Edogawa Rampo

Edogawa Ranpo was the pen name of Tarō Hirai, a Japanese author and critic who played a major role in developing Japanese mystery and thriller fiction. His pen name renders the name of Edgar Allan Poe, whose work he admired, and many of his novels follow the detective Kogoro Akechi, who later leads a group of boy detectives. Among the books published under the name are Black Lizard and Beast in the Shadows, psychological thrillers about a reclusive crime writer drawn into a real investigation.