REVIEW: The Honjin Murders (book) by Seishi Yokomizo, translated by Louise Heal Kawai

The Honjin Murders is the first of Yokomizo's Detective Kosuke Kindaichi murder mystery books. I bought my copy new.

Review:

In the winter of 1937, the wealthy Ichiyanagi family was preparing for the wedding of Kenzo Ichiyanagi, the eldest son of the main Ichiyanami family, and Katsuko Kubo, a teacher at a girls' school. Kenzo's mother was disapproving of Katsuko, who she viewed as nothing more than the daughter of a tenant farmer, but Kenzo was determined to marry her.

Shortly before the wedding, there are rumors of a strange man with only three fingers on his right hand being sighted around town, asking for directions to the Ichiyanagi family's home. For some reason this man visits the Ichiyanagi family home the day of the wedding, delivering a note to Kenzo. That night, strange koto plucking sounds and a possible cry for help are heard, and the rest of the family, fearing an emergency, rushes to the Ichiyanagi annexe house where the newly married couple is staying. What they find is a katana embedded blade-first in the snow and no footprints anywhere. When they get inside, they discover Kenzo and Katsuko slashed to death. A knocked over folding screen is nearby, with a bloody, three-fingered handprint upon it.

Scruffy amateur detective Kosuke Kindaichi arrives at the request of Ginzo, the bride's uncle, to help with the investigation, which initially points firmly towards the strange three-fingered man as the most likely person to be the killer.

This is the sort of mystery where you're meant to be more interested in the puzzle presented by the murder than in the characters involved. Most of the characters in this book aren't particularly memorable - for me, that included Kosuke Kindaichi. I was intrigued enough by the locked room mystery, though, that that didn't matter much.

This was largely okay, up until the ending, which annoyed me with its intricacies and complexity. I had trouble picturing how everything was set up. Although there was an illustration of the Ichiyanagi annexe house that laid out what the crime scene looked like, I'd have appreciated another illustration showing how the killer did everything. I just couldn't wrap my brain around it, which seriously interfered with my enjoyment during the final revelations.