In short, he is a delightfully charming detective who fits the role and never becomes overly frustrating. He’s abnormally skilled at deduction, oddly dressed, has a few quirks such as a stammer and a wild enthusiasm. He is brought in by the murdered bride’s uncle, and Kindaichi proves to be a suitable fill-in for Holmes or Poirot. While the setup to all of this is just engaging enough to keep us rapt and turning the page, the story really comes into its own when our necessarily enigmatic and eccentric young detective, Kosuke Kindaichi, arrives on the scene.
Who killed the newlyweds is it someone we know or a stranger what is their motivation how did they get in and out?
The mystery of The Honjin Murdersis, of course, finding out whodunnit. He cuts the fat and keeps a sharp focus on the story and events. Yokomizo proves here to be a master of pacing and setting: he knows what is important and what isn’t. It’s a short novel of less than two hundred pages, and its first half is very much engaged with telling the story of the wedding and the murder, as well as establishing the supporting cast of characters exactly as much as needs be – enough to be familiar with their names and their roles within the family, but not so much that we know each of their backstories.
On the night of their wedding, they are murdered by a mysterious assailant who flees into the night, leaving nothing but a handprint and a bloodied katana in the snow. The Ichiyanagi family are a proud, wealthy, high-class family, and one of their sons, Kenzo, is due to marry the young Katsuko. It takes place in a fixed location: the Ichiyanagi household in the village of Okamura.
This ‘locked room murder mystery’ is a unique take on the formula made iconic by major Western writers like Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Gaston Leroux. Now, at last, what many consider the best Japanese detective story has arrived in English in the form of a punchy, thrilling translation by Louise Heal Kawai. In the character of Kosuke Kindaichi – first introduced here in The Honjin Murders (originally published in 1946) – Yokomizo invented his own Sherlock Holmes. Seishi Yokomizo, who died in Tokyo back in 1981, carved out a real legacy with his series of detective stories.
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