
Revered Japanese mystery novelist Seishi Yokomizu (1902-1981) wrote 77 titles starring beloved detective Kosuke Kindaichi. Two early Kindaichi cases are bundled here, both originally published in the late 1940s. The intriguingly knotty pair easily stand alone and can serve as a superb Kindaichi introduction.
Rather than Yokomizu's usual "locked room" mysteries, Murder at the Black Cat Cafe is " 'a faceless corpse' one." On the outskirts of post-World War II Tokyo is the Black Cat Cafe, formerly run by a couple repatriated from China to Tokyo after Japan's defeat. They've since disappeared after selling the property, leaving behind a decomposing nude victim in a shallow garden grave. Kindaichi, sent by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, arrives to assist the convoluted case. In the shorter Why Did the Well Wheel Creak?, Kindaichi is more messenger than solver, reinvestigating a prominent family's destruction that unfolds via collected letters and newspaper clippings. The corpses aren't faceless here, but faces are conspicuously featured, especially those of two half brothers--one the wealthy legitimate heir; the other an unacknowledged discard--whose visages become more similar with age.
Almost a half century after his death, Yokomizu remains an evergreen favorite for his skillfully constructed multilayered puzzles, expertly keeping readers' suspicions twisting and turning. Committed boutique press Pushkin introduced Yokomizu to Anglophone readers with six full Yokomizu mysteries thus far, two of which were translated by Japanese and Russian academic Bryan Karetnyk, who returns for these two novellas. With at least 70 more titles left, new generations of lucky Kindaichi enthusiasts certainly have decades of discoveries ahead. --Terry Hong