Murder at the Black Cat Cafe and Why did the Well Wheel Creak? by Seishi Yokomizo
This was chosen as a book for book club. It actually contains two books in one. Both can be described as classic Japanese mysteries, from the author of The Honjin Murders. Seishi Yokomizo has been called ‘The Japanese Agatha Christie’.
Murder at the Black Cat Cafe
Tokyo, 1947.
The Pink Labyrinth is one of the bomb-scarred city’s most shady neighbourhoods. There, in the dead of night a patrolling policeman catches a young Buddhist monk digging in the back yard of The Black Cat Cafe, a notorious brothel. In the shallow grave at his feet lie the dead body of a woman, her face disfigured beyond recognition, and the corpse of a black cat.
Who is the murdered woman, and how was she connected to the infamous establishment? And where did the dead cat come from, given that the cafe’s feline mascot seems to be alive and well? The brilliant sleuth Kosuke Kindaichi investigates, but as he draws closer to the truth, he finds himself in grave danger…
Review
There is a murder or two and the story has some twists and turns. Most of the book club said they had guessed a lot of it right and were not surprised by the ending. However, once we started discussing the ending, it seems most of them had missed who the actual victim was!
It was easy to get caught up in the motivation of the killer and the intricate plotting of the murder and, in so doing, lose track of who they had actually killed!
At the end of the book, the genre of the “headless corpse” was explained. While most people are aware of the “Locked Room” trope, I had not considered there was a “headless corpse” trope. It does not mean the body has to actually be headless. It relates to the body not being recognisable, which leads to the added investigation of who the victim is as well as who killed them and how they dies. This gives a lot of room for mistaken identity and ensuring plot twists.
Why did the Well Wheel Creak?
1947, Japan.
The village has three once great families, but two have fallen away into poverty, leaving just the Honidens as land owners. The last Honiden fathered two sons, one legitimate and one not, who could only be told apart by his eyes.
When the war ends, only one son returns, eyes lost to sharpnel. He claims to be the heir but is he? And who is the cause of the disasters befalling the family?
Review
This is a short story set at the end of WW2.
This time the story is told via letters from a sister to her brother, so you have to piece together what is real and what is speculation. I had my suspicions on what had happened, so, like the last book, although there were twists and turns, some of it was predictable.
There was also a long opening chapter that set up the scene for the three local families and their descendants. This was meant to explain why Honiden fathering two sons, to mothers of different families, was important. It could have been condensed as it was not really relevant to the story. However, other reviewers have noted that any pertinent information from this chapter would have been awkward to put into the sisters letters.
The plot of the story concerns one of Honiden’ sons coming back from the war. The question is, which brother is he? It was known that Honidens sons could only be told apart by their eyes. The returning man had been blinded, so there is no way to know for certain which son (legitimate or not) he is.
The ending was not as predictable as the last book, more because of the way it was written. As this is a narrated plot, it fell to someone to explain what had occurred at the end. And that was when things the reader could never have known came to light.
If you like to follow along with the detective and spot the clues they miss, so you could name the murderer before they do, you will be sorely disappointed.