This Japanese traditional detective novel was originally published in 1960, but has only recently been translated into English. The structure was unusual, with people from the murdered man’s company leading the investigation as amateur detectives in the first half of the book. The police detective duo of Inspector Onitsura and his assistant Tanna don’t appear until the halfway mark in Chapter 10. I felt that the pace and flow of the story improved at this point—before this, it was interesting but lacked focus.

If you love trains and psychologically improbable train timetable alibis, you are going to love this book. If (like me) you could take ‘em or leave ‘em, you will still find plenty to enjoy. This book is a time capsule of postwar Japan—food, clothes, lifestyles, manners—and that was interesting in itself. The characters are varied and come from many walks of life. Much is made of the setting, and especially the police investigator’s plight as he pounds the pavement tracking down leads in hot weather. There was a suspenseful moment right near the end when two characters visit a roof garden. All in all, an enjoyable mystery!

I really enjoyed this Japanese translated mystery. It’s something I’ve been getting more into reading, and this one caught my attention from the beginning and held my interest all the way through. While there may have been some issues with the Kindle upload, it didn’t prevent me from enjoying the book. Overall, an enjoyable read.

The Black Swan Mystery is a solid classic mystery. It starts with a mill owner found dead by the train tracks, and the police have to untangle a web of suspects. There’s a labor union, a religious group, and a lot of family drama.

The story is all about the puzzle. Timelines, alibis, and train schedules really matter. Ayukawa lays out all the clues clearly, and it's fun to try to work it out as you read. One thing to note: the main detective, Chief Inspector Onitsura, doesn’t show up until halfway through, and that threw me off a little, but once he arrives, the investigation gets sharper.

The writing is simple and direct, and the translation flows well. It feels old-fashioned in a good way, and if you like classic Golden Age mysteries, then this is a great book that feels both familiar and new at the same time.

The kindle version didn’t transfer well.

There were multiple typos and it threw off the pacing of the book at times.

Still it was a good mystery book, definitely a recommendation for people into the genre.

Murder mystery in mid-century Japan as tradition clashes with modernity
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To describe this as a murder mystery would be to lead a future reader down the garden path; it is a murder mystery but it is also so much more than that. The closest thing that I could liken it to is a Dickens, as books with overarching themes and populated by grotesques, antiheroes and the downtrodden; and if you approach this book as a murder mystery plus, you might be able to appreciate the fiendish ingenuity and self-awareness that the author brings to bear. A murder happens, and Chief Inspector Onitsura comes in to solve the who, the why and the how; but before the crime gets unravelled, you will meet the entire spectrum of family, employees, rivals and enemies that make up the world of the deceased and the perpetrator.

It’s impossible to distill this eye-opening book into a few hundred words, but as a whole, I say that it’s a Dickensian portrait of mid-century Japan as tradition clashes with modernity. One of my theses is that defeated countries work hardest to overcome their negative former selves; in this, Ayukawa shows the struggle to develop a new sense of class and self in a world still in turmoil, with modern life intruding on traditional values, on Western progress versus Japanese social norms. There’s also plenty here for any crime and mystery reader, with a plot that revolves and resolves around train timetables, but that’s just extra colour on top of the fascinating creatures with which Ayukawa populates his gritty Japan.

Four and a half stars

I have thoroughly been enjoying these older Japanese mysteries that are being translated by Pushkin press. This novel completely hooked me and I was unable to put it down as the mystery delved into workers rights in this time period in Japan. A very enjoyable read.

A murder mystery about an inspector and rookie duo, knocking on ever suspect's door and collecting all the evidence in the most procedural way possible is what this book is all about. Along the way is the Japanese railway system, The Black Swan Mystery is full of railway schedules and maps. For the crime solving enthusiasts that decode the mystery before the inspector in the book does, this story has a lot of material.

As a wealthy man dies on the railway line, Sudo and Seki, inspector and his assigned rookie, crack the timeline, dig into people's whereabouts and interview character after character involved in the shady background of the dead to find the real culprit. As the story progresses, a peculiar feeling becomes strong- the answer lies in the railway schedules.

Unlike other mysteries where all the characters are established in the beginning of the story and the crime solving is a chasing process, Sudo goes about following every police procedure by the book. There was a small part that bugged me though. A small part that was perhaps not my cup of tea but could be someone else's favorite flavor.

Thorough more than half the story, there were new chartered getting introduced into the story through interrogations and other procedures. At one point it became too much to absorb and to many characters to keep track of. Though I can think of a friend or two who would love a spread out murder mystery like this one.

I found this book didn't transfer into the Kindle format well.

There were typos with Ls and Fs and the rail maps and timetables were unreadable.

For me this spoiled the whole flow of the rather long novel which possibly was interesting in its original language but I found it was just long and to difficult to read.

One of the things I love about reading these classic Japanese murder mysteries that Pushkin has been translating and releasing has been the insight that they provide into historical Japan. Here we focus a lot of workers' rights and unions in the 1950s and we see more about how Japanese life changed because of World War II. I also think as a mystery, this was fun and twisty. Solving it along with Detective Onitsura requires paying more attention to train timetables than I was personally one throughout the reading experience, and I did find the ultimate explanation to be a it more drawn out than my tastes prefer, but I thought this was an enjoyable read and would be interested in seeing if more in the series get translated.

3.75 Stars - The Black Swan Mystery is a translated procedural mystery that was originally published in 1957. It takes place in Japan and was originally written in Japanese.

While its brand of mystery is not earth shattering, I found the story to feel contemporary enough that I was surprised when I looked and saw how old it was! The story has corporate intrigue, train schedules, women in the red light district, and lots of surprises. This translation does not feel as fast paced as some other books in the genre, but I felt that it was engaging and surprising and certainly worth reading.

Thank you to Pushkin push for an advance reading copy for unbiased review.

Not my favourite Japanese genre example and the kindle edition made it so hard to follow.
Definitely one for the die hard fans- not for me sadly.

I really didn’t enjoy this. It might be because the formatting was messed up on Kindle and I like that better than the NG app. But it just felt bloated and long and I didn’t care throughout to see what happened

I’m tempted to knock a star off this rating because of the poor quality of the galley. All uses of “ff,” “fi,” and “fl” were dropped from the text, making the book difficult to read, and supplemental material like maps and railroad timetables would not load, further detracting from the experience. But I’ll keep my focus on Tetsuya Ayukawa’s prose and plotting.

The story revolves around the murder of a corporate executive, with other deaths following. Ayukawa introduces several compelling elements that bear on the case, like a labor dispute and a shady religion, which too often are neglected in favor of more mundane ones. (Hence the railroad timetables.) New lead detectives are abruptly brought in partway through the book, and there are several jarring plot twists, the title itself being one. But the 1960s setting and overall mood, haunted by the war, carry the day. The atmosphere is reminiscent of Akira Kurosawa films like THE BAD SLEEP WELL (1960) and HIGH AND LOW (1963), o ering—sorry, offering a fascinating glimpse into Japanese society of the era. Too much of the mystery’s solution plays like a logic puzzle, but the closing scenes and the motives revealed in them are effective.

The Black Swan Mystery by Tetsuya Ayukawa

adventurous mysterious fast-paced
Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75

A cut away scene mystery
What I loved:
💕Japanese cultural lense on mystery
💕Love the inclusion of train schedules, maps

Not my Cuppa ☕️:
☕️The cut away structure
☕️ list of detective questions at the end of the chapter

Ideal reader:
🌟Reader looking for a fast paced mystery adventure
🌟 Reader looking for a mystery with a unique structure
Content warning - minor: Murder

A fantastic murder mystery / police procedural from 1950’s Japan, “The Black Swan Mystery” by Tetsuya Ayukawa pays homage to the golden age mysteries while giving readers a slice of post-war Japan moving towards the modern era. This is the start of the series featuring Inspector Onitsura, although he doesn’t show up until halfway through the novel.

We start with a bit of background, two ladies talking about the company where Fumie’s husband and Atsuko’s father both are directors. The company is dealing with a workers strike, and it isn’t going very well, with fears that it might become violent. Although Fumie is trying to set Atsuko up with a marriage proposal with another company employee, Atsuko has a secret, she is in love with the vice president of the union, very Romeo and Juliet-like. As they leave their luncheon, Atsuko is confronted by a blackmailer, eager for a payday with his knowledge of the affair. And so begins the drama.

Fumie’s husband, the company director, is found dead next to railroad tracks. This could have been an accident or suicide, but the bullet hole in him makes it murder. Detectives Sudo and Seki are assigned to the case, and start pursuing the various leads, which include the union leaders, the religious cult the director belonged to (and encouraged the company employees to join), the ex-intelligence agent working for the cult who has now disappeared, and the various ladies who might have been involved with this womanizing old man. The case takes on a new sense of urgency when an unemployed drifter is found dressed identically to the director, poisoned on a train, creating questions about the director’s last movements and whom witnesses actually saw.

As the case sputters to a halt, Inspector Onitsura and his assistant Tanna take over, following up on leads and traveling around the country pursuing ancient history and unresolved clues as the murderer strikes again. Can they solve the who, and more importantly the how, before the killer strikes again?

Red herrings, false starts, secret identities, suspects being killed… the twists and turns will leave you guessing until the author expertly starts pulling all of the strings into a satisfying conclusion. Mr. Ayukawa does a fabulous job slowly drawing you to the obvious culprit and working alongside Onitsura as he solves puzzle after puzzle.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Pushkin Press, Pushkin Vertigo via NetGalley. Thank you!

I've been getting more and more into Japanese mystery novels as of late (in no small part thanks to NetGalley, actually!) and I thought this was an exemplary title. I'm one of those people for whom the primary appeal of mystery is the deductive process rather than the human drama, so while others may find this book a little dry in that regard, I found it quite fascinating. Hoping to see other books by Ayukawa translated into English soon!

This was not my favorite but it was still incredibly suspenseful and interesting to read through and follow

For being originally written in the 1960s, this book still holds its own in the genre. A classic murder mystery on a train, with iron clad alibis and red herrings, The Black Swan Mystery was a great read for anyone who loves classic mysteries set in a post WWII Japan,

This book is very plot driven and a bit slow at times but the payoff is worth it. Readers will enjoy trying to put the puzzle pieces together while going on a journey across Japan, meeting a wide array of unusual suspects.

I think some things may have been a bit lost in translation, making parts of the book to feel a bit clunky but over this was a very enjoyable read.

A body was found on railroad tracks and Detective Inspector Sudo and Constable Seki were investigating. It turns out that it was the Director of the Towa Textiles Factory which was in the midst of a trade union strike. The detectives started to think that it might be one of the union leaders who murdered him, but another suspect, the right hand man of a Shaman leader, was also a viable culprit. When another murder occurs and when all the avenues of the investigation seemed to slow down, a fresh set of eyes are called in, Inspector Onitsura and his assistant, Tanna. They reviewed all the evidence and found other avenues to explore because it all seemed to center around the railways and their timetables.
An interesting police procedural that told by different characters. The Kindle edition had flaws. The charts and maps were not displaying and many words throughout were missing letters. This slowed reading and the flow of the story.
Thank you NetGalley and Puskin Press for the opportunity to read this e-galley of "The Black Swan Mystery".

It’s an okay procedural murder mystery, but it never quite captured my interest.

Nishinohata, the greedy director of a company whose employees are currently striking for better work conditions, is murdered, and because of his unsavory reputation, there’s a lot of suspects. But once the investigator, Onitsura, finds the person with a compelling motive, he has to figure out how they created their airtight alibi.

I feel like the appeal here is the numerous train timetables that readers can use to figure out the alibi, so it really is like a technical puzzle. Now the timetables on my eARC were formatted badly so I couldn’t take part (plus other issues, like ff, fi, fl all missing for some reason), so that did take away from my reading experience but that’s probably just a me issue. But other than that, I feel like the mystery turned out to be pretty complicated in a way that made it pretty hard for the reader to figure out anything on their own, and it also seemed to try to focus on the boring parts of police work where they walk and talk to people for hours with very little return. It probably wasn’t the type of mystery that I’m a fan of.

The main protagonist seemed to be a detective who didn’t show up until halfway so there wasn’t time to really feel compelled by them. And I’m kinda used to how female characters might be written by old Japanese men, but even then the way some of them were written here was pretty sexist. Of course some of the men were gross too, but it felt like the women were only allowed so many brain cells. Idk, things happened to characters but it felt so hand-waved away or never discussed again that it made me wonder what the point was, so none of the characters interested me.

I guess if you like old Japanese detective stories you might try it out, but I feel like there must be better ones.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.