Death on Gokumon Island (Pushkin Vertigo) (Detective Kindaichi Mysteries): Seishi Yokomizo

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It's a scene from the 1970s movie version of one of Detective Kindaichi's series: The Demon's Nursery. Our hero detective, Kosuke Kindaichi, arrives at the titular island to inform the family of a deceased comrade of their loss. Nhưng điều còn khiến mình bất ngờ hơn (hay là uất ức hơn), chính là nguyên do dẫn đến các vụ án mạng này. Yet the recent translations from Pushkin Press Vertigo ( The Honjin Murders and The Inugami Curse), have incrementally been piquing my curiosity, so I finally decided to give one a go.

Due to the danger involved in the fishing trade, citizens of the island are extremely religious, bestowing the priest with a tremendous amount of power. These novels and films give contemporary audiences a sense of the darker mood that had dispersed into the American psyche during the Depression (and eventually the postwar era). War in the narrative is not glamourised and instead WW2 is regarded as ‘ridiculous’ and a greater focus is put on the devastating effect the conflict has had on the landscape as well as the people. They also reflect many social and cultural aspects of Japanese life that add so much to the stories. Others in the family are Chimata-san’s father, suffering mental illness and kept locked away within the home, his three step sisters—in their teens—Tsukio, Yukie, and Hanako, Hitoshi’s sister Sanae who has been running the fishing business while the men are at war, and Okatsu, former mistress of Chimata-san’s grandfather.Death on Gokumon Island" (nearly) has it all: inexplicable murders, a good main character, red herrings, interesting characters and relationships, as well as a vivid post-WWII Japan. In a child they might have been deemed precocious, but as young adults such behaviour feels less acceptable.

Instead, the murders are treated like an interesting puzzle built around a series of unusual actions, and we're asked to empathize with the men who did the killing. Though this is the second story I have read where his advanced knowledge has failed to be put to use in actually preventing the crimes he is forewarned about. His last stop had been in Wewak, New Guinea, where he had met and befriended Chimata Kito, helping him through his bouts of a very bad case of malaria and spending time together while the other soldiers "fell one after the other. For more details, please consult the latest information provided by Royal Mail's International Incident Bulletin.

Pushkin Vertigo, the English language edition publisher, has Death on Gokumon Island originally published in 1971 so I wondered if it being one of the later stories in the long 77-book Kosuke Kondaichi series was the reason, but other sources put the book's first publication in 1947 which would make it almost the earliest. The translator for this volume is UK-born and Japan-based Louise Heal Kawai, who also translated another book I read earlier in the year, The Cat Who Saved Books. Arrival at Gokumon Island brings an aura of heavy mist, an imposing landscape, unusual people who temporarily cow our detective. If your plot is about protecting three young sisters on behalf of their brother's dying wish, then maybe I don't know, talking to those sisters is essential?

But we do get glimpses of the haiku of the master, Basho Matsuo and his disciple Takarai Kikaku, and the priest Ryonen is given to quoting haiku much of the time, with even macabre seeming choices at some moments. However, the sick and twisted nature of the crimes is already making me squirm uncomfortably so what more can I get from it. Chimata-san had in fact asked Kindaichi to go to Gokumon and save his three stepsisters whom he believed would be killed once he is dead.

The novel's real strength lies in its beautiful, lyrical, character-driven approach, with sketches and dialogues that propel the narrative You may also be interested in. Also, I'm a huge fan of the manga series Young Kindaichi which was inspired by the book series by Seishi Yokomizo here. với hầu hết các tiểu thuyết trinh thám mà mình đã đọc trước đó, mình đều thử nghi ngờ, suy đoán xem ai có thể là hung thủ thực sự.