Naomi Hirahara is an Edgar Award-winning author of multiple traditional mystery series and noir short stories. Her Mas Arai mysteries, which have been published in Japanese, Korean and French, feature a Los Angeles gardener and Hiroshima survivor who solves crimes. Her first historical mystery, CLARK AND DIVISION, which won a Mary Higgins Clark Award, follows a Japanese American family’s move to Chicago in 1944 after being released from a California wartime detention center. 

A former journalist with The Rafu Shimpo newspaper, Naomi has also written numerous non-fiction history books and curated exhibitions. She has also written a middle-grade novel, 1001 CRANES. EVERGREEN, her follow-up to CLARK AND DIVISION, released in August 2023 and was on the USA Today bestseller list for two weeks. Her latest book is CROWN CITY.

Books by Naomi Hirahara

Evergreen: A Japantown Mystery

by Naomi Hirahara - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

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.

Clark and Division

by Naomi Hirahara - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

Set 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 focus the struggles of one Japanese American family released from mass incarceration at Manzanar during World War II.