Minato Kanae is a Japanese writer of crime fiction and thrillers. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of Japan and the Honkaku Mystery Writers Club of Japan.

She started writing in her thirties. Her first novel Confessions became a bestseller and won the Japanese Booksellers Award.

In youth, she was an avid fan of mystery novels of Edogawa Ranpo, Maurice Leblanc, Agatha Christie, Keigo Higashino, Miyuki Miyabe, and Yukito Ayatsuji.

The English edition of Minato's Confessions, published in August 2014, was described by a critic as "the Gone Girl of Japan."

Wall Street Journal selected Confessions as one of the 10 best mysteries of 2014.

(Source: Wikipedia)