Japanese mystery fiction master Keigo Higashino, who passed away on the 23rd, ranked as the bestselling foreign novelist in South Korea over the past decade.

He also placed second overall in novelist sales including Korean authors.

According to Kyobo Book Centre today (July 29), an analysis of sales data in the novel category from July 27, 2016, to July 26 this year showed that Higashino took second place by a narrow margin following Han Kang in total domestic and international novelist sales.

Kyobo Book Centre noted that he was the undisputed number one among foreign novelists.

During this period, the ranking of novelists by sales in the Kyobo Book Centre novel category was Han Kang, Keigo Higashino, Hermann Hesse, Haruki Murakami, Kim Ho-yeon, Bernard Werber, Lee Mi-ye, Yang Gui-ja, J.K. Rowling, and Albert Camus.

The bestselling work by Higashino at Kyobo Book Centre over the past 10 years was The Miracles of the Namiya General Store.

This was followed by The Masked Mountain Villa Murder Case, A Fictitious Criminal, You Killed Someone, and The Devotion of Suspect X.

Readers in their 30s purchased his works the most during the same period, accounting for 30.0%.

They were followed by those in their 40s at 26.3% and 50s at 23.0%.

By gender, female readers made up 59.7%, a higher proportion than male readers at 40.3%, showing strong support particularly from female readers in their 30s to 50s.

Higashino, dubbed the godfather of Japanese mystery fiction and immensely popular in South Korea, passed away at the age of 68 after battling colon cancer.

(Photo: Yonhap News)