🔖 Recent Reads: The Honjin Murders

It's time to share the last book I read, The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo. I started reading it last month a finally finished it last week. 

Apparently is one of Japan's greatest classic murder mysteries and it was originally published in 1946.

I love crime stories, especially murder ones and, the fact that this one was set in Japan, gave it an extra something.

"In the winter of 1937, the village of Okamura is abuzz with excitement over the forthcoming wedding of a son of the grand Ichiyanagi family. But amid the gossip over the approaching festivities, there is also a worrying rumour - it seems a sinister masked man has been asking questions around the village.

Then, on the night of the wedding, the Ichiyanagi household are woken by a terrible scream, followed by the sound of eerie music. Death has come to Okamura, leaving no trace but a bloody samurai sword, thrust into the pristine snow outside the house. Soon, amateur detective Kosuke Kindaichi is on the scene to investigate what will become a legendary murder case, but can this scruffy sleuth solve a seemingly impossible crime?"

I'm not gonna lie, at the beginning the story felt a little slow, since we were getting to know the characters and, at some point, I kinda thought the case would be predictable but, I was wrong! As the story progressed there were many different plot twists and things I didn't see coming. I won't spoil the case here but, it became very interesting.

Sometimes reading it felt like watching something from Detective Conan, especially cuz it was a locked-room murder case and the way they were connecting the clues with what and how things really happened so, it was fun. I also thought this book would've been something my grandpa would enjoy reading.

I loved the old Japan setting and the way they described things, plus, even toh the book dones't have any illustrations, they included a map of the house in which the murder happened and, that was kinda cool to me, know how the layout was, helped me understand some things better.

It is a fast read since it's not a thick book, I just couldn't dedicate enough time to reading it because of work and other things but, I think if you like mysteries and murder cases that aren't too graphic or gory, it is a great option.

There are other novels by this author that I'd defo like to check in the future.

That's it for this short book post~

I'll see you next time~!💋