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.

I really like Yamada's writing style. I wish I could read it in the native Japanese (one day). Enjoyed this installation!

It wasn’t exactly what I was anticipating, but it was still an enjoyable novel to read. The historical and political aspects of the plot are way more present that I thought they would be, but it gave a deep and interesting context to the murders. They are told through little tale-like chapters — with titles. In a way, it reads like a collection of very short stories about some murders in the area that follow each other in that moment in time. They don’t blend in a typical mystery thriller way. It was an intriguing manner to tell the story. It was not the standard mystery thriller and I found that to be engaging. The ending has a little twist that I wasn’t expecting and it was quite thrilling. Even though I did not particularly connect with the characters, I appreciated this novel.

The Meiji Guillotine Murders is a very entertaining historical Japanese crime/mystery thriller by prolific author the late Futaro Yamada, many of whose books have been adapted for TV and and Film in his home country.

The book is set in the Meiji period when ,under pressure from the West,Japan was dragged kicking and screaming from an isolationist feudal society towards the more modern and very successful country it is today. The changes initially polarised the country and it was a time of great turmoil ,plots, assassinations and power plays. The first chapter of the book describes the situation and the historical context of the story.

The main characters are Detectives Kawaji and Kazuki who solve a series of bizarre and often seemingly impossible crimes ably assisted,seemingly, by the spirit world via French Woman Esmeralda ,and sometimes not so ably by 5 Rasotsu, basically city watchmen. While the plethora of Japanese personal names and nouns can be a little confusing this is great fun and very clever. Fans of Sherlock Holmes will love the series of offbeat crimes and the deduction that solves them. All are linked and when the "big picture" is revealed so is the cleverness of the author.

Hopefully more translations to come of Futaro Yamada's books,I'm hooked alreay.