1894 – 1965

Born in Mie Prefecture, his real name was Tarō Hirai. After graduating from Waseda University’s School of Political Science and Economics, he held various jobs, including working for a trading company, as a secondhand bookseller, a newspaper reporter, and even running a Chinese noodle shop. In 1923, he published Ni-sen dōka（”The Two-Sen Copper Coin”） in the magazine Shin Seinen. From then on, he wrote numerous detective novels, adaptations, and literary critiques, including D-zaka no satsujin jiken（”The Case of the Murder on D. Hill”）,Injū （Beast in the Shadows）, Oshie to Tabi-suru Otoko（”The Traveler with the Pasted Rag Picture” ）, Kaijin ni-jū mensō （”The Fiend with Twenty Faces”）, and Genei-jo (“Castle of illusion”). In 1947, he became the first president of the Detective Writers’ Club (later the Mystery Writers of Japan) and dedicated himself to nurturing new writers. His pen name was a tribute to the writer Edgar Allan Poe.