Kohei Inumaru, born in 1994, is a Japanese novelist from Minoh, Osaka. After graduating from Kyoto Sangyo University with a degree in English studies, he traveled through some forty countries as a backpacker, including destinations in the Middle East, South America, and Africa. While working as a rug buyer in Pakistan, he wrote “Saigo no Kotei to Nazotoki o,” which won the 24th “This Mystery Is Amazing!” Grand Prize and became his debut novel in 2026. Set in Beijing’s Forbidden City in 1920, the historical mystery follows China’s last emperor, Puyi, and a Japanese painter as they investigate a series of unusual incidents and form a friendship across barriers of nationality and social rank.
