When the wealthy patriarch of the Inugami clan dies, his will brings into high relief all the jealousies, rivalries, and petty conflicts within his family members. Sahei Inugami’s will leaves his estate behind, not to his grandsons Kiyo, Take, or Tomo, but rather to Tamayo, the granddaughter of Sahei’s mentor and rumoured once-lover. In particular, Tamayo has three months to choose one of Sahei’s grandsons to marry, and her husband will inherit the estate.
If Tamayo refuses, or dies before the three months are up, she forfeits the inheritance, and control of the family business passes to Kiyo, assisted by Take and Tomo. The remainder of the estate will be divided into five, with one share going to each of the grandsons, and two shares going to Shizuma Aonuma, the son of Sahei’s former mistress.
If Kiyo, Take, and Tomo all refuse to marry Tamayo, or die before the three months are up, Tamayo receives the full estate, and is free to marry whomever she wants.
It’s a set-up that practically guarantees extra-juicy family drama, and The Inugami Curse doesn’t disappoint. Secrets come to light; siblings and cousins turn on each other, and soon enough, people start getting killed.
I absolutely adore this book! I enjoyed my previous adventure with Detective Kosuke Kindaichi, and this story was even more my kind of whodunnit. Whereas The Honjin Murders had a very Sherlock Holmes feel with the focus being more on the howdunnit of the locked room mystery, The Inugami Curse feels much more like my personal fave, Agatha Christie. There’s a whole cast of suspects, each of whom has varying degrees of motive and opportunity, and I feel like the psychology of these characters — or the whydunnit, so to speak, holds the key to identifying the killer.
Even better, the clues are easy enough to follow; Kindaichi even helpfully lists them all for us in a chapter called “A Monstrous Riddle.” Various revelations come to light about the characters, each of which disproves one theory or another while raising new possibilities. And one clue in particular has Kindaichi thinking that finally, the puzzle pieces are falling into place.
Alas for my ego, all these clues just leave me more confused than ever. And honestly, fair play to the author: he did give me all the tools I need to solve this case; I just can’t make sense of how they all fit together. I especially appreciate how often throughout the novel I’d come up with a theory that I consider absolutely brilliant, only for Kindaichi himself (or worse, Police Chief Tachibana!) to bring up that very theory only a few pages later. The first time it occurred was within the first few chapters, so it was far too early for such a major reveal. And honestly, I just feel like this is the author’s way of thumbing his nose at readers like me for thinking we’re cleverer than we actually are.
I am proud that at least I managed to guess a fairly big reveal. Does that reveal even matter in solving the mystery? I’m going to guess yes. As confused as I am with how the puzzle pieces fit together, I have two theories floating in my brain, and I’m just going to lock in the one my gut thinks is right. I have very little confidence I got it, but the next chapter is called “Confession,” so I figure it’s now or never for me to issue my verdict.
(Side note: Yokomizo’s other mystery The Honjin Murders has pride of place as the one mystery where I read the big reveal before realizing I should’ve stopped reading and made my guess. So, I’m taking the fact that I actually stopped before the big reveal this time as a sign of progress. Go, me!)
Did I Guess Right?
Absolutely not, LOL. My verdict is not even close.
I did guess somewhat close to the truth with my second theory, which I ultimately discarded because I was giving myself a headache trying to make sense of it, and still couldn’t make the puzzle pieces fit together.
Gah, this was frustrating! I had the clues, but put the puzzle pieces together wrong. It’s like, if I’d only tilted my head in the other direction, or looked at a couple of key pieces of the puzzle from a different perspective, I might have figured it out. As Sherlock Holmes would say: I see, but I do not observe. Gah!
But honestly, fair play to Seishi Yokomizo. This was a very well-constructed puzzle, an absolute joy to read, and the ending turned out to be a touch more heartwarming than I expected. And really, this just makes me even more determined to solve my next Kosuke Kindaichi mystery. Onward and upward!
*** SPOILERS BELOW ***
Literary Treats 