Anju

My recent leisure reading is Anju (暗獸) of Miyabe Miyuki (宮部美幸). In short, this is the second collection of horror stories after Osoroshi (怪談).

(See http://ccszeto.blogspot.hk/2012/09/osoroshi.html)

Contrary to the usual problem that sequels suck, this one is marvellous - arguably better than those we had in the previous collection. The component of horror is much less, and the stories are rich in details and human touch - and that's all the reason. As Sherlock Holmes noted, a substantial proportion of the cases referred to him were not, strictly speaking, crimes (and even fewer were murders), many were interesting because of the psychology and human interaction. For the same reason, not every account that Chikako (近子) heard in the Chamber between Black and White (黒白の間) are supernatural - many have an entirely scientific explanation.

But, as you know, the most horrible happenings in this world are not done by ghost or Satan - Homo sapiens is the expert.