He continued to write in the evenings and on weekends,[3] submitting unpublished mystery novels for consideration for the annual Edogawa Rampo Prize in 1983.
In 1985, at the age of 27, he won the Rampo Prize for best unpublished mystery for Hōkago (放課後, After School), drawing on experiences of the archery club at his former university.
[3] Higashino was inspired to write the story by reading a book in which a young child possessed the memories of someone who died nearby.
[2] In 2006, Higashino won the 134th Naoki Prize for The Devotion of Suspect X (容疑者Xの献身, Yōgisha Ekkusu no Kenshin), an award for which he had been nominated five times previously.
[3] Higashino received the Eiji Yoshikawa Literary Prize in 2014 for Inori no Maku ga Oriru Toki (祈りの幕が下りる時, When the Curtain of Prayer Descends), the 10th book[a] to feature Detective Kyoichiro Kaga.
[6] His popularity has drawn the attention of Asian academics, with papers and master's theses on his work published in China,[7] Indonesia,[8] Malaysia,[9] and Taiwan,[10] for example, and has also stimulated United States scholars.
[citation needed] Higashino's works often include scientific elements, such as nuclear power generation and brain transplantation.
Andrew Joyce writes in The Wall Street Journal that Higashino explores how "feelings of loyalty and the oppressive weight of human relations" are "catalysts for murder and dark pacts between neighbors or co-workers to dispose of bodies."
Higashino claims that Japanese people prefer this format, in which the effects of characters' actions and intentions, in terms of emotions such as guilt and anguish, become clearer only towards the end of the story.
[3] While Higashino admits to liking Western writers, he feels most strongly influenced by Japanese authors such as Edogawa Rampo and Seicho Matsumoto.