I have a large selection of Pushkin Vertigo books in my collection and have never been disappointed with any of them. They certainly have a knack of picking really interesting and unusual novels to publish! 

I was really intrigued by The Inugami Curse as I hadn’t read anything by a Japanese author since reading Ring by Kōji Suzuki many years ago. The story is set in the 1940s and as a result had more of a classic crime feel about it. I thought the tense atmosphere came across really well in the translation, as the family argue over inheritance and the reading of a will.

It had quite a quirky feel about it, despite being quite detailed and intricate. For me this was probably down to Detective Kindaichi, who I really enjoyed as a character, and I would love to read more from the series!

Yokomizo is a classic for a reason. His mysteries are intricately plotted with unexpected twists and this one is no exception. Featuring a wide cast of suspects and even more possible motives, this is a lovely twist and turn borne out of an odd will. While the murders are grisly, the characters are all more shocked than you are.

This is the first Japanese translation mystery that I have read, and this must be taken into account with regards to my ratings.
The second book that I picked up in this series was convoluted, to say the least. I did not realise that it was almost double the size of the first that I read and kept waiting for it to end! This impacted my liking of the book a little. 
I will be going into why this book was not for me, but still think die-hard fans of mysteries and older ones at that, may like it more than I did. Our detective makes an immediate appearance once the stage is set. We have been told a lot about the death of an important man and his background story. I felt like that tipped the hand a little since some of the same information was used as an 'aha' point later in the narrative because our detective did not know anything about it and no one told him. The large family finds themselves in shock when a will's contents are revealed to them. Even before that happens, Detective Kindaichi has been called to the scene because a lawyer foresees trouble. The plot was interesting, and although I guessed certain things, others came as a surprise. What I had a problem with was the language and the nature of narration. I am not sure if it is the case with the original as well, or the translator literally translated everything. Sometimes the latter is useful, but in cases like this, it sounds like too much information about the scene all the time.
I found the graphic descriptions a little offputting with the rest of the tone. It is a good plot, and I highly recommend anyone interested in twisted family dynamics with murder at its core should give it a shot, it just wasn't for me.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

This is the second book in the Kindaichi to be translated to English by Veritgo.  It's an intricately plotted delight, and the mystery itself has a feeling of Greek tragedy once all is revealed.  Kindaichi's character takes a back seat to the strong personalities of the Inugami family, particularly the enigmatic beauty Tamayo.  It takes good advantage of the Post-War setting although some of the mores are obviously dated.  It's not necessary to read The Honjin Murders first, although I enjoyed both.

I do love the Pushkin Vertigo series and this is an excellent thriller set in 1940's Japan. As usual these stories tend to be about plot rather than character development but I found the mystery intriguing and the plot compelling. The story is a well constructed puzzle with The Inugami family and all their tensions and secrets at the heart of it. Yokimizo has a knack for conjuring atmostphere through visceral descriptions of landscape, body language and weather. I also have to say the translation is excellent!

Classic Crime.....
Classic crime from Japan. Cleverly and intricately plotted. When the head of the incredibly wealthy Inugami clan passes his family gathers for the reading of the will. Thus begins a series of bizarre and disturbing murders. A gruesome puzzle, well executed with an interesting detective in Kindaichi. A treat from the Golden Age of crime.

Entertaining and quite warped detective novel set in post-war Japan with a vile family fighting over an inheritance, and one of them setting out to murder the rest. It's a very well constructed mystery in a completely implausible way (it's always a bit of a bad sign when the detective is remarking "well, that was a bizarre series of coincidences) but, you know, murder mystery, go with it.

Having not previously heard of Seishi Yokomizo, I relied on my faith in the quality of work published by Pushkin Vertigo when choosing to download a review copy of The Inugami Curse from NetGalley and I am glad to say that I wasn't at all disappointed! The character of independent sleuth Kosuke Kindaichi was great fun to read about and made a refreshing change from the norm. He's not a divorced alcoholic, but does have suitably quirky personal habits a traits that make him come across as less of a threat to the criminally inclined than he really is.

Kindaichi has his work cut out to unravel the convoluted trail of murders surrounding the Inugami family as its members start to be picked off one after the other and I imagine Yokomizo must have spent hours painstakingly plotting this novel in order to keep everything plausible. There is a surprisingly large cast of characters so I was pleased at how easily I managed to differentiate between them all. Yokomizo doesn't go in for deep portraits, but can deftly sketch individuals so they are each memorable. Admittedly there are a few moments when The Inugami Curse hasn't aged so well - women are valued almost entirely by their physical appearance, for example, and at one point Kindaichi is critical of a young woman whose (emotional) 'strength made her unfeminine'. As readers we are privy to a couple of ignorantly homophobic thoughts from him too.

Yokomizo describes the natural world and changing seasons around Nasu in a way that adds great atmosphere to the story. Storms flare up or snow falls at just the right time to accentuate scenes, but without seeming overly played. There's perhaps too much foreshadowing, particularly in the first third of the story, but the narrative keeps up a great pace throughout, especially for such a complicated mystery. I appreciated the brief recaps which gave me a moment to draw breath alongside Kindaichi, before plunging back in! I think The Inugami Curse would strongly appeal to fans of authors such as Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh or George Bellairs. The novel is excellent classic crime fiction with a tangible Japanese flavour.

Kindaichi is a shambling, eccentric private detective. He is approached by a representative of a large law firm to help deal with an emerging crisis. Before he can do almost anything, the man who approached him is dead.

The law firm acts for Inugami, a major business founded by one of the wealthiest men in Japan. When the founder dies, the law firm's principal asks Kindaichi to be present when the will is read. Inugami's will turns out to be a complex, fiendishly twisted arrangement that seems designed to create trouble and set all members of the family at one another's throats. Soon enough the trouble begins and the inevitable fallout from the will starts to take shape.

I enjoyed this novel. The plot device was something different, with some memorable characters and Kindaichi was a clever and perceptive protagonist. I did find it a tad melodramatic at times, but otherwise it was a really good read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for giving me an ARC! 

I don't read much of Japanese literature, which absolutely doesn't mean I don't enjoy it when I do. Therefore, The Inugami Curse was probably the first Japanese detective story that I ever read, and now I want to read more!

Initially, it was hard for me to get into the story, the beginning was rather slow, but once the action took up the reading experience got much better. Family drama is one of my favourite tropes within this kind of novels, so following such a wide cast of characters fighting over inheritance was interesting, to say the least.

Overall, it is a well crafted and engaging mystery. And even though the mystery was not too hard to figure out, I had so much fun with this novel and definitely would pick up something else by the author.

My thanks to Pushkin Vertigo for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Inugami Curse’ by Seishi Yokomizo. It was originally published in Japan in 1951 and has recently been translated from the Japanese by Yumiko Yamakazi. 

“Ch-Chief, w-w-what’s going on? W-why is that c-c-corpse sticking up in the air upside down?” - Detective Kindaichi, ‘The Inugami Curse’

The macabre cover image of red clad legs sticking up through ice initially drew me to this novel. I also have enjoyed a number of works of modern Japanese crime fiction and was intrigued by what I had read about Seishi Yokomizo’s writing that includes seventy-seven works featuring Detective Kosuke Kindaichi. 

Set in post-war Japan, the plot focuses upon the the wealthy Inugami clan. When the head of the clan dies his family eagerly awaits the reading of the will. Yet everyone is shocked when its strange details are revealed. After this, a series of bizarre murders takes place. 

Detective Kindaichi has been asked to assist in unravelling the terrible secrets of the clan in order to assist in identifying the murderer and break the curse. 

This was an intricately plotted, fiendishly twisty murder mystery in the classic style. It proved an enjoyable read. 

Seishi Yokomizo is acknowledged as the King of Golden Age crime fiction in Japan and I am very pleased that Pushkin Press has published this and another of his Detective Kindaichi mysteries, ‘The Honjin Murders’, which I plan to read in the near future. Hopefully more of his novels will be published in English.

I'm sad to say this was really not my kind of thing. As a longtime fan of Japanese literature - classical and contemporary - I requested a copy after seeing favourable early reviews, but I found it to be too pulpy for my liking. In hindsight this is not all that surprising considering that this was serialised when it came out in the the 1950s. If you're curious about post-war Japanese novels maybe give this a go, but it isn't one which will linger long in my mind.

It’s 1940s Japan, and the wealthy patriarch of the Inugami Clan has died. As his family speculate as to who will inherit, we discover that the old man has left the majority of his wealth to his adopted daughter Tamayo– and she must marry one of the Inugami grandsons in order to claim her inheritance. To make matters more complicated, the assistant to the family lawyer is killed after contacting detective Kosuke Kindaichi after fears he will be murdered over a mysterious mistake he has made and suspicion is piled on various members of the family. This is one difficult family, driven by greed and lust, and secrets and twist will be exposed on all sides as bodies pile up and Kindaichi fights to uncover the truth.

This reads bit like an Agatha Christie, with the classic clever (and seemingly rather rich) detective who will stop at nothing to find the murderer as the killings become more and more outlandish, surrounded by typical squabbling and family drama. I enjoyed the writing style, which is surprising dry and funny (although also strangely overly descriptive in places) and found that the overall plot is unravelled well to a satisfying conclusion. The characters are all larger than life personalities (especially Kiyo who wears a creepy mask and Sahei with his rather interesting romantic entanglements) and I liked getting to know them all through their various backstories and motives to kill. It doesn’t tale itself too seriously, and it almost feels at times that the author is giving a little *nudge nudge wink wink* to the reader as if to say ‘I know this ridiculous, but just go with it’. And go with it I did.

A fun entry into the murder mystery world, I hope more of these will be translated in the future.

Extremely creepy historical Japanese murder mystery featuring the famous Detective Kosuke Kindaichi - these can be read out of order, and would appeal greatly to fans of mystery, murder mystery, and historical Japanese fiction.

Was so excited to read this. I recently read The Honjin Murders and absolutely loved it, so I was expecting to feel the same about this... spoiler alert: I did! I really recommend this for fans of the classic mystery authors like Agatha Christie and Doyle, you will love this!

The Inugami Curse is the second book I’ve read by Seishi Yokomizo, featuring his scruffy private investigator Kosuke Kindaichi. Like the first book, The Honjin Murders, this novel is a twisty murder mystery, filled with family secrets and jealous relations.  I picture Mr Kindaichi as resembling Columbo, probably because he is always a bit dishevelled and has a habit of ruffling his hair while thinking.  The plot is very Golden Age traditional murder mystery, but the story is firmly rooted in Japan with traditional Japanese clothing, tatami mats and musical instruments featuring strongly.

This is turning out to be a really great series of mysteries.  With more than thirty books in the original Japanese series, I hope that more are translated into English.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for giving me an ARC! 

4.5 rounded up to 5 stars, and I really hope the Publisher decides to translate more by Yokomizo!

So first up: you will not be able to figure out who the killer is, that is how well crafted this mystery is. I was right, but at the same time I was wrong in ways I didn't even think of. That twists were so intricately done that I do not think anyone would be able to see it coming, and predict the full extent of the plot twists. 

The reason it isn't a full 5 is because I feel like the explanation section, did drag on a bit and cover the same parts over and over. But the ride it took to get there was definitely worth the time it took to read! 

Since it is a mystery in a long-running series, you don't need to read all the other ones thankfully, and there doesn't seem to be a ton of recurring characters so you should be fine! Also our MC while not having a ton of personality, it still an enjoyable POV through which we see most of the story.

Pushkin Press is my favourite publisher for books just like this and introducing English readers to excellent writing from abroad. This book is a similar to Agatha Christie but is a more of a 'grown up' tale.

3.5★

Net Galley & Pushkin Press gave me a copy of this book to review. Thank you very much!

I don't read a lot of Japanese literature, but that doesn't mean I'm not a fan of it!

This book doesn't have the almost detached quality that other Japanese detective stories I've read have. This book (after a slow start)is lively, it is dramatic, with a large cast of characters that I found easy to keep track of.

And most of these characters don't have any trouble speaking their mind.

"Detective you have to arrest her. You have to arrest her and put her to death. Not just the regular death penalty - that's not good enough for her. I want her to hang by her heels, rip her to shreds, burn her till she's black, and pull out her hair, strand by strand."


Um... it is fair to say that the Inugami family are not close.

But they are vivid.

I was finding the book a real page turner. I thought I had guessed the murderer - and in part I had - but I still wanted to find out exact methods.

This book was a 4★ read until the end. Most drawn out and in the end boring ending since I read Dinner at Antoine's. Common fault in twentieth century detective stories. I believe this book was originally serialised in a magazine, so Yokomizo was probably trying to make sure that the readers hadn't forgotten important plot points.

I really enjoyed this mystery, and might even say it was my favorite of all the recent Pushkin Japanese mystery translations released.

The simplest comparison is Agatha Christie, and though not as strong a character as Poirot, Kindaichi is a pleasant detective to follow along with, trying to find answers before the next murder occurs.

A lovely Sunday afternoon read for the sunny days, whether we choose to stay home, or are forced to do so.



https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50362362-the-inugami-curse?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=gz8gMLNBYw&rank=1