The Honjin Murders

The Honjin Murders (本陣殺人事件, Honjin satsujin jiken) is a mystery novel by Seishi Yokomizo. It was serialized in the magazine Houseki from April to December 1946, and won the first Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1948. It was filmed as Death at an Old Mansion in 1976. In 2019, it was translated into English for the first time by Louise Heal Kawai.[1]

The first novel in the Kosuke Kindaichi series, it concerns a murder in a locked room in a Japanese mansion surrounded by thick snow.

Story

On 25 November 1937, at a former honjin in Okayama, the wedding of Kenzou Ichiyanagi and Katsuko Kubo is held. The celebrants include the mother Itoko, the third son Saburo, the second daughter Suzuko, the cousin Ryousuke, and Ginzo Kubo, Katsuko's uncle. During the ceremony, Suzuko plays the koto, and everything ends without incident.

Later that night, the wild sound of the koto is heard across the mansion. Ginzo rushes to the newly wedded couple's bedroom, only to find the couple killed in a brutal fashion. A Japanese sword is later found thrust into the ground in the middle of the garden, with no footprints on the surrounding thick snow, creating a perfect locked room mystery.

Main characters

Key figures
Kosuke Kindaichi
A private detective, summoned by Ginzo Kubo
Tsunejirou Isokawa
An inspector from Okayama prefecture in charge of the case
Katsuko Kubo
A schoolteacher, married to Kenzou Ichiyanagi
Ginzo Kubo
The owner of an orchard, Katsuko's uncle

House Ichiyanagi
Itoko Ichiyanagi
The mother of the family
Kenzou Ichiyanagi
The eldest son, the present head of family, and a scholar
Taeko Ichiyanagi
The eldest daughter, married to a company employee and travelling to Shanghai
Ryuuji Ichiyanagi
The second son, working as a doctor at a hospital in Osaka
Saburou Ichiyanagi
The third son
Suzuko Ichiyanagi
The second daughter, in poor health, but excellent at the koto
Ryousuke Ichiyanagi
The family's cousin
Akiko Ichiyanagi
Ryousuke's wife
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References
  1. "The Honjin Murders". Pushkin Press. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
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