Spring Rite

A mesmerizing Eastern fantasy with a detective intrigue and a strong psychological thread. Historic East, where beneath the glitter of ceremonies lie family dramas, betrayal, and ancient curses. Harsh mountains, snowfalls, fog, and forests create the feeling of a closed-off world, in which everyone is hiding something.

Lu Qiucha is a Chinese writer, winner of the “Best Debut” prize at the Second Chinese Crime Literature Competition (2014), a prize-winner of the 16th Bookstores in Japan Award (3rd place, 2019), recipient of the silver award of the 12th Chinese “Xinyun” Literary Prize (2021), and winner of the First Science Fiction Award “Million Dayouchen” (2023, best novella). Her books have repeatedly made it onto major Japanese lists of detective fiction, including Honkaku Mystery Best 10.

The ancient mountains of Yunmen guard secrets that it is dangerous to bring to light. Four years ago, the Guan family estate saw a brutal massacre: the father, mother, and two children were killed. Only the young Zho yin survived—beaten, barely alive—after, on that night, she fell into a blizzard and vanished. Zho yin insists she did not see the murderer. But the footprints in the snow near the house stubbornly suggest that she was not alone—someone else was there.

When Xiaokui arrives in Yunmen—an archer and a student of the capital’s wise men—she learns about the old crime and is pulled into the search for the truth. The investigation leads her to ancient rituals, family curses, suppressed memories, and fears capable of stripping one of their sanity. Contradictions multiply; familiar logic starts to crack—yet the real nightmare begins at the moment Xiaokui discovers a new body.