殺人鬼

Short story collection

A collection of 4 short stories featuring detective Kindaichi, ranging between 45 and 90 pages: 殺人鬼・黒蘭姫・香水心中・百日紅の下にて.

Chronologically, 百日紅の下にて is set before 獄門島, 殺人鬼・黒蘭姫 are set between 獄門島 and 夜歩く, 香水心中 is set later in Kindaichi's career.

Being short stories, these lack the finish of his long form mysteries. They still set a great atmosphere, but the solving of the mystery feels rushed. Often, there is a skip straight from 'setting up the mystery and clues' to 'it's solved, here's why'.

If you're looking for a great detective story, these might fall short of that. If you want an atmospheric setting in post war Japan (and have a weak spot for もじゃもじゃ detectives), I believe they do deliver on that.

Did I enjoy it? Yes, on the whole. Some stories more than others, but as far as short stories go I wasn't disappointed. If I could I'd give 3,5 stars. Since I erred on the side of 3 with 夜歩く, I'm going with 4 for these for now.

Language: As usual for 横溝 - old japanese architecture and clothes, as well as place (and people) names are in abundance. There tends to be some older grammar used as well, mostly in direct speech. Once you get used to those, aside from frequent lookups it feels pretty smooth reading.