Thanks for the great turnout and intriguing essay-comments this time around. Without further ado, here are the four winners of our Hanzai Japan giveaway contest! Though we must say that we are shocked and saddened that nobody mentioned Rebus.

Anyway... First up is Matthew! Though naming S. J. Rozan's Lydia Chin/Bill Smith wouldn't have been cheating (they're in the book!), we're big fans of Jim Chee as well.

Second is Carrie Morita for writing a poem! We are suckers for poems! Naomi Hirahara seems to inspire them!

Third up is the mysterious "n", who mentioned comic book antihero Spider Jerusalem. (We're also huge fans of Warren Ellis's two prose crime novels, btw.) We're big believers in "broad church" crime fiction, so liked the out there suggestion.

And finally, if only in order to encourage Alex to write the story, we select this entry about the notional detective seeking out the murder of Alexander III. Thanks for playing everyone, and remember to pick up a copy of Hanzai Japan next week! Catch me on gmail.com