The Honjin Murders: Seishi Yokomizo (Pushkin Vertigo)
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Description
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The first of Kosuke Kindaichis many cases and a marvellous execution of an exceptional trope: The locked room murder. The story takes place in 1937 in Japan and a wedding is due. Of course, it ends in bloody murder without a real suspect at hand and the victims are locked in the annex of the house for their wedding night. There is no way in, but with blunt force and therefore there was also now way out for the culprit. How then do you solve a murder, when the victims are in a room which is locked from the inside while the murder weapon is outside in the snow? Enter Kosuke Kindaichi. This is the third case I read, and his first. It gives us a nice backstory on the scruffy looking detective, who reminds me of a combination of Poirot and Columbo. He is a brilliant man who doesn’t care about his looks at all and has a stammer when he gets excited. No one really takes him seriously until it’s too late of course. I appreciate the index and the list of characters, since this gives an easy overview over the social structure and relationships between the individuals. In my opinion more books need character lists. I like the way the story was set up in the snowy countryside in a household that used to be more celebrated, than it is today and in a culture I’m not yet very familiar with. There were enough twists and turns to lead me astray, which I appreciate, and still the big revelation at the end was well rooted in the story. Yokomizo really put in the effort to think up an ending, that explains it all, without being too outlandish. Of course, some of Kindaichis conclusions come along a little too easy, but haven’t we seen that before as well? With this novel Yokomizo showed his love for the “locked-room-murder” trope, and it always helps when the characters do as well… I would recommend this to everyone who loves Poirot and looks for something new yet similar.
2.5 Stars
Description
Posts
The first of Kosuke Kindaichis many cases and a marvellous execution of an exceptional trope: The locked room murder. The story takes place in 1937 in Japan and a wedding is due. Of course, it ends in bloody murder without a real suspect at hand and the victims are locked in the annex of the house for their wedding night. There is no way in, but with blunt force and therefore there was also now way out for the culprit. How then do you solve a murder, when the victims are in a room which is locked from the inside while the murder weapon is outside in the snow? Enter Kosuke Kindaichi. This is the third case I read, and his first. It gives us a nice backstory on the scruffy looking detective, who reminds me of a combination of Poirot and Columbo. He is a brilliant man who doesn’t care about his looks at all and has a stammer when he gets excited. No one really takes him seriously until it’s too late of course. I appreciate the index and the list of characters, since this gives an easy overview over the social structure and relationships between the individuals. In my opinion more books need character lists. I like the way the story was set up in the snowy countryside in a household that used to be more celebrated, than it is today and in a culture I’m not yet very familiar with. There were enough twists and turns to lead me astray, which I appreciate, and still the big revelation at the end was well rooted in the story. Yokomizo really put in the effort to think up an ending, that explains it all, without being too outlandish. Of course, some of Kindaichis conclusions come along a little too easy, but haven’t we seen that before as well? With this novel Yokomizo showed his love for the “locked-room-murder” trope, and it always helps when the characters do as well… I would recommend this to everyone who loves Poirot and looks for something new yet similar.
2.5 Stars