Miyuki Miyabe is a famous writer, who has firmly established herself as the queen of modern Japanese detective fiction. Many of the four dozen books published by Miyabe have been awarded literary prizes, including the most prestigious Yamamoto Shugoro Prize and Naoki Prize. Miyabe’s detective novels have been translated into all European languages, and in England she is called nothing less than “Japanese Agatha Christie.” One of Miyabe’s most famous best-selling detective novels, the novel “The Burning Chariot” is published in Russian for the first time. In 2008, this book won absolute primacy in a reader poll, which was conducted in Japan under the motto “The Most Mysterious Story.” In 2011, Miyabe's famous novel was made into a television film. A flaming, madly rushing chariot that you can jump on, but then you can't jump off, even if you realize that it is carrying you to the underworld, is a symbolic image for this fascinating story about the mysterious the disappearance of a beautiful young woman who took someone else's name. The name of the girl who also disappeared... Who is she, the beautiful Shoko - an unfortunate victim, an insidious villain, or both?

This book has been selected by the Japanese Literature Publishing Project (JLPP), an initiative of the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan.