This novel - the Waterstones Book of the Year and widely reviewed and recommended - is based on a real life case of a con woman called 'The Konkatsu Killer'.

In this story, gourmet cook Manako Kajii has been convicted of the murders of lonely businessmen, whom she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking.

The case has captured the nation’s imagination but Kajii refuses to speak to the press, until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can’t resist writing back. And so begins their relationship.

It really is an extraordinary book. The descriptions of food are fabulous, the insight into Japanese culture is fascinating, the comments on women's role in society are powerful and thought-provoking. Little unsettling at times, but it's just refreshingly 'different'?!