Book Recommendations: Seishi Yokomizo’s Murder Mystery Novels!

Posted On March 25, 2022

Hi Readers! The reading slump is finally broken with three murder mystery books with a lot of gory, bloody, horrifying, creepy, lunatic characters from Seishi Yokomizo’s three books translated from the Japanese! I did not intend on reading such highly detailed books about multiple murders, especially not 3 books in 3 days. But, after I read the first one, I had to read the second. And after the second, there was only one left, so I had to read that too. So, ironically I am thankful to the curses in these books because of which my slump curse is broken! Check out my thoughts on all three books!

~~THE HONJIN MURDERS~~

I picked The Honjin Murders the first of the lot, but I had a difficult time reading it. I was fully determined to love all the Seishi Yokomizo books. I think only 3 are translated to English, so when I did not enjoy the first one, I was disappointed. My main problem with this book was that I could not imagine what was written. Either the layout of the house or the way the murder actually took place. I know it is originally written Japanese, so it has bound to have Japanese content. But, because of it, I was clueless most of the time. What is a koto? What is a koto bridge? I googled it, but still it was difficult to imagine how the entire murder actually happened.

Apart from this, the other major disadvantage for me was the way the book is written. I did not enjoy looking back at the story. The narration was unlike I have ever read. While I am open to new styles of writing, this particular style specifically for a crime novel, did not work for me at all. I have rated The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo, translated by Louise Heal Kawai at 3/5 stars!

~~THE INUGAMI CURSE~~

The Inugami Curse is what I call the perfect murder mystery novel. It had the perfect setting; a rich businessman dies and his last will leaves everyone in his messed up cold-blooded family in a chaotic ‘literally bloody’ mess. There are multiple characters in the story, which means multiple suspects for us. Sahei Inugami has three daughters, all from different mistresses. The best thing about these novels is that there is a Character List at the beginning of the book, which really helps with the multitude of characters.

Then, we have murder after murder happening constantly. If not murders, there are always shocking incidents one after the other. Who will Tamayo choose to marry? Is Kiyo really Kiyo or is he an imposter? Who is the mystery repatriated soldier who at times murders people, but at time saves people? What is the deal with Sahei leaving most of his fortune to Tamayo? Who is Shizuma and why does he get such a big part of the will? So many questions!

Also, I loved the writing in this book, in the sense how the mystery unfolded. It was all, more or less, written in the present. So, it felt more fun and lively to read it. I did not like The Honjin Murders because of this main reason, because that was reading the murder in the past, if that makes sense?

This book has a lot of violence. There are so many trigger warnings for this; death, murder, child abuse, domestic abuse, body defilement. This one may not be what most readers root for, but all the characters in this book are psychopathic cold-blooded leeches. Be it Sahei who made his will to cause pain & suffering to his family, or the three evil half-sisters who literally bullied & threatened Sahei’s lover and drove her out of town, or Take and Tomo who were naturally hotheaded because of who got their genes from. At times, it was horrific, but other times it was crucial for the story which is why I enjoyed the dysfunctional family.

Lastly, I liked that the detective Kosuke Kindaichi had less work & dialogues in this one. For the most part, I love know-it-all Sherlock Holmes like detectives. But they rarely leave any breathing space for the readers to figure out whodunit! When you read the book, all the murders & story lines seem entirely flawless. Only when you reach the end do you realise that all those murders & instances were just a big mess which took place coincidentally. This is another reason why I loved this book so much! I have rated The Inugami Curse by Seishi Yokomizo, translated by Yamasaki Yumiko at 5/5 stars!

~~THE VILLAGE OF EIGHT GRAVES~~

On the third day, I read The Village of Eight Graves. It was entirely different than the earlier two books. It started off with such an intriguing foundation about a curse with eight graves. And to add on to this, it also added another story of a mass murderer who is the protagonist’s father. After setting such high expectations, I felt that it never reached its full potential. Sure, this is a murder mystery book among the Detective Kosuke Kindaichi series. But, it was possible to have actual murders while linking it to superstitious events like a curse to keep a link to the prologue. So, that was a bit disappointing.

As the story progressed, I realized that the pace was quite slow. And, even though there were 3 murders in the first 100 pages, my interest was not peaked. This was mainly because there were no clues or hints for the reader to guess who the killer might be. As it progressed further, finally something intrigued me. This was the secret passage leading to the caves. I really enjoyed reading about that setting. I think this was what set this book apart from the other two. I also liked that the prologue finally connected to the story, even though it was only to discover a treasure of gold coins. Another difference in this book was that we actually have a narrator. And lastly, we saw very little of our detective Kosuke.

There were a lot of things which weren’t to my liking, but I did enjoy reading about the multiple murders giving me more chances to guess the murderer. I also loved the caves & the secret treasure. And, of course, the most I liked was the first 10-15 pages with the curse and madman Yozo. I have rated The Village of Eight Graves by Seishi Yokomizo, translated by Bryan Karetnyk at 4/5 stars!

~~DEATH ON GOKUMON ISLAND~~

Death on the Gokumon Island is a unique mystery novel unlike any of the Japanese murder mysteries I have ever read, but that doesn’t make it a 5-star read. It has several eccentricities in the story, setting and characters, which I found charming. We have an island which was previously inhabited by pirates and exiled prisoners. And, the story is set in post-WWII war era. What better place for a murder mystery? We have a man locked in a cage like one those criminals. We have a priest who randomly recites haikus. We have a group of poetry lovers. And, of course, we have Kosuke Kindaichi whose oddities are known to the readers, but because he is unknown to the islanders they are not trusting towards him. And, Kindaichi’s mission was to bring the news of the eldest brother’s death who had warned him that his three sisters might be in danger.

After reading all of this you would think why did it not make into the 5-star category? Well, here’s why. There are three sisters who are apparently in danger, which in a mystery novel translates to they will probably die. And, the reason for it is also obvious, which lies in ancestorial wealth and what not. Aside from this, I hated how they are portrayed as awkward, weird and unsmiling. And their deaths, one after the other, are written without any emotion at all. So, to round it up, even though the book had a lot of promise with the atmospheric setting and unique characters, it was disappointing because of the portrayal of women, the murders and the motives. This book is perhaps the weakest book of the five books of the author that are translated into English. I have rated Death on Gokumon Island by Seishi Yokomizo, translated by Louise Heal Kawai at 3/5 stars.

~~THE DEVIL’S FLUTE MURDERS~~

Every time I read a book by Seishi Yokomizo, I have a similar reading experience. I struggle with the first one-third part because nothing really happens, and it sounds like I am reading a technical document. The middle one-third part is where there is a lot of action and I have no idea where it is all leading to but I know I can’t stop reading. And then there is the last one-third part where there is the big reveal, which leaves me baffled every single time! In some cases, I have my suspicions on some characters (which are very baseless and come from the Dwight Schrute method of deduction of medium suspicion) but I rarely know the motives. All of this also holds true for the fifth Yokomizo novel. I loved reading this mystery. It wasn’t as scenic as a few other books by the author, but I love how my imagination is always running at 80-mph in a 40-mph lane when I am in Yokomizo’s mystery world.

There are multiple murders including a locked room mystery, multiple crimes including theft, multiple red herrings including an unsurety about the death of a character, multiple culprits all revolving around one damned act. There are more characters in this one than usual, which was a bit confusing, especially when there are more characters introduced in the second half. As usual, I loved Kosuke Kindaichi’s dramatic detection. I also loved how it was entirely impossible for me to predict the ending. I guessed the suspect, but had no idea about the motive. I also enjoyed how there are so many possibilities we readers think about when we are reading this story line. Almost every character could have had basic reasons to commit the murders. I think this made it all the more exciting. If you are in a reading slump, you should definitely read this book. I have rated The Devil’s Flute Murders by Seishi Yokomizo, translated by Jim Rion at 4/5 stars!

Until next time,