10 Must-Read Mystery Novels According To Hideo Kojima

Published Sep 17, 2026, 7:09 AM EDT

Nicholas Becher is a gaming journalist with an MFA in Creative Writing from FAU. With extensive experience playing video games, he covers all forms of gaming content at Screen Rant, from breaking news to the latest fan theories. Most-played games range from Clair Obscur to Civ to Elden Ring to Halo 2 and beyond. 

Hideo Kojima may be most well-known for his work in the video game industry, producing the iconic Metal Gear franchise and Death Stranding saga and becoming famous for his signature cinematic storytelling, but his interests extend far beyond games. Kojima has long been vocal about his love of film, music, and especially literature, regularly using social media and interviews to recommend his favorite works.

His reading tastes are notably eclectic, ranging from science fiction and horror to literary fiction and crime, but mystery novels unquestionably hold a particularly special place in his heart. That passion eventually led to the Hidemys, Kojima’s annual "Mystery Golden Dozen" selections highlighting some of the mystery books he enjoys most each year.

Across those lists and his more casual recommendations, Kojima has championed everything from traditional whodunits and locked-room mysteries to darker crime novels and psychological thrillers, and these are just a small sampling of some of his top picks.

10 The Chatham School Affair — Thomas H. Cook (1996)

Thomas H. Cook's The Chatham School Affair is a literary murder mystery built around memory, obsession, and a tragedy that continues haunting its narrator decades after it happens. Set around a New England boarding school, the story gradually unfolds after a young teacher becomes involved in a scandalous relationship that ultimately ends in death.

Kojima recommended this bestseller in a post on X after receiving a new edition of the novel, but called out The Chatham School Affair as his favorite Cook masterpiece, saying he planned to reread it and enthusiastically recommended it to his followers.

9 A Good Girl's Guide To Murder — Holly Jackson (2019)

Holly Jackson's A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder follows student Pip Fitz-Amobi as she reopens the supposedly solved murder of Andie Bell, becoming convinced that the man blamed for the crime was innocent. The novel became a major YA mystery success and later inspired a popular television adaptation starring Emma Myers as Pip, bringing the story to an even wider audience.

Kojima was already a fan years earlier, selecting Jackson's book for his inaugural Hidemys! 2021 Mystery Golden Dozen. The annual feature highlighted the mystery novels he found most interesting that year, making A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder one of the clearest examples of Kojima's taste overlapping with a modern mainstream mystery hit.

8 Moonflower Murders — Anthony Horowitz (2020)

Moonflower Murders is the second novel in Horowitz's Susan Ryeland mystery series, following Magpie Murders and preceding the Marble Hall Murders, all well worth checking out if you're a mystery buff. Former editor Susan Ryeland is once again pulled into a case connected to the late author Alan Conway when she investigates the disappearance of Cecily Treherne, who believed the solution to an old murder was hidden inside one of Conway's Atticus Pünd novels.

Kojima selected Moonflower Murders for his Hidemys! 2021 Mystery Golden Dozen as well, highlighting it among the mystery novels that most impressed him that year.

7 And Then There Were None — Agatha Christie (1939)

Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None strands ten strangers on an isolated island, where they are killed one by one according to an ominous nursery rhyme. Originally published in Britain in 1939 with an unbelievably racist title, the novel was later known in some editions as "Ten Little Indians" (not much better) before And Then There Were None eventually became the standard title.

Despite the unfortunate titling travesties over the years, it has inspired numerous adaptations, including René Clair’s 1945 film and the acclaimed 2015 BBC miniseries. Kojima discussed Christie extensively in his essay collection, The Creative Gene, and when forced to choose just one of her novels to preserve, he picked And Then There Were None, praising its groundbreaking setup, misdirection, and twist ending.

6 The Thursday Murder Club — Richard Osman (2020)

Richard Osman launched what has become an extremely successful and hugely popular five-book mystery series with The Thursday Murder Club, following four residents of an English retirement community who spend their free time investigating cold cases. Their hobby becomes much more serious when a local developer is murdered, giving Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim, and Ron a real case to solve.

The series has since grown through 2026's The Impossible Fortune, its fifth installment, while the original novel was also adapted into a 2025 Netflix film starring Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie. Kojima was an early admirer, including the book in his Hidemys! 2021 Mystery Golden Dozen.

5 Darkness, Take My Hand — Dennis Lehane (1996)

Dennis Lehane's Darkness, Take My Hand is the second novel in his Kenzie & Gennaro series, following Boston private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro as a protection job spirals into a disturbing string of murders connected to their own past. The series eventually grew to six novels, including Gone, Baby, Gone and Moonlight Mile.

Kojima singled this installment out in The Creative Gene as well, saying that if he had to recommend just one Kenzie & Gennaro book, it would be Darkness, Take My Hand. He praised it as exceptionally powerful, hard-boiled fiction and even revealed that he once looked into acquiring the film rights himself.

4 Eight Perfect Murders — Peter Swanson (2020)

Hideo Kojima was especially enthusiastic about Peter Swanson's Eight Perfect Murders, saying he read the novel in one sitting and highly recommended it before later including it in his Hidemys! 2023 Mystery Golden Dozen. The book follows Boston bookseller Malcolm Kershaw, who once wrote an article identifying eight fictional murders he considered nearly impossible to solve.

Years later, an FBI agent approaches him after a string of real killings appears to be copying that list. What begins as a literary puzzle quickly becomes a tense investigation into whether someone is recreating the "perfect murders" from classic mystery fiction. This is the kind of mystery designed for hardcore fans of the genre.

3 The Tainted Cup — Robert Jackson Bennett (2024)

Robert Jackson Bennett's The Tainted Cup blends a classic murder mystery with an elaborate fantasy setting, following eccentric investigator Ana Dolabra and her magically enhanced assistant, Dinios Kol. Their case begins when a high-ranking imperial officer is found dead with a tree seemingly erupting from his body, leading the pair toward a much larger conspiracy threatening the Empire.

The novel launched Bennett’s Shadow of the Leviathan series and won both the Hugo and World Fantasy awards. Kojima was especially enthusiastic, calling the book "a masterpiece" and saying it worked brilliantly as a mystery even though he does not typically read much fantasy.

2 All The Sinners Bleed — S.A. Cosby (2023)

S.A. Cosby's All the Sinners Bleed follows Titus Crown, a former FBI agent who becomes the first Black sheriff of his Virginia hometown and is quickly pulled into a horrifying investigation after a school shooting exposes evidence of a serial killer operating in the area. The novel blends a procedural murder mystery with Southern noir, using Titus' investigation to explore violence, faith, racism, and the burden of authority in a divided community.

Kojima was especially impressed by the book, praising it after reading an advance copy and later selecting it for his Hidemys! 2024 Mystery Golden Dozen.

1 All She Was Worth — Miyuki Miyabe, Translated By Alfred Birnbaum (1992)

Miyuki Miyabe's All She Was Worth, originally published in Japan as Kasha, follows injured Tokyo detective Shunsuke Honma as he searches for his nephew's missing fiancée and discovers a disturbing case involving bankruptcy, stolen identity, and possible murder. The novel became a major success in Japan, winning the 1993 Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize and earning recognition as one of the country's standout mysteries.

Kojima’s praise is even stronger, noting in The Creative Gene that it's a "masterpiece among masterpieces" and says it ranks among his 50 favorite books of all time, applauding how Miyabe turned Japan's debt crisis into a haunting mystery. It's a top recommendation from the acclaimed video game developer and mystery book aficiando, and is one of dozens of excellent titles with Hideo Kojima's stamp of approval.