The novel works like a Japanese puzzle box—a frustrating one, albeit—which keeps you guessing till the end. There may be moments when you get a bit tired and wonder if there's any point in reading the book. The best part is that it all ties up in the end. The novel feels like a collection of episodic short stories, and the mysteries don't feel enough puzzling until the dead end of the book.

While reading, I was more interested in the historical aspects of the book. The book features many real events and personalities. I have already acquainted myself with the period after the Meiji Restoration through the novel "The Wild Geese" by Ogai Mori, who is incidentally referenced in this book. The Japanese, right from the government to the laymen, were struggling to comprehend the Western cultural blizzard that was forced on them. It was urgent to adapt themselves to Western standards to upend Western supremacy, while this urgency and the forced disassociation from traditional routes were creating havoc in society.

Complex, historical and requiring attention .. an intriguing crime novel .we get (putatively) insight into Japanese police manoeuvres and relationship to 19th century politics as preparation , I guess, for present day .. a team of more modern looking policemen, best friends, with a Western woman/Translator who has adopted Japanese ways, in the mix .. they explore earlier guillotine murders (the device recently imported from France). They employ local police who are as corrupted as those earlier ones, we're told, are .. and blackmail them into helping ..a new breath. It's all complex but actually focused on the inquiry as well as the new attitudes of police. The two characters, K and K are good friends (spelling is beyond me here from memory) and effective partners in searching out crime .. important clearing things up. Absorbing but not easy to read ... more than fine for me!

The Meiji Guillotine Murders by the much-loved Japanese author Futaro Yamada is unlike any murder mystery I have read. Published originally in 1979, this historical crime novel set in the 1860s Tokyo offers an illuminating commentary on the fast-changing socio-political landscape of Japan during the Meiji Restoration era through a series of complex mysteries.

The entire nation is in turmoil following the defeat of the centuries-long shogunate rule, with several factions vying to strengthen their hold over the government and a few individuals wielding their power to oppress those who oppose them. Chief Inspectors Toshiyoshi Kawaji and Keishiro Kazuki, the brightest and the most upright members of the Imperial Prosecuting Office – an agency tasked to fight crime as well as official corruption – are friends with a healthy rivalry. Together, they investigate a series of crimes, each seemingly impossible and unsolvable, with the help of five corrupt sergeants of the city police – known as ‘rasotsu’ – who have been given a last chance to mend their ways and a mysterious French woman living with Kazuki who is well-versed in the Shinto ritual of summoning spirits. Tightly interwoven with each crime is the escalating conflict between the old and the new – tradition and modernisation – which makes things uncomfortable, deadly even, for the investigators and people connected to them.

The Meiji Guillotine Murders is extremely difficult to get into, with the short but heavy history lesson at the beginning, the introduction of too many characters – fictional and historical – with similar-sounding names, and the esoteric seeming solutions to the mysteries. But rewarded is the reader who persists, as I did, until the end, where all the bizarre elements come together coherently towards the compelling climax. The author’s depiction of Tokyo’s landscape, political and otherwise, seems authentic, based on what my internet searches revealed about the era, particularly about Kawaji being a historical figure credited with establishing the modern Japanese police force. All the lead characters are neatly carved, and the graphic descriptions of the violent crimes are not for the squeamish. Bryan Karetnyk’s English translation is excellent, and Pushkin Press deserves a lot of appreciation and gratitude for bringing such wonderful literature to the world audience.

I greatly enjoyed reading The Meiji Guillotine Murders and am thankful to Pushkin Vertigo for the digital review copy through NetGalley.

Spoiler! --> I really can't stand how the murders are all solved by a mystical hypersexual foreign woman, I just can't.

It took me a while to get into this book. The structure was not easy to navigate at first, until I realised it is composed of a series of stories told as two policemen, Kuzuki and Kawaji traverse the capital seeking out the perpetrators of a series of murders. The book is set on the cusp of the Meiji Period; after the Meiji Restoration; the political revolution in 1868 that ended the military government that was the Tokugawa shogunate and returned control of the country to direct imperial rule under Mutsuhito, the emperor Meiji.

The Meiji Restoration of 1868 also was associated with the subsequent era of major political, economic, and social change—the Meiji period (1868–1912)—that brought about the modernization and westernisation of the country. Part of that change was in the police force where laziness and corruption were rife. After the 1868 Meiji Restoration, the new Meiji government sent Kawaji Toshiyoshi on a tour of Europe to study various law-enforcement systems. He returned impressed especially with the structure and techniques of the police forces of France’s Third Republic and of Prussia as models for the new Japanese police system.

This is reflected in The Meiji Guillotine Murders by the excitement at the introduction of the new execution method, Madame La Guillotine. Chief Inspectors Kawaji and Kazuki work for the Imperial Prosecuting Office, a branch of the government that aims to root out corruption especially within the Rasotsu, (police forces). So Fūtarō Yamada has combined the very real historical figure of Chief Inspector Kawaji Toshiyoshi with the entirely fictional character of Chief Inspector Keishiro Kazuki. It was Kazuki who brought the guillotine to Japan and it is Kazuki who has formed a rather too close
relationship with the lovely Esmeralda, a French woman ostensibly in Japan to undertake translation work. The beautiful Esmerelda has another talent though. She is a trained miko (female shaman) and is able to communicate with the spirits of the dead, serving as a medium. Thus she is able to confirm whether Kawaji and Kazuki are on the tight track when pursuing their murderer and to add in crucial bits of information that secure the conviction. The two wander through the capital pursuing a series of puzzling cases where the murder victims are often members of the government: ‘A Strange Incident at the Tsukiji Hotel’; ‘From America With Love’; ‘The Hanged Man at the Eitai Bridge’; ‘Eyes and Legs’; and ‘The Corpse that Cradled its own Head’.

Each of these stories starts with the Inspectors’ reports filed with the Imperial Prosecutors Office and ends with Esmeralda’s session with the spirits of the dead.

The Meiji Guillotine Murders offers both a historical understanding of the evolution of the Police under The Meiji project and also a series of fiendish murder mysteries. But what draws it together is the finale which is clever and surprising and has a big impact, drawing the murders together and finishing with a dramatic flourish.

Verdict: Though hard to get into at first, I ended up really enjoying this. I learnt a lot about this period of history and I enjoyed trying to guess the solutions to the crimes. Pushkin Vertigo are doing such a valuable job in producing and making accessible these titles in translation and should be encouraged to keep on enhancing our reading profiles.

I really wanted to like this one, and to begin with, I did. The first cha did a good job of transporting me to another time and place, and I thought did a good job of evoking Japan just after the Shogunate had fallen and it was in a state of flux. The actual mysteries were just far too convoluted and I started to switch off and skin them, so when the whole thing was brought together at the end I had lost interest.

*Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy in exchange for an honest opinion*

Sadly I had to DNF this book. I feel it's a little mis-marketed on purpose to capitalise on the success of Yokomizo as I was expecting something akin to one of those. This is a mix between an anthology and also the 'murder mysteries' are not as clear cut. There's a much stronger political spin and less focus on mystery-solving, at least in the first 25% I read. I tried really hard to get into it but I couldn't follow what was going on very well, and from reading other reviews it seems like this is a problem throughout the whole book. Such a shame!

This novel surprised me, at first u was disappointed at the lengthy historical background and complexity of the novel. I struggled to engage with the characters and follow the winning plot. However after I found the rhythm, it was a clever and well put together mystery with a satisfying conclusion. Tension was high throughout and whilst there is a lot of branching off and turns in the story, overall this is an enjoyable mystery novel! I've been really enjoying Japanese mystery and thriller novels and this is another excellent translation!

This wasn't what I was expecting and it isn't a straightforward procedural but it's an opportunity to read the work of a mystery novelist acclaimed in Japan. This wandered and is told in bits and pieces, making it difficult to become fully engaged with the characters. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. Interesting read.

I am quickly getting into Japanese fiction so was thrilled to be approved for an ARC of The Meiji Guillotine Murders. It was a slow start for me but once I got into the story I enjoyed it. I would definitely read more by this author - very authentic. 4 stars

This is more historical fiction than anything else. A lot of information about the era and a lot of very different threads to piece together. I must say the author does a cracking job and linking it all up at the end, and I did manage to understand the story by then, which I didn't think I'd be able to do when I started as there is just so much to concentrate on!

I enjoyed it and would recommend it to fans of Japanese translated fiction.

Detectives Kazuki and Kawaji are assigned to investigate a series of seemingly impossible murders. Together with the help of a mysterious shrine maiden, can they solve each gruesome death and piece together the dark connection between them?
Taking us deep into the heart of 19th century Tokyo, The Meiji Guillotine Murders is a fiendish murder mystery from one of Japan's greatest crime writers.
I do enjoy this style of book, the ponderous style attracts me very much. It takes a while to disentangle the various names which all look so similar but I would urge the reader to persevere. The book is a series of stories which are seemingly unconnected but if you are patient all will become clear. The writing style of the author is charming and fantasy seems the norm which draws one in to the stories. Great ending, I did not see it coming. I am so glad that I requested The Meiji Guillotine Murders. Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley.

First of all, I'd like to thank NetGalley and Pushkin for letting me read an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Total rating: 4.5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I originally marked this as a 4 star when I finished, but after having the night to think on this, I've upgraded to a 4.5, rounded up to 5 stars.

This was my first time reading an arc of a book, and although it took me some time to get used to once i was into the book I thoroughly enjoyed. At every point I was intrigued at what happened next, enjoying doing my own reading on the Japanese culture and within the book and learning on the go. This book was a ridiculously easy read, and I would have finished it a lot sooner if it wasn't for outside circumstances.

Each character was unique in their own way, and I was growing more attached than I thought to Kazuki and Kawaji in their time as investigators for the new and upcoming police force in Tokyo. I didn't know what to expect when approaching this book (other than murders, of course), but the direction it took was amazing.

I will 100% be reading more of Fūtarō Yamada's books when they are translated, after how much I enjoyed this one, and will be purchasing a copy of it myself to both support the author and be able to read in the proper formatting.

I am always excited to read any Japanese translations coming out from Pushkin Vertigo, but sadly this was one book i had a really, really hard time getting into. It felt less like a novel and more like reading a historical text on the era. There were so many characters and so much confusion that I struggled to finish it.

This isn’t a novel, more a series of short stories which gently build on one another until the final story ties them all together. Due to this, most of the characters are quick cut outs rather than having any depth to them. I found the ending overly melodramatic and the repeated ruse of using the French mika (medium) to reveal the murderer to be something of a cop out. Sadly not one I can recommend. I received an advance review copy of the audiobook for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I really enjoy the Pushkin Vertigo series, which has introduced me to lots of twentieth-century fiction I would never have otherwise read, much of which I've reviewed here, including books by Seishi Yokomizo, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, and Frederic Dard.

In contrast to some of the other twentieth-century Japanese crime fiction translated for the series, this one has a historical setting, taking us back to the mid-nineteenth century and the rulers following the Meiji Restoration. This is a turbulent period with various regional alliances and conflicts churning away as the governance of the country is reshaped. The guillotine in question is a French import, accompanied by a French executioner, and it serves as a conflicted symbol of modernisation/Westernisation. The historical elements are really interesting here, and Yamada alludes not only to past events but also to future rebellion, which helps to set clearly the boundaries of the book as a historical set piece.

The novel proceeds largely with a structure of individual stories, framed as a form of competition between the two friends and colleagues. I found this initially confusing, but the story does come back around to an overarching plotline, which only really began to become clear in the much later chapters. Because of this structure, the primary focus is on progressing each individual plot, and there is less character development of the two rivals (and certainly less of the French executioner) than I might have liked. However, the structure is really effective as a quasi-"casebook", and it's certainly not out of keeping for the genre, following a pairing with some Holmes/Watson elements.

I look forward to more of Yamada's work being translated in the future, and I will also be hunting out his Holmesian pastiche short story The Yellow Lodger and having a read around neo-Victorian criticism about his work in the meantime!

I gave up after a quarter of reading this book. I love reading Japanese novels and mystery thriller is one of my favorite genres, but I couldn't finish this one. I couldn't get into this writing style and the characters weren't fleshed out. I will give this book another try closer to release date, so I can give it an honest review.

I really like Japanese mystery books and this one was pretty enjoyable to read! It was different to what I expected - it was more historical which was actually really interesting.
The way it was told in titled chapters was different and it was a unique twist on a traditional murder mystery.
I didn’t love the characters but the story was engaging in its own way.
I liked the ending and the twists/reveals

I read a lot of classic crime, but this was fascinating, as I knew nothing about the Meiji period, and the detail the author goes into is fantastic. The detectives from the Imperial Prosecuting office investigate various crimes - there are a series of linked stories - in the emerging Meiji society and the new influx of foreigners from Europe. The solutions for the crimes come through the voices of the dead, using a spirit medium to explain their last moments. I haven't read anything like this before and I found it really unusual and different.

A look into one of japan's leading crime writers novels, highly descriptive of time and customs, perfect way to discover something new.