The Inugami Clan

In 1940s Japan, the wealthy head of the Inugami Clan dies, setting off a chain of bizarre, gruesome murders. Detective Kindaichi must unravel the clan's terrible secrets of forbidden liaisons, monstrous cruelty, and disguised identities to find the murderer. Seishi Yokomizo is Japan's most popular mystery writer. His novels have been made into numerous movies and television dramas in Japan.

One of Japan's greatest classic murder mysteries, introducing their best loved detective, translated into English for the first time 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?

A fiendish, classic locked room murder mystery, from one of Japan's greatest crime writers, that’s perfect for fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware “An exceptional whodunit... The brilliant and intricate plot will keep readers turning the pages.” --Publishers Weekly, starred review “Seishi Yokomizo took a pinch of John Dickson Carr and a dash of Agatha Christie in creating Kosuke Kindaichi, solver of impossible crimes... Kosuke’s arrival [on Gokumon Island] coincides with a string of bizarre and gruesome murders. As deaths mount, the quirky, endearing detective strings together the clues to solve this fiendish puzzle.” -- Sarah Weinman, New York Times Detective Kosuke Kindaichi arrives on the remote Gokumon Island bearing tragic news—his friend and fellow soldier, the son of one of the island's most important families has died, on a troop transport ship bringing him back home after the Second World War. But Kindaichi has not come merely as a messenger--with his last words, the dying man warned that his three step-sisters' lives would now be in danger. The scruffy detective is determined to get to the bottom of this mysterious prophecy, and to protect the three women if he can. As Kindaichi attempts to unravel the island's secrets, a series of gruesome murders begins. He investigates, but soon finds himself in mortal danger from both the unknown killer and the clannish locals, who resent this outsider meddling in their affairs. Loosely inspired by Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, the sensational second outing of Japan’s most famous detective is perhaps the most highly regarded of all the great Seishi Yokomizo's classic Japanese mysteries.

The quintessential international genre, detective fiction often works under the guise of popular entertainment to expose its extensive readership to complex moral questions and timely ethical dilemmas. The first book-length study of Japan’s detective fiction, Murder Most Modern considers the important role of detective fiction in defining the country’s emergence as a modern nation-state. Kawana explores the interactions between the popular genre and broader discourses of modernity, nation, and ethics that circulated at this pivotal moment in Japanese history. The author contrasts Japanese works by Edogawa Ranpo, Unno Juza, Oguri Mushitaro, and others with English-language works by Edgar Allan Poe, Dashiell Hammett, and Agatha Christie to show how Japanese writers of detective fiction used the genre to disseminate their ideas on some of the most startling aspects of modern life: the growth of urbanization, the protection and violation of privacy, the criminalization of abnormal sexuality, the dehumanization of scientific research, and the horrors of total war. Kawana’s comparative approach reveals how Japanese authors of the genre emphasized the vital social issues that captured the attention of thrill-seeking readers-while eluding the eyes of government censors. Sari Kawana is assistant professor of Japanese at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

The third title in Japan's most popular murder mystery series -- after The Honjin Murders and The Inugami Curse -- fiendish classics featuring investigator Kosuke Kindaichi. Translated into English for the first time. Nestled deep in the mist-shrouded mountains, The Village of Eight Graves takes its name from a bloody legend: in the Sixteenth Century eight samurais, who had taken refuge there along with a secret treasure, were murdered by the inhabitants, bringing a terrible curse down upon their village. Centuries later a mysterious young man named Tatsuya arrives in town, bringing a spate of deadly poisonings in his wake. The inimitably scruffy and brilliant Kosuke Kindaichi investigates.

Explores the significant impact of this countercultural figure of postwar Japan.

"Ayatsuji's brilliant and richly atmospheric puzzle will appeal to fans of golden age whodunits... Every word counts, leading up to a jaw-dropping but logical reveal" — Publishers Weekly A hugely enjoyable, page-turning murder mystery sure to appeal to fans of Elly Griffiths, Anthony Horowitz, and Agatha Christie, with one of the best and most-satisfying conclusions you'll ever read. A classic in Japan, available in English for the first time. From The New York Times Book Review: "Read Yukito Ayatsuji’s landmark mystery, The Decagon House Murders, and discover a real depth of feeling beneath the fiendish foul play. Taking its cues from Agatha Christie’s locked-room classic And Then There Were None, the setup is this: The members of a university detective-fiction club, each nicknamed for a favorite crime writer (Poe, Carr, Orczy, Van Queen, Leroux and — yes — Christie), spend a week on remote Tsunojima Island, attracted to the place, and its eerie 10-sided house, because of a spate of murders that transpired the year before. That collective curiosity will, of course, be their undoing. As the students approach Tsunojima in a hired fishing boat, 'the sunlight shining down turned the rippling waves to silver. The island lay ahead of them, wrapped in a misty veil of dust,' its sheer, dark cliffs rising straight out of the sea, accessible by one small inlet. There is no electricity on the island, and no telephones, either. A fresh round of violent deaths begins, and Ayatsuji’s skillful, furious pacing propels the narrative. As the students are picked off one by one, he weaves in the story of the mainland investigation of the earlier murders. This is a homage to Golden Age detective fiction, but it’s also unabashed entertainment."

An apparent hunting accident may prove to be something far more sinister in this thrilling Golden Age mystery by the author of the Duncan Maclain series. Doc Ryan has practiced medicine for twenty years in the quiet Florida town of Orange Crest, the county seat of Manasaw County. He knows more about the lives of the town’s inhabitants than anyone else—not that it amounts to much. There’s not a lot to do in Orange Crest apart from going to the movie theater, where all the latest pictures are shown. There is, however, hunting and fishing, which draws in tourists from all over. On the final night of the season, Ryan heads out to fish, taking his shotgun along as well in order to bag a duck or two if he’s able. As the sun sets, the fish aren’t taking the bait, though Ryan manages to fire off a few rounds at some mallards. But when he goes to collect his prize, he instead finds the body of David Mitchell, with shotgun wounds near his heart . . . When Sheriff Pete Crossley hears his friend Ryan claim to be a murderer, he doesn’t believe him. Something about the story doesn’t add up. And together, sheriff and doctor will set out to find the real killer and restore peace to Orange Crest. Baynard Kendrick was a founding member of the Mystery Writers of America, the holder of the organization’s first membership card, and a winner of its Grand Master Award. He wrote the Duncan Maclain Mysteries and the Miles Standish Rice Mysteries. Blood on Lake Louisawas his first novel.