{"product_id":"the-honjin-murders-isbn-9781805336549","title":"The Honjin Murders","description":"\u003cb\u003eA gorgeous deluxe paperback of Japan's greatest murder mystery, from the father of Japanese classic crime and author of \u003ci\u003eMurder at the Black Cat Café.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The premise alone is dazzling [and] the solution to this mystery came as a complete surprise.” — \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen, 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?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYokomizo is perhaps the most popular and beloved crime writer in his country’s history. His classic mysteries are a treat for any fan of Golden Age whodunits, taking the reader all over post-war Japan, from remote mountain villages to pirate-plagued islands to the bustling streets of Tokyo.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFeaturing stunning French flaps and a beautiful, wintry wrap-around cover, this deluxe gift paperback will delight Yokomizo fans old and new seeking the ingenious puzzle plot that started it all!Character List 7\u003cbr\u003e1 The Three-Fingered Man 9\u003cbr\u003e2 The Descendants of the Honjin 18\u003cbr\u003e3 The Sound of a Koto 28\u003cbr\u003e4 A Great Tragedy 37\u003cbr\u003e5 A New Use for a Koto Pick 48\u003cbr\u003e6 A Sickle and a Koto Bridge 58\u003cbr\u003e7 A Strategy Meeting 67\u003cbr\u003e8 Kosuke Kindaichi 80\u003cbr\u003e9 The Cat’s Grave 90\u003cbr\u003e10 A Conversation about Detective Novels 100\u003cbr\u003e11 Two Letters 111\u003cbr\u003e12 The Grave Is Opened 121\u003cbr\u003e13 Inspector Isokawa is Shaken 132\u003cbr\u003e14 Kosuke’s Experiment 143\u003cbr\u003e15 The Tragedy of the Honjin 152\u003cbr\u003e16 The Rehearsal 160\u003cbr\u003e17 The Accidental Locked Room 168\u003cbr\u003e18 Red Spider Lilies 182\u003cb\u003e“20 of the Best Classic Murder Mystery Books of All Time”, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eTown \u0026amp; Country Magazine\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A classic locked-room murder mystery, the first in the Detective Kindaichi series . . . The solution to this mystery came as a complete surprise—exactly what I asked for.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“With a reputation in Japan to rival Agatha Christie’s, the master of ingenious plotting is finally on the case for anglophone readers.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A beloved Japanese detective at last appears in English . . . If the whole series is as ingenious and compelling, this translation should be the first of many. Readers will delight in the blind turns, red herrings and dubious alibis.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eEconomist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The perfect read for this time of year. Short and compelling, it will appeal to fans of Agatha Christie looking for a new case to break.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eIrish Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Both [\u003ci\u003eThe Honjin Murders \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Inugami Curse\u003c\/i\u003e are] set in the late 1930s\/early 1940s, they promise to be atmospheric, exciting and knotty whodunits. The covers alone are enough to get any fan of the genre salivating.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eJapan Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Japan's Agatha Christie . . . It’s an absolute pleasure to see his work translated at last in these beautifully produced English editions.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"This Golden-Age Japanese mystery reminded me of \u003ci\u003eTwin Peaks\u003c\/i\u003e, with a mysterious three-fingered man, the perfect couple of newlyweds, and the perfect crime: a locked room that literally no one could have entered\"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003eAnna Fitzgerald Healy, author of\u003ci\u003e Etiquette for Lovers and Killers\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \"An absolute hoot\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Ross Montgomery, author of \u003ci\u003eMurder at Worlds End\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The perfect gift for any fan of classic crime fiction or locked room mysteries.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Mrs Peabody Investigates\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The beauty of this book is that it’s never anything less than fun from beginning to end, but it is also smartly political, and the theatrical elements—the fourth wall-breaking, the static setting, the large cast of eclectic characters—make for a truly engrossing novel.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Books and Bao\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Honjin Mysteries\u003c\/i\u003e is beautifully writing and highly descriptive, rich in period detail and local custom. It’s an ingenious and deceptive mystery. An ideal book to curl up with on a winter’s night.\"”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eNB Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The master of Japanese crime.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eTuttolibri\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[\u003ci\u003eThe Honjin Murders\u003c\/i\u003e] is a perfect example of a honkaku mystery: a fascinating form of crime writing that first emerged in Japan in the 1920s and, thanks to a recent raft of translations and republications, is now enjoyed by English readers more than ever.”\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The mystery is carefully set with plenty of red herrings and surprises along the way.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—The Watertown Public Opinion\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A perfect puzzle . . . Doesn’t fail to deliver in its extremely fun and chilling premise. You’ll be reading way past your bedtime.”\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eLitReactor\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Think you got a Sherlock Holmes knack for crime puzzles? Then have a try at Yokomizo’s clever mystery riddle\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Metropolis Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e, The Best Japanese Mystery Novels to Read in 2025\u003c\/b\u003eSeishi Yokomizo (1902-81) was one of Japan's most famous and best-loved mystery writers. He was born in Kobe and spent his childhood reading detective stories, before beginning to write stories of his own, the first of which was published in 1921. He went on to become an extremely prolific and popular author, best known for his Kosuke Kindaichi series, which ran to 77 books, many of which were adapted for stage and television in Japan. \u003ci\u003eThe Honjin Murders\u003c\/i\u003e is the first Kosuke Kindaichi story, and regarded as one of Japan's great mystery novels. It won the first Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1948 but has never been translated into English, until now.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOriginally  from Manchester, UK, Louise Heal Kawai has lived in Japan  for about 25  years and been a translator of Japanese literature for the  past 10. Her  translations include the bestselling memoir \u003ci\u003eYakuza Moon\u003c\/i\u003e by Shoko Tendo, the ground-breaking feminist Taeko Tomioka novel \u003ci\u003eBuilding Waves\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eA Quiet Place\u003c\/i\u003e by the mystery writer Seicho Matsumoto. \u003ci\u003eMs Ice Sandwich\u003c\/i\u003e is her second Mieko Kawakami translation.Chapter 1: The Three-Fingered Man\u003cbr\u003e Before recording the strange history that follows, I felt I ought to take a look at the house\u003cbr\u003e where such a gruesome murder was committed. Accordingly, one afternoon in early spring, I set off,\u003cbr\u003e walking stick in hand, for a stroll around that infamous residence.\u003cbr\u003e I was evacuated to this rural farming village in Okayama Prefecture in May of last year, at the\u003cbr\u003e height of the bombing raids. And since that day, everyone I’ve met has talked to me at least once of\u003cbr\u003e what some call “The Koto Murder Case” and others “The Honjin Murder Case” at the home of the\u003cbr\u003e Ichiyanagi family.\u003cbr\u003e Generally, as soon as people hear that I’m a writer of detective stories, they feel compelled to\u003cbr\u003e tell me of any murder case with which they have the slightest personal connection. I suppose\u003cbr\u003e rumours of my profession had reached the ears of the villagers, so every single one managed to bring\u003cbr\u003e up the topic of the Honjin Murder Case at some point. For the people of this village there could\u003cbr\u003e hardly be a more memorable case, and yet most of them were not aware of the full horror of this\u003cbr\u003e crime.\u003cbr\u003e Usually when people tell me these kinds of tales, they never turn out to be as interesting to me\u003cbr\u003e as they are to the teller, much less potential material for a novel. But this case was different. From\u003cbr\u003e the moment I heard the first whispers about the case, I was fascinated. Then, when I finally got to\u003cbr\u003e hear the account from the lips of F—, the man most directly connected to the case, I was at once\u003cbr\u003e seized with a great excitement. This was no ordinary murder. The perpetrator had scrupulously\u003cbr\u003e planned the whole ghastly deed. What’s more, it was one worthy of the label “Locked Room Murder\u003cbr\u003e Mystery.”\u003cbr\u003e The locked room murder mystery – a genre that any self-respecting detective novelist will\u003cbr\u003e attempt at some point in his or her career. The murder takes place in a room with no apparent way\u003cbr\u003e for the killer to enter or exit. Constructing a solution is an appealing challenge to the author. As my\u003cbr\u003e esteemed friend, Eizo Inoue wrote, all of the works of the great John Dickson Carr are some variation\u003cbr\u003e on the locked room murder theme. As a writer of detective novels myself, I intended one day to try\u003cbr\u003e my hand at one of these, and now I’ve been unexpectedly blessed – one has fallen right into my lap. I know it’s shocking but I feel I owe a debt of gratitude to the killer for devising such a fiendish method\u003cbr\u003e to stab this man and woman.\u003cbr\u003e When I first heard the story, I immediately racked my brain to think of any similar cases among\u003cbr\u003e all the novels I’ve read. The first that came to mind was Gaston Leroux’s The Mystery of the Yellow\u003cbr\u003e Room , and Maurice Leblanc’s The Teeth of the Tiger; then there’s The Canary Murder Case and The\u003cbr\u003e Kennel Murder Case, both by S.S. Van Dine; finally, Dickson Carr’s The Plague Court Murders. I even\u003cbr\u003e considered that variation on the locked room murder theme, Roger Scarlett’s Murder Among the\u003cbr\u003e Angells. But this real-life case wasn’t quite like any of the above mentioned. Maybe, just maybe, the\u003cbr\u003e killer had read a selection of stories like these, dissected all of the different devices used, then picked\u003cbr\u003e out the elements that he needed, constructing his own device… At least that’s one theory.","brand":"Pushkin Vertigo","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233683714277,"sku":"NP9781805336549","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-honjin-murders-isbn-9781805336549","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}