ANN Manga and Novel Summer Reading List 2026

Mystery

Is there anything like a good mystery? Not for my money. Poe may be credited with inventing the modern detective, but plenty of authors have followed in his footsteps and put their own twist on his formula, including Japan's incomparable Edogawa Ranpo and Seishi Yokomizo. Below are five mysteries to dig into this summer, and rest assured—there are plenty more where these came from!

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Murder at the Black Cat Café

By Seishi Yokomizo
Pushkin Vertigo
“Japanese Columbo” Kosuke Kindaichi investigates two strange murder cases in post-war Japan in this shorter entry in the long-running series that's a perfect place to start reading. All of Yokomizo's cases are written just slightly differently, and that goes for the two in this book, as well - readers are treated to a variety of Golden Age mystery tropes and techniques, and the excellent translation makes sure that they shine. Pushkin Vertigo seems committed to translating this series, and mystery readers are the richer for it.

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The 13th Footprint

By Kei Sanbe
Yen Press
In the latest series from the creator of Erased, a mysterious series of postcards plagues a family man as a deadly fire looms ever closer. Each postcard details a preventable death, but as readers familiar with the opening of volume one, we have to question whether they're all in service of preventing this family's death in a fire - or if they're leading directly to it. Lemony Snicket's VFD may as well be active here, in Sanbe's best series since Erased.

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Billy Bat

By Naoki Urasawa
Kana
A Japanese-American cartoonist heads to Japan after WWII to uncover the origins of a character he thought he had created in this tense mystery. Combining the comics culture of the pre-code era and Japan's attempt to rebuild after the war, Urasawa's series explores the collective unconscious and how we take inspiration from what's around us. Is it plagiarism if you're unaware?

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Don't Call It Mystery

By Yumi Tamura
Seven Seas Entertainment
Quirky college student Totono finds himself embroiled in a series of mysteries that require his unique thinking skills in Yumi Tamura's take on the master detective genre. Relying on word games and fair play mystery elements, Tamura's series is sometimes claustrophobic but always fascinating as Totono delves deeper into the world around him. And despite the title, this is definitely about mysteries.

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Adabana

By NoN
Dark Horse
When a teenage girl confesses to the murders of her best friend and a ramen shop owner, it's just the beginning for a tale of dark small-town secrets. Brutal and tragic, the series opens with the conclusion before going back to show us how things reached that point in a masterwork of careful plotting. Be aware, though, that this story deals with sexual exploitation and abuse of minors.

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of Anime News Network, its employees, owners, or sponsors.

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Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. Yen Press, BookWalker Global, and J-Novel Club are subsidiaries of KWE.