The Asahi reports that this year’s Chuokoron Literary Prize goes to Higashino Keigo’s 「ナミヤ雑貨店の奇蹟」(“The Miracles of the Namiya General Store”).

The Chuokoron Literary Prize honors the best in “entertainment novels,” and offers a million yen prize.

Everybody does seem to love Mr. Higashino, don’t they? The English translation of his novel The Devotion of Suspect X was shortlisted for the Edgar Award, and Higashino is a perennial bestseller and the number one favorite author of 2011. Salvation of a Saint will be published in the US in October.