What it is, is a very traditionally structured mystery, in style at least. While that was a devilishly complex locked room mystery, this doesn’t have a locked room element to it. It is a translation that has been knocking around for years – the original was written in 1951 – but it was acquired and re-released by Pushkin Press following the success of the translation of The Honjin Murders. So far, my best reads in the genre have been basically “enjoyable, but…” but I was hopefully that this would exceed that.
But who is trying to benefit from the will and who needs to die before that benefit is seen? Or is the motive something even darker?Īnd so, following The Ginza Ghost, here’s my next attempt to get to the bottom of the honkaku genre. Sleuth Kosuke Kindaichi has been brought to the area by Sahei’s lawyer, concerned for Tomayo’s safety after several apparent attempts on her life even before the will is even read, but once that lawyer is poisoned, he feels duty bound to find the killer. It’s actually much more complex than that, with lots of conditions depending on who deceases who, and the inclusion of a beneficiary who has been missing for year, so needless to say, pretty soon the murders begin. Tomayo will have to choose one of the three sons – Také, Tomo or the scarred, mask-wearing Kiyo – to gain full control of Sahei’s fortune. The last will and testament of Sahei Inugami is a complex affair, centred around Tomayo Nonomiya, a beautiful woman who Sahei brought into his family, much to the enmity of his actual family, his three mistresses and his three sons.
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