Following the belated news that Japan's representative mystery writer Keigo Higashino passed away on the 23rd, a wave of mourning continues across South Korea's bookstores.

Major bookstores including Kyobo Book Centre, Yes24, and Aladin launched online memorial pages and special author exhibitions today (the 28th) on their websites to introduce the late author's life and representative works.

Aladin honored the late author by featuring the phrase "The master of mystery loved by Koreans" on its memorial page.

Aladin introduced the late author's biography and works, and set up a bulletin board where netizens could leave condolence messages.

As of around 3 p.m. today, about 640 people had left farewell messages to the author there.

One netizen left a memorial message saying, "The ultimate plot twist for me is the author's death. Thank you for your human-centric novels."

Another netizen expressed sorrow, saying, "I have waited for every new release since middle school and was happy with the books pouring out every year without fail, but I am sad that I can no longer enjoy that happiness."

Yes24 also created a memorial page to commemorate the late author, who was a giant in Japanese mystery and a master of contemporary detective fiction.

Kyobo Book Centre is currently operating a special author exhibition page to commemorate the recent domestic translation and publication of Keigo Higashino's full-length novel "Transparent Spiral."

"Transparent Spiral" is the latest installment in the "Galileo" series. Launched in 1998, the series has gained immense popularity for its stories of a genius physicist solving mysteries using scientific knowledge.

With the news of Keigo Higashino's passing, public interest in the author and his works is also increasing.

Keigo Higashino ranked number one in real-time popular searches on Kyobo Book Centre and Yes24.

On Aladin's real-time bestseller list, "Transparent Spiral" claimed the number one spot, while Keigo Higashino's "Malice" ranked seventh.

Keigo Higashino, who passed away from colorectal cancer on the 23rd, is called the godfather of Japanese mystery novels.

Born in Osaka, Japan in 1958, he graduated from the Department of Electrical Engineering at Osaka Prefecture University.

After graduating from college, he worked as an engineer before starting to write novels, making his debut in 1985 by winning the Edogawa Rampo Prize for "After School."

Since then, every work he published, including "Naoko," "Journey Under the Midnight Sun," "The Devotion of Suspect X," "The Miracles of the Namiya General Store," and "Fake Mask," received widespread acclaim for both literary value and popular appeal, establishing him as a global author beyond Japan.

He continued his active writing career even while battling illness, and "Eternal Memory" is scheduled to be published in Japan next month.

This book is the latest full-length novel in the "Galileo" series and has become a posthumous work published after the author's death.

(Photo: Yonhap News / Captured from Yes24 website)