Ryuichi Kasumi is well known in Japan as a writer of Detective Stories, Crime Fiction, Puzzle Mystery and Closed-door Murder cases.

Monument of the Animal Trail Mystery!
A unique puzzle mystery writer, full of humor and unexpected turns, is born in Japan. . .

Kasumi always uses animals, such as the raccoon dog, fox, crab, horse, octopus, etc, in his long-length mysteries and uses them as integral elements in solving the mystery. His specialty is developing a story which seems highly improbable. This has earned him the title, “Outrageous Mystery King”. He envelops the whole story with a slapstick sense of humor while maintaining a puzzle mystery on the inside. His style is his acrobatic reasoning. Kasumi's detectives openly demonstrate the stylishness of Japanese culture such as “rakugo” and gourmet, enabling the readers to take a breather every now and then. He also has many short stories to his credit.

Born in 1959 in Okayama Prefecture. Graduated from Waseda University Political Science and Economics Department, Political Science Studies. While at University, he belonged to the Waseda Mystery Club which has produced many talented mystery writers. After graduation, Kasumi joined a film company. He continued writing whilst he worked at the company, and in 1994, his book “Till Badgers Do Us Part” (Onaji Haka-no Mujina) received the Award for Fine Work in the Seishi Yokomizo Awards, the gateway for mystery writers in Japan, and made his debut. He followed this feat with “Twilight of the Fox”, “Mystery Crab”, “Miracle Surveyor: The Legend of the Headless Horse”, “Octopus Killer No. 8; Malice in Red and Black”, etc. The titles of his books contain puns and wordplay of animals and the particular animal plays an important part in the story. His debut book was filled with raccoon dogs, “Mystery Crab” was filled with crabs, “The Miracle Surveyor 2: Shikabane Island” which was a follow up to “Miracle Surveyor: The Legend of the Headless Horse”, featured deers as opposed to horses. Kasumi is known as a true puzzle mystery creator, using elaborate titles and settings, plenty of slapstick humor with a knack for drawing the readers into the mystery. His unique and original style has been dubbed “Outrageous Mystery” and the critics and editors in Japan have named him “The King of Outrageous Mystery”.
“Outrageous Mystery is not a phrase which slanders or defames the mystery genre. ‘Outrageous’ refers to the exclamation of praise, as in ‘What? It’s outrageous!’ in reaction to the setting, the story development or the conclusion. In architectural metaphor, ‘outrageous mystery’ is like the ‘leaning tower of Pisa’ compared to ‘no good mystery’ or ‘garbage mystery’ which are like ‘defective housing’. I plan to further enhance my endeavors and continue aiming for the ‘leaning tower of Pisa’” comments Kasumi.
He says he loved observing people at the film company, where he worked for 20 years. His stories include many situations in which the private detective visits a film set for his investigation. Kasumi’s film company career pays off in these film-related puzzle solving.
“The world of film has its own unique rules and customs, and is a sort of magical world different from normal society. The film people who inhabit the world are indeed magical and strange. It was a truly appealing world in many ways. Thankfully, all the difficult experiences of those days have now become a precious treasure chest of information and materials. I will probably continue to tell stories of the magical world of the silver screen.”

Kasumi has been a full-time writer since 2001.