A review by pranjuli
The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

It was very close to a great mystery experience  except I don't understand the writer's choice to make it a first-person narrative. It would have worked just as well, if not better, in third-person. The story anyway feels like a third-person narration because of no involvement of the narrator in the story itself other than to praise himself and point out his ingenuity of the first chapter in the last chapter itself. He could have done the entire thing about this favourite detective novels and authors and all in an epilogue, maybe.. Or a dedication.. Something like that. 

Anyway, other than that it was quite well done. There were, obviously, all elements of a good detective novel (as told explicitly by the narrator himself). It was super fast-paced and I definitely could not put it down or out of mind. 

Solid 4 ⭐ The extra 0.25 for great cultural context and a translation that captured that context quite well.