Book Review: The Honjin Murder by Seishi Yokomizo

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Wow!! If you love a good murder mystery then this  classic Japanese mystery from Pushkin Vertigo is
definitely a must read for you. The story is a little eerie, the crime heinous, the sleuth scruffy-looking and the other elements present in just the right proportions to make it a great read even today years after it was first published in  1946. 

The book is a locked room mystery told by a writer of Detective stories who is visiting the scene of crime years after it was committed and solved to, what else, write about it. We meet the host of characters in the wealthy Ichiyanagi family which is getting ready to celebrate the marriage of the eldest son. The setting is the year 1937 and a small Japanese village and Yokomizo gives us a glimpse of the social and cultural norms of the rural life of that era.
A rumour is also fast gaining weight while the village gossips about the wedding and family. It seems a dangerous  man has been asking questions about the family,

And then it happens! On the night of the wedding, the entire household is woken by a bloodcurdling scream, followed by the sound of eerie music. A bloody samurai sword is found thrust into the snow outside the house. Soon, amateur detective Kosuke Kindaichi is brought in by the uncle of the murdered woman on to the scene to investigate what will become a legendary murder case. But can this eccentric sleuth solve a seemingly impossible crime?

 The Honjin Murders is the first book to feature Yokomizo's "scruffy-looking" sleuth Kosuke Kindaichi. Making his debut in 1946. He would go on to solve more than 70 cases over the next thirty-plus years before his creator's death in 1981.

I read an ebook thanks to NetGalley and the Pushkin Press

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