Series
Publication
Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd (2021)
Original publication date
1946 (da aprile a dicembre, sul periodico Hōseki); 1947, in volume (da aprile a dicembre, sul periodico Houseki)
1946 (serialized from April to December in the periodical Hōseki)
Collections
Genres
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Thriller. HTML:One of Japan's greatest classic murder mysteries, introducing their best loved detective, translated into English for the first time In the winter of 1937, the village of Okamura is abuzz with excitement over the forthcoming wedding of a son of the grand Ichiyanagi family. But amid the gossip over the approaching festivities, there is also a worrying rumour - it seems a sinister masked man has been asking questions around the village. Then, on the night of the wedding, the Ichiyanagi household are woken by a terrible scream, followed by the sound of eerie music. Death has come to Okamura, leaving no trace but a bloody samurai sword, thrust into the pristine snow outside the house. Soon, amateur detective Kosuke Kindaichi is on the scene to investigate what will become a legendary murder case, but can this scruffy sleuth solve a seemingly impossible crime?… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member pamelad
The Honjin Murders is set in Japan in 1937, and was first published in 1946. It is a classic locked room murder with a Japanese twist, and concerns itself as much with the history and mechanics of locked room mysteries as it does with its own plot. The detective even stops mid-investigation to give
Back to the plot. Honjin families belong to the upper-crust and take pride in their lineage and traditions. The marriage of the oldest son of a Honjin family gives rise to the deaths in a locked annexe. He has insisted on marrying a young woman who, while capable and well-educated, comes from a family of a much lower class. His mother and brothers are unhappy, but he is the head of the family and cannot be swayed.
I liked this mystery for its glimpse into prewar Japanese society: the clothes; the buildings; the traditions; the customs; the music. I was also entertained by the writer's affection for locked room mysteries. It didn't help the plot in any way, but the oddness was appealing.
I enjoyed [The Honjin Murders] not for being a well-plotted mystery with believable characters, because it's not, but for its strangeness.
Show More
a review of locked room mysteries. His own preference is for those that forego the use of mechanical contrivances, and his favourite of these is [The Yellow Room] by [[Gaston Leroux]]. Back to the plot. Honjin families belong to the upper-crust and take pride in their lineage and traditions. The marriage of the oldest son of a Honjin family gives rise to the deaths in a locked annexe. He has insisted on marrying a young woman who, while capable and well-educated, comes from a family of a much lower class. His mother and brothers are unhappy, but he is the head of the family and cannot be swayed.
I liked this mystery for its glimpse into prewar Japanese society: the clothes; the buildings; the traditions; the customs; the music. I was also entertained by the writer's affection for locked room mysteries. It didn't help the plot in any way, but the oddness was appealing.
I enjoyed [The Honjin Murders] not for being a well-plotted mystery with believable characters, because it's not, but for its strangeness.
Show Less
LibraryThing member George_Stokoe
Great detective novel; I read it straight through eight hours last night 6PM t0 2AM.
its a Japanese "locked room" murder mystery. A couple on their wedding night get brutally killed. The bloodied katana is found outside their house sticking out of the snowy ground. No footprints are found.All the
A major theme of the novel is murder mysteries themselves. The narrator is an author of fictional versions, who relays the story second hand, and one of the characters is a big aficianado of Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie.
Not mentioned in the text, but I suspect another influence is Edgar Allan Poe, in particular his short story "The Black Cat".
Along with the main suspect, a sinister wandering three fingered tramp, the other most interesting character is Suzuko, youngest daughter of the widowed matriarch, "considered a bit slow". Prone to sleepwalking, and troubled by her pet cats death.
Yokomizo uses a similar technique to Poe, of stacking eerie coincidences in the plot, while ostensibly dismissing superstitious nonsense, for example about ghost cats, in the surface narrative.
The murders happen against a back story of an old island feud, sinister strains of a koto playing at night, and the old hangovers of the hierarchies of feudal Japan.
Ending paragraphs are so poignant that the story stays with you after you've finished reading.
A great read.
its a Japanese "locked room" murder mystery. A couple on their wedding night get brutally killed. The bloodied katana is found outside their house sticking out of the snowy ground. No footprints are found.All the
Show More
doors of the house remain locked from the inside. A major theme of the novel is murder mysteries themselves. The narrator is an author of fictional versions, who relays the story second hand, and one of the characters is a big aficianado of Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie.
Not mentioned in the text, but I suspect another influence is Edgar Allan Poe, in particular his short story "The Black Cat".
Along with the main suspect, a sinister wandering three fingered tramp, the other most interesting character is Suzuko, youngest daughter of the widowed matriarch, "considered a bit slow". Prone to sleepwalking, and troubled by her pet cats death.
Yokomizo uses a similar technique to Poe, of stacking eerie coincidences in the plot, while ostensibly dismissing superstitious nonsense, for example about ghost cats, in the surface narrative.
The murders happen against a back story of an old island feud, sinister strains of a koto playing at night, and the old hangovers of the hierarchies of feudal Japan.
Ending paragraphs are so poignant that the story stays with you after you've finished reading.
A great read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member murderbydeath
I wavered between 3.5 and 4 stars; ultimately, I'm going with 4. This is a really well-written, cleverly plotted ode to the Golden Age of mystery, specifically, the golden age of locked room mysteries (I loved all the name dropping!). Even though it's written much later, everything about it harkens
None of that matters anyway, it didn't detract a bit from my enjoyment of the book. The only thing that ticked me off is the same thing that's been ticking me off about historic literature since Bronte and Austen: the affectation of using O– instead of just putting the damn village/town/city name in. Just seeing "the –shire" makes me itch in irritation, and the liberal use of it in this book had the same effect. I don't care why they did it, it's irritating.
I borrowed this from the library, and I have to say, I enjoyed it enough that I'll be looking for my own copy to add to my personal collection. I'm sort of curious, too, to read the next one, which my library happens to have as well.
Show More
back to those magic days when mystery writing was new and full of unexplored nooks and crannies. The device that the plot turned on was fiendish, but part of me wants to quibble about the mechanics - specifically the speed which everything happened, but that's just pickiness - the buildings could have been further apart, the people slower, or the water faster than I'm imagining them.None of that matters anyway, it didn't detract a bit from my enjoyment of the book. The only thing that ticked me off is the same thing that's been ticking me off about historic literature since Bronte and Austen: the affectation of using O– instead of just putting the damn village/town/city name in. Just seeing "the –shire" makes me itch in irritation, and the liberal use of it in this book had the same effect. I don't care why they did it, it's irritating.
I borrowed this from the library, and I have to say, I enjoyed it enough that I'll be looking for my own copy to add to my personal collection. I'm sort of curious, too, to read the next one, which my library happens to have as well.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Melisende
I am reading more books that have been translated from their original language - and not just detective fiction. In this instance, I was drawn to the "locked door" mystery and was interested to see how this was interpreted.
This setting, in 1930s Japan, sees a seemingly impossible murder committed
As we are propelled along with the investigation, Kindaichi seemingly takes over and many clues come to light and mysteries are solved. The final denoument occurs about three quarters of the way in and is covered off in the last few chapters.
What I enjoyed was the reflective beginnings to this tale, told ten years after the fact and utilising facts garnered from the original investigation - so a little bit of back and forth in the timeline.
This setting, in 1930s Japan, sees a seemingly impossible murder committed
Show More
on the night of a wedding. Whilst the police investigate, one of the wedding guests calls in the services of renown private detective Kosuke Kindaichi who is described as ".. ungainly [in] manner, wild, [with] dishevelled hair and a stammer..." and man who ".. enjoyed putting on a show ..".As we are propelled along with the investigation, Kindaichi seemingly takes over and many clues come to light and mysteries are solved. The final denoument occurs about three quarters of the way in and is covered off in the last few chapters.
What I enjoyed was the reflective beginnings to this tale, told ten years after the fact and utilising facts garnered from the original investigation - so a little bit of back and forth in the timeline.
Show Less
LibraryThing member annbury
This classic Japanese mystery is interesting, but is very much of its time. It was written in 1946 and set in the late 1930's, brings to mind Ellery Queen, John Dickson Carr and other "puzzle" mystery writers of the period. The Japanese setting was of course very different from the venues of
Show More
Western writers, though it does take place in a large and prestigious country house. And the detective who solves the crime, Kosuke Kindaichi, is an engaging character. Overall, however, the book shares the characteristics of Western "puzzles" of the period: a focus on how the crime was done, rather than on who did it, or why. Show Less
LibraryThing member alexrichman
A genre I doubt I’ll revisit. All the clues are there - but the solution is, frankly, ludicrous. Like a bad Jonathan Creek
LibraryThing member PattyLee
One of Japan’s greatest....very much like a lesson in mystery writing. The formula is the classic locked room murder...with a twist. It’s clever, but maybe tries a little too hard with the explanatory denouement several chapters long. I’ll read another...maybe.
LibraryThing member Helenliz
This strikes me as quite unusual. Set in Japan, it is a locked room mystery that is being narrated by an author of mysteries. It also quite happily references mysteries of the golden age, including other locked room mysteries in explaining how this murder takes place. Like I said, quite unusual.
The head of the household takes a wife, only on his wedding night, he and his bride are killed and they are found locked in the annex in the grounds. There is snow on the ground, a sword stuck in the ground outside and a lot of blood scattered about the place, apparently left by a 3 fingered man. It all get very involved, until the bride's uncle calls upon his protege who is a private investigator, to solve the mystery. There is lots of detail and, had I read it rather than listened to it, I;m sure that the map on page 49 would have been immensely useful. As it was, imagination had to suffice.
The resolution is not what you might expect, being itself based on both Japanese cultural expectations of a rural village in the 30s and western golden age mysteries. The narrator rounds off by pointing out how he'd never actually said some of the things that the reader might a=have assumed at the beginning. At one point I had it fixed on one of the brothers, needless to say I was wrong. Thoroughly entertaining, but you might want to read it and benefit from the map.
Show More
The head of the household takes a wife, only on his wedding night, he and his bride are killed and they are found locked in the annex in the grounds. There is snow on the ground, a sword stuck in the ground outside and a lot of blood scattered about the place, apparently left by a 3 fingered man. It all get very involved, until the bride's uncle calls upon his protege who is a private investigator, to solve the mystery. There is lots of detail and, had I read it rather than listened to it, I;m sure that the map on page 49 would have been immensely useful. As it was, imagination had to suffice.
The resolution is not what you might expect, being itself based on both Japanese cultural expectations of a rural village in the 30s and western golden age mysteries. The narrator rounds off by pointing out how he'd never actually said some of the things that the reader might a=have assumed at the beginning. At one point I had it fixed on one of the brothers, needless to say I was wrong. Thoroughly entertaining, but you might want to read it and benefit from the map.
Show Less
LibraryThing member JimDR
The Honjin Murders
By Seishi Yokomizu, Translation by Louise Heal Kawai
This locked-room mystery was written in 1947, but feels fresher than that-probably due to the smooth, excellent translation by Kawai.
This is a short, clever little tale that plays with the genre tropes in a self conscious way. I
It was a pure pleasure!
By Seishi Yokomizu, Translation by Louise Heal Kawai
This locked-room mystery was written in 1947, but feels fresher than that-probably due to the smooth, excellent translation by Kawai.
This is a short, clever little tale that plays with the genre tropes in a self conscious way. I
Show More
wouldn't call it hugely original, but it's fast, invited by interesting characters, and introduces the iconic (in Japan) detective Kosuke Kindaichi in a memorable way.It was a pure pleasure!
Show Less
LibraryThing member texasstorm
This book gets points for being somewhat of a page-turner and for its depiction of early Showa Era village life. However, the story did not age well, and the solution is unrealistically complicated. Moreover, all the surviving characters seem unaffected by the murders and spend all their time
Show More
cheerfully trying to figure out the solution, like they're playing a game or acting out an Agatha Christie re-enactment. I half enjoyed this book. Show Less
LibraryThing member kakadoo202
Conveluted crime story
LibraryThing member Ameise1
This is a real 'locked-room murder mystery' that young private detective Kosuke Kindaichi is determined to solve.
During the wedding night, the head of the Ichiyanagis and his bride are brutally killed. When they were found in the morning, no traces were found in the fresh snow around the building,
It was a very exciting and amusing read.
During the wedding night, the head of the Ichiyanagis and his bride are brutally killed. When they were found in the morning, no traces were found in the fresh snow around the building,
Show More
all the shutters were closed and the door was locked from the inside. How could the murderer have escaped? What happened? This mystery is written with many twists and turns. On the one hand, the reader thinks he is on the trail of the murderer, but soon realises that he is looking in the wrong direction.It was a very exciting and amusing read.
Show Less
Language
Original language
English