Author · 1894–1965
江戸川乱歩Edogawa Ranpo · えどがわ らんぽ
His pen name is a Japanese rendering of the name of Edgar Allan Poe, whom he admired. He began with detective stories such as 二銭銅貨 and went on to create the detective Akechi Kogorō. He also wrote many tales of the grotesque and the perverse, of which 人間椅子 is a famous example. Later he wrote the popular Boy Detectives series for young readers and promoted the mystery genre as an editor and critic. Japan's Edogawa Rampo Prize for mystery fiction is named after him.
Stories by Edogawa Ranpo
一人二役 — A Man of Two Parts
一人二役 is a short comic tale by Edogawa Ranpo, a writer best known for detective and mystery fiction. There is no murder here. It is a playful domestic story about deception and jealousy. The narrator tells it aloud to a listener, describing…
人間椅子 — The Man Inside the Chair
人間椅子 is a short tale of psychological horror by Edogawa Ranpo, first published in 1925. Most of it takes the form of a letter. One morning Yoshiko, a famous woman writer, opens a thick envelope from an unknown admirer. Inside is a long…