Bajiru Mori (born 1992) is a Japanese novelist from Miyazaki Prefecture and a graduate of Kyushu University. He received an Excellence Award in the autumn division of the 23rd Sneaker Awards in 2018 and the 30th Seicho Matsumoto Prize in 2023. Combining mystery, coming-of-age fiction, science fiction, fantasy and romance, “Nou Itto Oru: Anata Dake ga Shitte Iru” follows people inhabiting different versions of a world centered on one town. The title combines “Know It All” with a subtitle meaning “Only You Know.” Its interconnected stories give readers access to relationships and events that remain beyond the individual characters’ knowledge. The book earned him the Seicho Matsumoto Prize. Following a detective who dreams of solving extraordinary cases but spends his time investigating romantic entanglements, “Tantei Koishi wa Koi Shinai,” meaning “Detective Koishi Does Not Fall in Love,” centers on Koishi and his colleague Renjo. As they investigate infidelity and concealed relationships, another case develops behind the scenes, changing the significance of what they encounter. The novel placed eighth in the 2026 Japan Booksellers’ Award. Mori’s fiction uses differences between what characters and readers know, together with expectations associated with literary genres, to reshape how a story is understood as it unfolds. In the sequel, Tantei Koishi wa Modoranai (2026), Renjo witnesses Koishi in the role of a perpetrator rather than a detective. This reversal unsettles the understanding of a familiar character and the trust associated with the detective’s role, extending the series through a new challenge to readers’ expectations.
