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A review by jessie_cobb
The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo
3.0
Not everyone in the Ichiyanagi family is happy about the marriage of their eldest son and his bride-to-be. But still the small, private ceremony has everyone in Okamura talking.
Just a few days before the wedding, a strange, three-fingered man is heard in the village asking about the family. And just before the ceremony starts, a masked man delivers a threatening note to the home.
After the ceremony has ended and the bride and groom have retreated to their private suite, the family awakens to screams then the eerie sound of a koto being plucked. Inside the marriage suite, the bride and groom are dead, no murderer or weapon is to be found, and every door and window is locked.
Outside the suite, a single, bloody katana is plunged into the snow.
Published just 12 years after “Murder on the Orient Express”, this classic Japanese murder mystery features similar mechanisms and an ambience that one might find in an Agatha Christie novel.
At just 190 pages, the Honjin Murders is short and sweet and will hook you quickly. If you’re like me, you may find yourself with hundreds of kindle highlights and notes trying to piece together what happened. Ultimately the finale got a little too technical for my taste and lost me, but it was still an enjoyable read that brought a new (for me) culture to a classic genre.
Just a few days before the wedding, a strange, three-fingered man is heard in the village asking about the family. And just before the ceremony starts, a masked man delivers a threatening note to the home.
After the ceremony has ended and the bride and groom have retreated to their private suite, the family awakens to screams then the eerie sound of a koto being plucked. Inside the marriage suite, the bride and groom are dead, no murderer or weapon is to be found, and every door and window is locked.
Outside the suite, a single, bloody katana is plunged into the snow.
Published just 12 years after “Murder on the Orient Express”, this classic Japanese murder mystery features similar mechanisms and an ambience that one might find in an Agatha Christie novel.
At just 190 pages, the Honjin Murders is short and sweet and will hook you quickly. If you’re like me, you may find yourself with hundreds of kindle highlights and notes trying to piece together what happened. Ultimately the finale got a little too technical for my taste and lost me, but it was still an enjoyable read that brought a new (for me) culture to a classic genre.