Editing Asako Yuzuki (section)

===''Butter'' and international recognition===

In 2017 Yuzuki published ''BUTTER'', a novel loosely inspired by the real-life case of Kanae Kijima, a woman convicted of luring and murdering middle-aged men. The novel's protagonist is a journalist investigating a female suspect accused of seducing men with her cooking. ''BUTTER'' received Yuzuki's fourth Naoki Prize nomination (157th).

When ''Butter'' was translated into English by Polly Barton and published in 2024, it became an international sensation. It reached bestseller lists in the United Kingdom and United States, was named Waterstones Book of the Year 2024, and won the British Book Awards 2025 Debut Fiction Award in the translated fiction category. The novel was widely praised for its intertwining of food, feminism, and psychological suspense, and drew comparisons to the work of Patricia Highsmith and Ruth Rendell.