Hideo Yokoyama (横山 秀夫, Yokoyama Hideo, born 1957) is a Japanese novelist.
Yokoyama specialized in mystery novels. He worked constantly during the first three days of 2003 and received a heart attack and subsequent hospitalization on the fourth.
He repeated his Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! No. 1 ranking in 2013 with Six Four (64). and this novel is nominated for 2016 CWA International Dagger
He is known for his career as journalist for the Jomo Shimbun, the regional paper in Gunma.
Novel
Six Four (original title: 64 Rokuyon), trans. Jonathan Lloyd-Davies (Quercus, 2016) – This is nominated for 2016 CWA International Dagger.
Plot synopsis
The action centres on the police headquarters in a region of Japan identified only as "Prefecture D". It follows a week in the life of a police superintendent named Mikami Yoshinobu, whose only daughter ran away a few months previously and has not been found. Formerly a detective, now reluctantly appointed as chief press officer, Mikami is caught up in two power struggles. One is with the local press committee, who are putting him and the police under pressure to reveal more information about current newsworthy cases. The other struggle is between the administrative department (where the press office is situated) and the criminal investigation department, where Mikami worked for most of his career. To achieve ascendancy, the leaders of the administrative department are trying to exploit a bungled case of kidnapping, involving the death of a seven year old girl 14 years previously, and still unsolved. (The case bears the code name "Six Four", since it occurred when the last emperor died, at the very beginning of his 64th year on the throne). The criminal investigation department in their turn are trying to thwart the administration through a campaign of concealment and obstructiveness. While seeking enough information from both sides in order to do his job of managing a hostile press, Mikami gradually uncovers troubling facts about the "Six Four" case. Increasingly, he becomes drawn into the role of detective within his own organisation, and aware of the potentially destructive effect of interdepartmental rivalries on the whole headquarters. He is also exposed to serious moral dilemmas about where his loyalties lie. At the climax of the novel, another kidnapping occurs with uncanny similarities to "Six Four". Although it is unclear at first whether this is a further abduction by the same perpetrator, a copycat crime or a hoax, its solution brings clarity about what really happened in "Six Four', and a sense that the factionalism that threatened to destroy the headquarters will now lessen. Although the book is intricate and challenging to read, with multiple interweaving plots and sub-plots, and a large cast of characters from the two departments and the press, Yokoyama manages his material tightly. There is a helpful diagram in the front flyleaf of the English edition, showing the different factions and their members, although it does not include many of the characters, including several retired officers who were part of the original investigation into "Six Four' and whom Mikami meets in the course of the book.
Short story
Motive (original title: Dōki), trans. Beth Cary (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, May 2008)
Awards and nominations
1998 – Matsumoto Seicho Prize: Kage no Kisetsu (Season of Shadows)
2000 – Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Best Short Story: Motive
2003 – The Best Japanese Crime Fiction of the Year (Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! 2003): Han'ochi (Half a Confession)
2005 – Nominee for Honkaku Mystery Award for Best Fiction: Rinjō (Initial Response )
2013 – The Best Japanese Crime Fiction of the Year (Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! 2013): Six Four
Half a Confession (2004) (Han'ochi)
Deguchi no Nai Umi (2006)
Climber's High (2008) (Kuraimāzu hai)
Rinjō (2012)
"Rokuyon (64) Part I" (2016)
"Rokuyon (64) Part II" (2016)
