今昔百鬼拾遺 鬼

I liked this book a lot (and the whole series, for that matter). On balance I prefer his historically-set 巷説百物語 series, but it's a pretty close-run thing, and this book is definitely a shorter and easier read than those. It's crime fiction set in the 1950s, with a folklore theme.

My favourite bit was the diversion into the history of 凌雲閣, the tower that stood in Asakusa until it was destroyed in the 1923 earthquake. (The author's style tends to this sort of tangentially-relevant diversion; either you like that kind of thing or you don't, I suspect -- personally I definitely like it.)

The author has a pretty strong personal style which I really like, but if the following are not your thing then you might bounce off this series:

• maybe avoid if you want action in your mysteries, because basically the whole book is just people talking to each other
• the author makes some quirky kanji choices for some words
• the main viewpoint characters have odd-for-the-1950s logical/progressive/modern viewpoints that feel a bit voice-of-the-author sometimes
• long and not always obviously plot-relevant digressions that can feel a bit like the author is showing off about having done his research

According to Wikipedia the author always carefully arranges his dialogue so that there is never a page break in the middle of a sentence. It’s surprising how completely unnoticeable this is. (Also, I bet this really irritates his publisher.)