Turning Japanese #3: The Honjin Murders (1946) by Seishi Yokomizo (translated by Louise Heal Kawai)

Kenzo Ichiyanagi and his bride Katsuko are killed on their wedding night inside a locked annexe surrounded by a pristine blanket of snow.

Fortunately the bride’s uncle is the mentor of Kosuke Kindaichi who is starting to make a name for himself as a private detective and the stammering Northerner is able to pick through the clues to identify the who and how and why behind this heinous crime.

There are distinct parallels between Kindaichi, described as a “great detective” and Sherlock Holmes. KK saves himself from a drug-addled life by solving his first case in San Francisco and describes his approach as follows:

“The police investigate footprints and look for fingerprints. I take the results of these investigations and by piecing together all the available information logically, I am able to reach a conclusion. Those are my methods of deduction.”

I appreciate the fact that he recognises the importance of the work the police do – after all even the gifted amateur sleuth cannot make bricks without straw.

The mystery and its solution are a definite homage to English language puzzles from between the wars and there is even a chapter titled “A Conversation about Detective Novels” which name checks many Western writers alongside their Japanese counterparts.

The story is interestingly framed as being a case from 1937 that Yokomizo happened upon towards the end of the Second World War when he had been evacuated to the countryside. This enables him tell the story from a number of different perspectives and to comment on what later happened to some of the protagonists, including,very matter of factly given that it was so recent, that one died during the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Overall this is a very satisfying book although a reasonable amount of information is withheld until the lengthy exposition which occurs after the revelation of the criminal’s identity. I was properly misled by a delicious piece of reverse cluing and I even wrote down “This means that it can’t be…” and yet I did not feel cheated. I look forward to reading “The Inugami Curse” by the same author and hope that more of his work will be translated soon.

Previous posts in this series:

The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Soji Shimada

The Moai Island Puzzle by Alice Arisugawa

 

 

Authorial Anagrams – The Answers

Here are the solutions to last week’s anagrams:

1. Alice F. Milner – Celia Fremlin
2. Amber Anthers – Ernest Bramah
3. Archie Lyr – Cyril Hare
4. Ayrton Calsnow – Clayton Rawson
5. Dennis Ducrimp – Edmund Crispin
6. Eliza R. Swalling – Israel Zangwill
7. Graham Gary Millen – Margery Allingham
8. Helena McInis – Michael Innes
9. Jed Bohun – John Bude
10. Jock N. Richardson – John Dickson Carr
11. Josiah Midas – Soji Shimada
12. Lance Frissie – Francis Iles
13. Leonard H. Courtnay – Arthur Conan Doyle
14. Muriel C. Balance – Maurice Leblanc
15. Moses Gingerone-  Georges Simenon
16. Nevil Air – Ira Levin
17. Peter Nyprun – Rupert Penny
18. Richard Santabinn – Christianna Brand
19. Saffron McWellister – Freeman Wills Crofts
20. Simon Butler – Miles Burton

Authorial Anagrams

In line with my online handle, below are twenty names that authors of detective fiction could have used when they wanted to check into a hotel anonymously. Can you arrange them to find their true identity? Answers – if required – will be provided sometime next week.

1. Alice F. Milner
2. Amber Anthers
3. Archie Lyr
4. Ayrton Calsnow
5. Dennis Ducrimp
6. Eliza R. Swalling
7. Graham Gary Millen
8. Helena McInis
9. Jed Bohun
10. Jock N. Richardson
11. Josiah Midas
12. Lance Frissie
13. Leonard H. Courtnay
14. Muriel C. Balance
15. Moses Gingerone
16. Nevil Air
17. Peter Nyprun
18. Richard Santabinn
19. Saffron McWellister
20. Simon Butler