Butter (novel)

Butter (Japanese: バター, Batā) is a 2017 Japanese novel by Asako Yuzuki. The story, inspired by a real-life serial murder case in Japan, follows a Tokyo journalist who starts interviewing a woman accused of tricking and possibly killing men by seducing them with her cooking. Originally published by Shinchosha in 2017, Butter was nominated for the Naoki Prize that year. An English translation by Polly Barton was published in 2024 (Fourth Estate in the UK and Ecco in the US). It was Yuzuki's first work translated to English. It became a bestseller and the Waterstones Book of the Year in 2024. It sold over 280,000 copies in Britain.