Keigo Higashino, Japan's Bestselling Mystery Novelist, Dies at 68 — Final Galileo Novel Arrives August 5
Keigo Higashino, the writer behind The Devotion of Suspect X and The Miracles of the Namiya General Store, died on July 23, 2026, at age 68. His publisher, Kodansha, announced the death on July 27 and said the cause was colorectal cancer. A private funeral was held with immediate family. Nine days after his death, the newest — and now final — novel in his signature Galileo series, Eien no Kioku (“Eternal Memory”), is set for release on August 5.
Who Was Keigo Higashino?
Born in Osaka in 1958, Higashino trained as an electrical engineer at Osaka Prefecture University and worked in the auto-parts industry before turning to fiction. His 1985 debut, After School (放課後), won the Edogawa Rampo Award, one of Japan’s leading prizes for mystery writing, and he left his engineering job the following year to write full-time.
Over the next four decades he published more than 100 novels, becoming one of Japan’s most commercially dominant authors, with cumulative sales exceeding 100 million copies. His 2005 novel The Devotion of Suspect X (容疑者Xの献身) won the Naoki Prize — one of Japan’s top literary honors — and was later adapted into films in Japan, South Korea, and China. Midnight Parade / Journey Under the Midnight Sun (白夜行) and The Miracles of the Namiya General Store (ナミヤ雑貨店の奇蹟) further cemented his reputation outside Japan, with English translations building him a substantial international readership. In 2023, as his sales passed the 100-million mark, he was awarded the Kikuchi Kan Prize and Japan’s Medal with Purple Ribbon, honors recognizing outstanding contributions to the arts.
Higashino was best known for his Galileo series, centered on Manabu Yukawa, a physicist nicknamed “Galileo” who assists police by solving crimes through scientific reasoning — a format popularized further by television and film adaptations. The character first appeared in 1996, meaning the series had just reached its 30th anniversary at the time of his death.
Eien no Kioku: The Final Galileo Mystery
Higashino was reportedly still writing during his illness, and his publisher, Bungeishunju, confirmed that the eleventh full-length Galileo novel, 永遠の記憶 (Eien no Kioku, “Eternal Memory”), will publish as scheduled on August 5, 2026 — now inevitably his posthumous final work in the series.
The story opens with detective Kaoru Utsumi stabbed by an elderly man in his seventies. The attacker attempts to jump to his death but survives, and refuses to speak during questioning. As investigators dig further, a young woman with a grudge against Utsumi surfaces — her connection to the old man unclear, and her real motive for revenge apparently still to come. Physicist Manabu Yukawa and detective Kusanagi are drawn in by a single object the old man was carrying, which opens the door to what the publisher is billing as “the mystery that must not be forgotten” — and, according to marketing materials, finally answers “Galileo’s last riddle” after 30 years and roughly 16 million copies sold across the series.
Bungeishunju has paired the release with a promotional “cult quiz” campaign tied to the fictional Teito University setting from the series, underscoring how significant an event this release is for Higashino’s readership — arriving now as a farewell rather than simply the next installment.
References
- Japanese author Keigo Higashino, known for penning intricate mystery novels, dies at 68 — The Japan Times
- Japanese mystery author Keigo Higashino dies aged 68 — Taipei Times
- 作家の東野圭吾さん死去、68歳 「容疑者Xの献身」「白夜行」 — Yahoo!ニュース/朝日新聞
- 作家・東野圭吾さんが死去 68歳、大腸がん — Yahoo!ニュース/スポニチアネックス
- 東野圭吾さん死去 「ガリレオ」最新作が遺作に 8・5発売 — Yahoo!ニュース/スポニチアネックス
- 8月5日、東野圭吾ガリレオシリーズ最新長編が発売決定！タイトルは『永遠の記憶』 — 文藝春秋プレスリリース
- 東野圭吾『永遠の記憶』8月5日発売、ガリレオシリーズ最後の謎が明かされる — Koubo