The addictive million-selling mystery taking Japan by storm, from the author of The Times Bestseller Strange Pictures

A twisty puzzle in which the reader is the detective, examining a series of creepy floorplans for clues

‘Deliciously unsettling and refreshingly unique, Strange Houses will lure you in and keep you captive with every clever twist’ – Kristen Perrin, author of How to Solve Your Own Murder

A sinister hidden room.

A dead space between two walls.

A sealed cellar.

A child's face glimpsed at a window.

Every house hides secrets.

But some secrets are far darker than others.

More than a million readers have discovered the terrible truth behind these strange houses.

Now it's your turn.

PRAISE FOR UKETSU

‘Part Rubik's Cube, part Russian doll, part kaleidoscope and altogether irresistible. Strange Pictures is heady, giddy, genre-blurring stuff and so fizzy with invention and possibility that I almost pity the next novel I read’ – A.J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window

‘A superlative puzzle made of multiple parts that interconnect in unexpected ways, told inventively through pictures and text. Every twist and turn steepens the sense of foreboding. Original, intricate and deeply unsettling. I've never read anything like it’ - Alex Pavesi, author of Eight Detectives

‘Absolutely loved this clever little banger. An addictive murder mystery that unfolds like pointillism on the page: only when you reach the end, step back and view the bigger picture does each of its parts click into place. Exceptional!’ - Alice Slater, author of Death of a Bookseller

‘An intricately woven, at times unsettling, but always mesmerising piece of work’ - Ian Moore, author of Death and Croissants

About the Author

Jim Rion has lived in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan since 2004. He began professionally translating Japanese to English in 2015, primarily in cultural and travel fields. From 2018, he began working with local sake brewers on international expansion, and in 2022 Stone Bridge Press published his book Discovering Yamaguchi Sake, a guide to all the sake breweries in his home prefecture.

He has published translations of two horror/Cthlulhu mythos books with (now defunct) publisher Kurodahan Press, and from 2022 began working with Pushkin Vintage on translating Japanese crime and mystery fiction into English. The first work, The Devil’s Flute Murders by Yokomizo Seishi, was published in 2023. From January 2025, his translation of Strange Pictures by Uketsu was on sale in the United States and the United Kingdom, soon to be followed by Strange Houses and Strange Buildings.