Butter is a bestselling Japanese literary thriller about Manako Kajii, a gourmet cook imprisoned in Tokyo on charges of murdering lonely businessmen. When journalist Rika Machida contacts Kajii asking for her beef-stew recipe, their correspondence develops into an unusual relationship centred on food, desire, identity, and obsession. The English translation is by Polly Barton.

Through lavish descriptions of food and cooking, the novel explores misogyny, beauty standards, body image, loneliness, female desire, and the social expectations placed on women. It was inspired by the real-life Japanese case known as the “Konkatsu Killer.”