The Cat Who - Japanese style?

I was a big fan of Lilian Jackson Braun's Cat Who series, especially the earlier volumes, so I am intrigued by this new (in English) series which is being published in the UK from September. 

Japanese author Jiro Akagawa has, according to Wikipedia, written 35 novels and 13 short story collections featuring "Mikeneko Holmes", a calico cat. 

The first of these to reach an English speaking audience is A Game of Cat and Killer, in September, followed by two more in 2027, all translated by Haydn Trowell and published by MacLehose Press.

A Game of Cat and Killer is the first book in the series and was originally published in Japanese in 1978 as Mikeneko Holmes no Suiri.

Here is the delightful cover, and blurb (courtesy of amazon):

Detective Yoshitaro Katayama is afraid of many things: heights, dark spaces, blood and . . . women.

When a young female student is found murdered, he's given two choices - review the harrowing crime-scene photographs or head to Hagoromo Women's College to investigate - and reluctantly opts for the latter.

But the murders don't stop, and soon Katayama has a different surprise on his hands: a calico cat named Holmes, orphaned her owner falls victim.

Surely that's the last thing Katayama needs. Until Holmes begins to display some uncanny investigative instincts of her own . . .

Introducing one the most iconic investigative duos in crime fiction - a hapless detective and his capable cat - The Deductions of Mikeneko Holmes is a must for all readers of Japanese cat fiction and classic crime.

Also, this is a display from May of some other Japanese crime fiction at my library, including titles by the now late Keigo Higashino.

Review: A Quiet Place by Seicho Matsumoto, tr. Louise Heal Kawai

Today's review is again courtesy of CrimeTime's Bob Cornwell.

A Quiet Place by Seicho Matsumoto, tr. Louise Heal Kawai (228 pages, June 2016, Bitter Lemon Press, ISBN: 1908524634)

What a pleasant surprise! Considered one of the most important (and prolific) writers of crime fiction in his native Japan, this is only the fourth novel from Seicho Matsumoto to be published in English (and the first to originate from a UK publisher). Well-chosen by Bitter Lemon too, showing another side (at least to this UK reader) of Matsumoto’s talent.

Matsumoto first wrote prize-winning mainstream and historical fiction, then experimented with crime in short story form (some, including 'The Face', considered the best short story of its year by the Mystery Writers of Japan, are collected in THE VOICE, published in the USA in 1989). In 1957 he published the ground-breaking POINTS AND LINES (1970 in US), a rare combination in Japan at that time of a crime story laced with acute social observation, often critical, of the society that surrounded him, a form he would champion throughout his life (he died in 1992). The book was a huge success, broadening the appeal of crime fiction throughout Japan. In the early '60s he wrote both what became in English INSPECTOR IMANISHI INVESTIGATES (Soho Crime US,1989), and PRO BONO, which took over 50 years before it became available in English (Vertical US, 2012). The first is a classic of painstaking police detective work, the latter both a mystery and a raging indictment (in the Japanese manner) of aspects of the Japanese justice system.

Now comes A QUIET PLACE (1975) written during a later period of Matsumoto’s career. Tsuneo Asai, a middle ranking civil servant working in a far from glamorous role in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, is on a business trip with his boss when a phone call from his sister-in-law tells him that Eiko, his wife, eight years his junior and with a history of heart trouble, has died of a sudden heart attack. First ensuring that his boss is not inconvenienced in his absence, he immediately returns to Tokyo. After the funeral he visits the cosmetics shop where his wife collapsed and died. It’s in a quiet suburb of Tokyo that, suspiciously, Eiko had never mentioned to him “ever”. He starts to ask questions.

From these low-key, even mundane ingredients, Matsumoto slowly builds a fascinating tale. Tsuneo, for example, at first appears to have much in common with the “nondescript” but dogged detective Torigai of POINTS AND LINES, and the “worn-out” Inspector Imanishi. But here his quest, pursued with quiet, painstaking intelligence, is filled out by a great deal more personal detail. His deference to authority, and to his wife’s ill-health, his morality (Japanese sexual mores are explored in some detail), his driving ambition (but within the established hierarchy), all add up, given the later noir-ish developments in the novel, to an individual irrevocably caught within an unforgiving social system. He is far from, say, the amoral protagonists of Patricia Highsmith.

That said, the later twists in the tale and Tsuneo’s actions surrounding them, shows him in a much more calculating light. Note too that an action that sets the plot in motion at the start of the novel, is also key to the ending. Can you spot what it is?

A QUIET PLACE is a worthwhile crime novel and one that lives up to Matsumoto’s reputation as a keen critic of his country’s social mores. Let us hope that Bitter Lemon Press will continue to explore and make available more of his work.

Bob Cornwell
September 2016

Review: Parade by Shuichi Yoshida tr. Philip Gabriel

Parade by Shuichi Yoshida translated by Philip Gabriel, March 2014, 240 pages, Harvill Secker, ISBN: 1846552370

Reviewed by Laura Root.
(Read more of Laura's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

PARADE by Shuichi Yoshida is the second of his books to be translated into English, following the success of cult thriller and film VILLAIN, and is a tale of Tokyo urban anomie, focussing on the lives of five young people sharing a small suburban apartment.

The book is narrated from the point of view of each of these five people, with each section moving a little further forward in time; Ryosuke, a geeky student and part-time Mexican restaurant chef, Kotomi the lovelorn small town girl who has come to Tokyo to reunited with her former boyfriend and current TV star, waiting around to be thrown crumbs of his affection in the form of booty call, Mirai a sarcastic and cynical shop manager with a drink problem, who hangs out in the gay bars of Tokyo, and Naoki, ostensibly the most successful of the bunch, with his high powered film industry career. Into this mix comes Satoru, a worryingly young drifter of no fixed abode, who earns a living by "night jobs" and charms the flat mates into allowing him a spot on his sofa. The device of using five different narrative voices works surprisingly well, with Yoshida managing to convincingly differentiate the characters.

Underneath the sitcom cosiness of the flatmate set-up, a darker spectre lurks. Each of the flatmates has their own reasons, some of them quite sad for coming to Tokyo, and all have secret self-destructive behaviours to hide from others. And dangers lie outside the flat; a mysterious maniac is brutally assaulting women near the local metro station, and closer to home, a suspicious procession of older men and tearful young girls frequent the neighbouring apartment, no 402.

PARADE is a slow burn psychological thriller, a sort of Japanese fusion of Friends and American Psycho. The most shockingly violent crimes and the identity of their perpetrator only become evident at virtually the end of the novel. Yoshida shows that at its worst, urban alienation can lead to sinister crimes and complicity, covering similar ground to VILLAIN, but in a more opaque fashion. But these crimes don't really come out of the blue, but more as a logical end point to the fragmented society depicted by Yoshida. While the flatmates strain to hide their real selves and present a more positive social image, they are party to a lot of harmful behaviour and smaller crimes as perpetrators, victims and bystanders, ranging from breaking and entering, drug taking, prostitution, domestic abuse and to lesser misdemeanours such as obsessive romantic behaviour and infidelity. Overall I found this a somewhat unconventional thriller, and an interesting and quick read, but rather more low key than VILLAIN.

Laura Root, March 2014

Review: Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino

Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino translated by Alexander O Smith with Elye J Alexander, February 2013, 376 pages, Little, Brown, ISBN: 1408704196

SALVATION OF A SAINT is the follow-up to THE DEVOTION OF SUSPECT X and again involves Tokyo Detective Kusanagi and his friend Yukawa, the physicist, aka "Detective Galileo".

Yoshitaka Mashiba is found dead in his home, poisoned. His wife, Ayane, is away visiting family. It doesn't appear to be suicide but who and more critically how could he have been poisoned as there's no trace of a visitor.

Kusanagi and his team are called in. His team includes a woman detective, Kaoru Utsumi, who soon sees that Kusanagi is somewhat taken with the widow Ayane and is worried he's not thinking straight. So she goes behind his back and consults Yukawa. This secrecy doesn't last long however and soon Yukawa is “on the case”, offering suggestions and carrying out experiments in his lab. Yoshitaka's personality and particular life goals are unravelled and a motive of sorts is revealed but can Yukawa crack what could be the perfect murder?

I really like this sort of crime novel – a mystery, not bloody with a puzzle to be unravelled. And what a puzzle! I liked the new no-nonsense character Utsumi and the fact that this is more of a police procedural than the previous book so you get to know Kusanagi a little better, though the focus is still more on plotting than characterisation. I felt this was paced slightly better than SUSPECT X - I didn't feel it begin to drag even though on the face of it it isn't a wide-ranging investigation and the suspect pool is very limited. It's a fast read due to the large amount of dialogue (and the large print and wide margins don't hurt) as well as the intricacy of the plot pulling you through.

SALVATION OF A SAINT is a very absorbing who/how-dunnit and I hope there's more in this series to come from Keigo Higashino.

The Devil's Disciple

I've just stumbled across this title, published this month by Hesperus Press. I've added it to the lengthening list of International Dagger Candidates!

'Prosecutor Tsuchida, I am being held here as a murderer. But the truth is that I am probably not that murderer. That's right. Probably.' While Shimaura Eizo sits in jail awaiting trial for the murder of a beautiful young woman, his erstwhile lover and initiator into a sinister, restless existence has risen in the ranks of the legal profession and is now the prosecutor on the case. Spinning a complex web of events and influences in this chilling murder mystery, Hamao probes the notion of guilt - both psychological and legal. The Devil's Disciple is here published alongside 'Did He Kill Them?', a haunting tale of a love affair turned sour.

The Devil's Disciple by Shiro Hamao (only 112 pages long)

Recent and Upcoming Titles of Interest

This week I've come across a few titles that though not all Euro Crime or translated, may be of interest to this blog's readers:

Zift by Vladislav Todorov (tr. Joseph Benatov) (out now, US edition)

December 21, 1963: Having served 20 years for a murder he didn't commit, "Moth" exits Central Sofia Prison anticipating his first night of freedom. Instead he steps into a new and alien world—the nightmarish totalitarianism of Communist Bulgaria. In his first hours of freedom he traverses the map of a diabolical city, full of decaying neighborhoods, gloomy streets, and a bizarre parade of characters.

A novel of grave wit, Zift unfolds in the course of a single, frenetic night, offering a fast-paced, ghoulish, even grotesque—but also enchanting—tour of shadowy, socialist Sofia. To achieve his depiction of totalitarian absurdity, Vladislav Todorov combines the methods of hardboiled American crime fiction and film noir with socialist symbols and communist ideological clichés.

An extract can be read via the publisher's website.

Treachery in the Yard: A Nigerian Thriller by Adimchinma Ibe (out now, US edition) - intended to be the first in a series. From the publisher's website:

A stunning police procedural debut from one of Nigeria’s young up-and-coming talents, Treachery in the Yard introduces an electrifying new setting to the world of international crime fiction.

Detective Peterside is drawn into the politics of Nigeria when a bomb goes off at Mr. Pius Okpara’s home. Mr. Okpara is locked in a conflict with a political rival, as both men are seeking their party’s nomination prior to the general election.

As Detective Peterside investigates, one murder leads to another and soon events appear to be spiraling out of control. The more he digs, the more corruption surfaces. Soon he is not sure whom to trust, including even his own mentor.

An intriguing blend of locale and familiar police procedure, Treachery in the Yard provides a unique brand of international suspense.

Looking ahead - The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino (tr. Alexander O. Smith) will be published in the US in February 2011 and in the UK in August 2011. [Petrona and I were given a glowing recommendation of this title by a publicist from a rival company to the one publishing the UK edition.]

Yasuko lives a quiet life, working in a Tokyo bento shop, a good mother to her only child. But when her ex-husband appears at her door without warning one day, her comfortable world is shattered. When Detective Kusanagi of the Tokyo Police tries to piece together the events of that day, he finds himself confronted by the most puzzling, mysterious circumstances he has ever investigated. Nothing quite makes sense, and it will take a genius to understand the genius behind this particular crime...One of the biggest-selling Japanese thrillers ever, and the inspiration for a cult film, The Devotion of Suspect X is now being discovered across the world. Its blend of a page-turning story, evocative Tokyo setting and utterly surprising ending make it a must-read for anyone interested in international fiction.

The cover above may not represent the final cover. More information on the book and the author can be found in the publisher's catalogue (pdf).

Japanese crime fiction - some links

I've just finished Real World by Natsuo Kirino. This is her third book to be translated into English following on from Grotesque and Out. I certainly found it interesting if a little dark for my tastes. The narrators are teenagers and as it's an American English translation they do sound as if they're, like, totally from California.

In Catherine Sampson's top 10 Asian Crime Fiction she lists, Out plus some more Japanese crime titles including Murder At Mount Fuji by Shizuko Natsuki which I have had on my to be read pile since 1996...

More on Japanese crime fiction can be found at the Japan Visitor site.