Naomi Hirahara

Author Information
Naomi Hirahara's Latest Book

Newest Release

  • Bibliography:
    15 Books (4 Series)
  • First Book:
    April 2004
  • Latest Book:
    August 2023
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Full Series List in Order

A Japantown Mystery

1 - Clark and Division (Aug-2021)
2 - Evergreen (Aug-2023)

A Leilani Santiago Hawai'i Mystery

1 - Iced in Paradise (Jan-2019)
2 - An Eternal Lei (Mar-2022)

A Mas Arei Mystery

1 - Summer of the Big Bachi (Apr-2004)
2 - Gasa-Gasa Girl (Apr-2005)
3 - Snakeskin Shamisen (Apr-2006)
4 - Blood Hina (Jan-2010)
5 - Strawberry Yellow (Feb-2013)
6 - Sayonara Slam (Apr-2016)
7 - Hiroshima Boy (Feb-2018)

An Officer Ellie Rush Mystery

1 - Murder on Bamboo Lane (Apr-2014)
2 - Grave on Grand Avenue (Apr-2015)

Book List in Order: 15 titles

  • Summer of the Big Bachi

    A Mas Arei Mystery - 1

    Hiroshima 1945. Los Angeles 1999. A summer of war. A summer of secrets. A summer of revenge. In the foothills of Pasadena, Mas Arai is just another Japanese American gardener, his lawn mower blades clean and sharp, his truck carefully tuned. But whi...

  • Gasa-Gasa Girl

    A Mas Arei Mystery - 2

    From the time she was a child, Mas Arai’s daughter, Mari, was completely gasa-gasa -- never sitting still, always on the go, getting into everything. And Mas, busy tending lawns, gambling, and struggling to put his Hiroshima past behind him, never ...

  • Snakeskin Shamisen

    A Mas Arei Mystery - 3

    From Summer of the Big Bachi to Gasa-Gasa Girl, Naomi Hirahara's acclaimed novels have featured one of mystery fiction's most unique heroes: Mas Arai, a curmudgeonly L.A. gardener, Hiroshima survivor, and inveterate gambler. Few things get Mas mo...

  • 1001 Cranes

    WHEN 12-YEAR-OLD ANGELA Kato arrives in L.A., the last thing she wants to do is spend the entire summer with her grandparents. But in the Kato family, one is never permitted to complain. Grandma Michi and Aunt Janet put Angela to work in their flower...

  • Blood Hina

    A Mas Arei Mystery - 4

    In this fourth installment of Naomi Hirahara's highly acclaimed "Mas Arai" mystery series, Mas' best friend Haruo is getting married and Mas has grudgingly agreed to serve as best man. But then an ancient Japanese doll display of Haruo's fiancee goes...

  • Strawberry Yellow

    A Mas Arei Mystery - 5

    Curmudgeonly Japanese American gardener and unwitting detective Mas Arai is back in this fifth in the Edgar Award"winning series. Naomi Hirahara has created a memorable protagonist unlike any other: a Hiroshima survivor, Los Angeles gardener, widow...

  • Murder on Bamboo Lane

    An Officer Ellie Rush Mystery - 1

    Trouble awaits rookie LAPD Officer Ellie Rush as she patrols the mean streets of Los Angeles on her bicycle... Bike cop Ellie Rush dreams of becoming a homicide detective, but it's still a shock when the first dead body she encounters on the job ...

  • Grave on Grand Avenue

    An Officer Ellie Rush Mystery - 2

    LAPD bicycle cop -- and aspiring homicide detective -- Ellie Rush is back on patrol in the newest mystery from the award-winning author of Murder on Bamboo Lane. Ellie stops for a friendly chat with gardener Eduardo Fuentes while patrolling one o...

  • Ladies' Night

    From Valley Girls to Valley of the Dolls, the L.A. Woman has captured our imagination and redefined the fairer sex. CJ Parker is our lifeguard, Lucy Arnaz, our studio executive, Angelyne, our reality star, and the Black Dahlia, our murder victim. L.A...



  • Sayonara Slam

    A Mas Arei Mystery - 6

    The Japanese American detective’s most engaging mystery yet delves into baseball, WWII, and the complex history between Japan and Korea: “Hard to put down” (Kirkus Reviews). At Dodger Stadium, Japan is playing Korea in the World Baseball C...

  • Hiroshima Boy

    A Mas Arei Mystery - 7

    LA gardener Mas Arai returns to Hiroshima to bring his best friend’s ashes to a relative on the tiny offshore island of Ino, only to become embroiled in the mysterious death of a teenage boy who was about the same age Mas was when he survived the a...

  • Iced in Paradise

    A Leilani Santiago Hawai'i Mystery - 1

    Leilani Santiago is back in her birthplace, the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i, to help keep afloat the family business, a shave ice shack. When she goes to work one morning, she stumbles across a dead body, a young pro surfer who was being coached by h...

  • Clark and Division

    A Japantown Mystery - 1

    A New York Times Best Mystery Novel of 2021Set in 1944 Chicago, Edgar Award-winner Naomi Hirahara’s eye-opening and poignant new mystery, the story of a young woman searching for the truth about her revered older sister's death, brings to fo...

  • An Eternal Lei

    A Leilani Santiago Hawai'i Mystery - 2

    It's the middle of the pandemic and Hawaii has been virtually closed to tourists.So when Leilani Santiago and her young sisters save a mysterious woman wearing an unusual lei from drowning in Waimea Bay in Kaua‘i, questions abound. Who is she and w...

  • Evergreen

    A Japantown Mystery - 2

    A Japanese American nurse's aide navigates the dangers of post-WWII and post-Manzanar life as she attempts to find justice for a broken family in this follow-up to the Mary Higgins Clark Award"winning Clark and Division.Los Angeles, 1946: It’s be...

Award-Winning Books by Naomi Hirahara

Clark and Division
2022 Edgar Allan Poe Award -- Mary Higgins Clark Award
2022 Macavity Award -- Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery
Snakeskin Shamisen
2007 Edgar Allan Poe Award -- Paperback Original


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Naomi Hirahara has published 15 books.

Naomi Hirahara does not have a new book coming out soon. The latest book, Evergreen, was published in August 2023.

The first book by Naomi Hirahara, Summer of the Big Bachi, was published in April 2004.

Yes. Naomi Hirahara has 4 series.
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