INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER The cult Japanese bestseller about a female gourmet cook and serial
killer and the journalist intent on cracking her case inspired by a true story There are two
things that I simply cannot tolerate: feminists and margarine. Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits
in the Tokyo Detention House convicted of the serial 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 with the press entertaining no visitors. That is until
journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can’t
resist writing back. Rika the only woman in her news office works late each night rarely
cooking more than ramen. As the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii they are closer
to a master class in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will
help her soften Kajii but it seems that Rika might be the one changing. With each meal she
eats something is awakening in her body. Do she and Kajii have more in common than she once
thought? Inspired by the real case of a convicted con woman and serial killer—the “Konkatsu
Killer”—Asako Yuzuki’s Butter is a vivid unsettling exploration of misogyny obsession
romance and the transgressive pleasures of food in Japan.
