, saving face, office politics, and interdepartmental conflicts. Placing everyday characters between a rock and a hard place and then dialing up the pressure, he blends and balances the very Japanese with the very accessible, to spectacular effect.

About author(s):

Born in 1957, Hideo Yokoyama worked for twelve years as an investigative reporter with a regional newspaper north of Tokyo before becoming one of Japan's most acclaimed and bestselling fiction writers. Prefecture D is his third book to be translated into English.

Jonathan Lloyd-Davies studied Japanese at the University of Durham and Chinese at Oxford. His translations include Edge by Koji Suzuki, with cotranslator Camellia Nieh; the Psyche Diver trilogy by Baku Yumemakura; Gray Men by Tomotake Ishikawa; and Nan-Core by Mahokaru Numata; and Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama. His translation of Edge received the Shirley Jackson Award for best novel. Originally from Wales, he now resides in Tokyo.