The Honjin Murders: 28 (Detective Kindaichi Mysteries)
Seishi Yokomizo has earned comparisons to Agatha Christie, and after reading this 1937-set mystery, it's easy to understand why. The Guardian called him 'the master of ingenious plotting', and the New York Times described his work as 'dazzling'. High praise, but this novel delivers on it. Set in the rural village of Okamura, the story opens with wedding preparations underway for a son of the prominent Ichiyanagi family. Beneath the festive anticipation, though, something unsettling stirs: a masked stranger has been quietly making enquiries about the family around the village. Then the wedding night itself brings horror. A piercing scream tears through the household, followed by haunting music drifting into the cold air. When the family investigates, they find a bloodied samurai sword driven into the snow outside, the only physical evidence left behind by a killer who seems to have vanished entirely. The murder looks, on the face of it, impossible. Enter Kosuke Kindaichi, the dishevelled amateur detective who anchors this celebrated series. His investigation peels back the surface of a tight-knit community to expose old secrets and stranger motives beneath. Yokomizo constructs his puzzle with real precision, and the solution, when it comes, is genuinely surprising without feeling contrived. A compelling introduction to a writer who deserves far wider recognition in the English-speaking world.
- Author: Seishi Yokomizo
- Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo
- Genre: Thrillers & Suspense
- ISBN: 978-1782275008
- Pages: 192 pages