The Village of Eight Graves

By: Seishi Yokomizo

Published by Steerforth Press, 2021-12-07

The 3rd stand-alone in Japan's most popular murder mystery series—after The Honjin Murders and The Inugami Curse—is another fiendish classic featuring investigator Kosuke Kindaichi

Translated into English for the first time

Nestled deep in the mist-shrouded mountains, The Village of Eight Graves takes its name from a bloody legend: in the Sixteenth Century eight samurais, who had taken refuge there along with a secret treasure, were murdered by the inhabitants, bringing a terrible curse down upon their village.

Centuries later a mysterious young man named Tatsuya arrives in town, bringing a spate of deadly poisonings in his wake. The inimitably scruffy and brilliant Kosuke Kindaichi investigates.

Yokomizo is perhaps the most popular and feted crime writer in his country’s history. His richly atmospheric classic mysteries are a treat for any fan of Golden Age whodunits, taking the reader all over post-war Japan, from remote mountain villages to pirate-plagued islands and the bustling streets of Tokyo. Yokomizo loved to craft ingenious puzzle plots, inspired by the greats of British and American crime, such as John Dickson Carr or Agatha Christie, while his detective, Kosuke Kindaichi, is everything a reader could want from a sleuth: brilliant, eccentric, charming, and unassuming enough to be fatally underestimated by many a murderer. . .