Haruhiko Oyabu (1935–1996) was a Japanese novelist and a pioneering figure in Japanese hard-boiled fiction. He made a sensational debut while still a student at Waseda University with *The Beast Must Die* and went on to establish a distinctive style characterized by fast-paced storytelling, meticulous knowledge of firearms and hunting, and solitary antiheroes. Many of his novels were adapted into films and television dramas, leaving a lasting influence on Japanese popular literature. His best-known work, *The Beast Must Die*, follows the relentless quest for revenge of Date Kunihiko, a man scarred by the Second World War, and remains a landmark of Japanese hard-boiled fiction.
