Japanese Golden, Cosy Mysteries by Seishi Yokomizo for Bloody murders

I discovered Seishi Yokomizo right when I was craving a good old mystery. I had been leaning towards Agatha Christie for my night time reading because I just couldn’t read any new titles then. That’s when Yokomizo books appeared via the Pushkin Vertigo series. And I loved them! The perfect pleasure reads for someone looking for a comforting mystery. Though I cannot really point out what is comforting in a tad too many murders, bloody weapons, and too-many-suspects, there is that familiar soothing feeling you achieve when indulging in a Golden Age mystery. If you’ve loved your Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes, you will warm up fast to detective Kosuke Kindaichi. He is meticulous, pays attention to details and does those big reveals at the end of the novels. The Honjin Murders and The Inugami Curse are published in the 1970s and set in the 1930s and 1940s. What a joy to read them in their English translations now! If you have been craving to read more novels by the likes of Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle, look no more, Seishi Yokomizo novels (with their beautiful vintage covers) to the rescue.

I was to learn later that Seishi Yokomizo is a prominent crime writer in Japan. I have a fondness for books set in Japan — be it the comfort of a favourite Murakami or the modern short stories from Red Circle Minis or newer contemporary reads or my recent 5-star read by Clarissa Goenawan set in Japan. I have not read many crime thrillers from Japan, an exception being Keigo Higashino ( The Devotion of Suspect X is a great place to start his work). But one has to admit the olden golden mysteries are on a league of their own. They are fun. They have a well-defined plot and even when they turn towards predictable, you just cannot stop reading.

I started with The Inugami Curse first even though it isn’t the first in the Kosuke Kindaichi series. I was completely enthralled. I moved on to The Honjin Murders, which was published in English last year,  because I was craving more of the brilliant detective Kindaichi. The Honjin Murders is the first Kosuke Kindaichi story among 77 books by Seishi Yokomizo. Big mansions, rich families, an elaborate cast (and list of suspects), complicated family ties and traditions seem to be common in both the books. I almost forgot — Also present are gruesome, bloody, macabre murders.

The Inugami Curse

The Inugami Curse by Seishi Yokomizo is beautifully translated by Yumiko Yamazaki from the Japanese. It is set in the 1940s and begins with the murder of a prominent eighty-one-year-old business man, Sahei Inugami — patriarch of the Inugami clan — in Shinshu. Sahei Inugami has a rags-to-riches story. He was an orphan teenager taken in by Daini Nonomiya, the local priest at the local Shinto shrine. The 17-year-old Inugami became close with the priest and rumours regarding their relationship and its effect on the priest’s marriage began to surface. Inugami soon set up his own silk company that expanded through a period of wars (Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World war I). Later he took three mistresses and had three daughters from them. The story then shifts to the grandson and heir and others who would benefit from his death. To add to this, as is classic of every big-family-murder-mystery, there is a will with questionable, unusual demands in order to inherit the Inugami wealth. No surprise that this kickstarts a series of more murders.

Sometimes you read a book and you are hoping for pure, unadulterated fun. That was The Inugami Curse for me. It was thrilling — a mad rush through hidden clues, three heirlooms of the Inugami clan (the ax, zither and chrysanthemum), doppelgangers, masked men, hidden identities, new heirs, loyal servants, three men trying to win the heart of a woman, and the inevitable drama that befalls big-family-stories. The three daughters of Sahei Inugami have problems among themselves but also harbor secrets that can shake the foundations of the clan. Enter Kosuke Kindaichi, the legendary detective introduced as “He was not, after all, Sherlock Holmes: his renown had not reached every far corner of the earth—including this one” to save the family from murders, secrets and treachery.

Highly recommend this book.

The Honjin Murders

The Honjin Murders is regarded as one of Japan’s great mystery novels. It was serialized in a magazine in 1946 and won the first Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1948. The novel, published in 1972 has been translated from the Japanese into English for the first time now by Louise Heal Kawai. This classic locked room mystery begins with  detective novel writer (and narrator) recollecting the honjin murders. It is a snowy day in 1937, and Kenzo Ichiyanagi, the eldest son of a family (that has a noble lineage), marries Katsuko Kubo, a schoolteacher. That evening, the newlyweds are found dead in the annexe — crimson in their own blood. The mystery deepens with a Samurai sword on the snow outside, koto music and an absence of foot prints outside the annexe. Oh! And there is an ominous, mysterious three fingered man.

Honjins were inns in feudal Japan designated for traveling nobility during the country’s Edo period from 1603-1838 (Edo is the old name for Tokyo). The Ichiyanagi family home was a honjin, allowing them elite status during the era. In the late 1860s, the imperial system was reinstated, the shogun was overthrown and the feudal system was about to collapse. The Ichiyanagi family head fled from the  K— town to Okamura village by buying farm land at dirt cheap rates. But detaching themselves from the honjin life did not mean that the family gave up their strict traditional views on lineage and status. This causes discomfort among the family members in the marriage between Kenzo and Katsuko in the 1930s. Not to forget that the Ichiyanagi family is no favourite of the villagers — they were secretly called  “a bunch of upstart kappa, mythical water goblins”. And Kindaichi, in his quintessential Sherlock Holmes style, tries to solve this murder mystery, making his way through the many suspects.

Yokomizo does not disappoint at all. When there are predictable turns, he grabs our attention with the socio-economic environment in post-feudal milieu. When the plot gets predictable, he captures us with characters puppet-ed by family customs, traditions, lineage and societal expectations. There is never a dull moment in this locked-room-mystery.

Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle vibes

Seishi Yokomizo, who greatly admired western detective fiction (and admits the same in both these novels) is best known for his Kosuke Kindaichi series. The series ran into 77 books, some of which were adapted for stage and screen. Yokomizo often quotes Agatha Christie and other Golden Age European mystery writers in his works. The Honjin Murders begins with the detective novel writer (and narrator) wracking his brains for “similar cases among the novels I’ve read” and unapologetically mentions books by Leroux, Leblanc, Van Dine and Carr (who is one of Yokomizo’s favourite writers) and concludes saying the Honjin-mystery “bears closest resemblance to The Mystery of the Yellow Room” by Leroux. Kindaichi is often compared with Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and his manner of dissecting a mystery feels very similar to Holmes as well. Personally I think Yokomizo mysteries  have a vibe of an Agatha Christie novel with a Sherlock Holmes-like detective. After reading two in the Kindaichi series, I cannot wait to get my hands on more (fingers crossed they are translated and published soon).

Both the murder mysteries, as is typical of many Golden age mysteries, begin with a list of characters. The Honjin Murders begins with a list of members from the Ichiyanagi family, the Kubo family and other characters. The Inugami Murders has a long character list of the Inugami family and related members (and servants). Sometimes there are drawings (like a typical Agatha Christie novel) to help understand the outline of the murder scene. Women, however, are relegated to the margins. They are a plot twist, a love interest, something to be won over (by hook or crook or even forced) or mothers of the male heirs. They never appear in the forefront — either scheming behind-the-scenes or being a damsel in distress.

Final Verdict

Yokomizo’s classic mixing of red herrings and social environments is a winning combination. The Inugami Curse, amidst bloody murders, gives a commentary on hoarding profits in war time. The Honjin Murders proves that even when countries and systems progress, and equality ushers in a post-feudal era, the minds of people are often fixed on old status and lineage. Both The Honjin Murders and The Inugami Curse are perfect picks to indulge in if you’ve been looking for a mystery book to forget about the real world. I loved The Inugami Curse more. It was fun, cosy but bloody, and a perfect escape into a whodunnit.

Rating :

The Inugami Curse : 5/5

The Honjin Murders : 4/5

Disclaimer : Much thanks to Pushkin for sending an e-copy of The Inugami Murders. All opinions are my own.