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.

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