Clay Boutwell

Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Match Girl" is not a Japanese folktale. It is Danish, first published in 1845. But Japan took it in well over a century ago, and generations of Japanese children have grown up with it.

Hikoichi is back. If you listened to Volume One, you already know him: the clever young man whose quick thinking always leaves somebody else standing there scratching their head. This volume brings three more tales, and in the last of them Hikoichi steps aside for a story of a very different kind.

Meet the tengu. Long nose, red face, the robes of a mountain ascetic, and a fan that raises a great wind. He guards the deep mountains, flies, disappears under a straw cloak, and taught the ninja everything they know.

Meet Chiyo-ni. A morning glory has wound itself around her well bucket overnight. Rather than tear it off, she goes next door to borrow water. That single act, and the seventeen sounds she wrote about it, made her one of the most loved poets Japan has ever produced.

Meet the kappa. Green, about the size of a small child, with a shell on its back and a dish of water balanced on its head. It turns up in warnings about swimming in rivers, in the name of a sushi roll, and in a proverb about how even an expert can come unstuck.

Two of Japan's darkest and most enduring folktales—and a full listening course built to make real Japanese finally click.

Two of Japan's most beloved folktales—and more than two hours of guided listening built to make real Japanese finally click. An old man keeps a pet sparrow he loves like a child. His sharp-tongued wife has other feelings—and one afternoon, over a bowl of spilled starch, she does something cruel.

Learn Japanese with Stories 4: The Mouse Bride and Ikkyū-san turns these two classic tales—stories every Japanese child grows up hearing—into a complete listening course for upper-beginner Japanese learners.

Learn Japanese vocabulary while listening to the stories of Momotaro and Usagi to Kame (Tortoise and the Hare). For upper beginners of Japanese and higher....

A woman enters the Boston Police Department, presenting to Sergeant Sully a bloodied knife and a confession that she had committed murder. The body was indeed discovered where she said it would be, and the knife was confirmed to be the murder weapon. But she could not have done it....

It is 1890. In the twilight of his years, Carl Brooke records his reminiscences as a member of the Agora Society. Each letter describes the society's involvement in solving a crime, often coming to the aid of Captain Barnwell of the Boston police....

Join Carl Brooke and Captain Barnwell on their final adventure together. Reeling from the horrific pain of the loss of Anne, his wife, Carl Brooke must face his ultimate nemesis, Thomas Drake. Did Drake play a hand in Anne’s death? Find out....

An anonymous telegram introduces Carl Brooke to both his future wife and her conflicted brother, who harbors a dark secret from the Civil War. The discovery of a deliberately cut tree reveals the presence of a mysterious one-legged man....

Carl Brooke, a scholar of ancient Near Eastern languages, now spends his twilight years chronicling the adventures of his youth as a leading member of the Agora Society, a society dedicated to the betterment of man....

An art critic is brutally murdered, and the subject of his last review is suspected. Did the artist do it, or was it one of the family members - all of whom had motive and opportunity? Find out....

Captain Barnwell, a longtime honorary member of the Agora Society, presents to the members a solved case one clue at a time. Three suspects. One murderer. Who is the murderer and why? Find out....

Murder and intrigue abound. At the center of it all appears a mysterious sheikh and his cursed ruby....

Edison, the most proper member of the Agora Society, hides a past he thought was long buried. The sudden appearance of a strange priest, however, reveals secrets that demand Edison honor an oath made long ago....

Kidnapped! An honorable man has gone missing. The sheriff dithers and every day brings death closer to a reality. It is late 1865. In the style of Arthur Conan Doyle, Clay Boutwell brings back the Agora Society and its premier scholar, Carl Brooke....

Jackson's life is about to change. Again. In 1906, the San Francisco earthquake took everything from him. It took, but it also gave....