Murder in the House of Omari
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- USD 12.99
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- USD 12.99
Descripción editorial
Use your powers of logic and deduction to solve this classic honkaku puzzler—the Japanese tradition of detective fiction—in this delicious twisty murder mystery!
In Osaka, dark secrets haunt a wealthy merchant family throughout the first half of the 20th century . . .
In 1906, the young heir to the Omari family business climbs to the top of a Panorama and vanishes.
In 1914, a fight between two mysterious figures on a bridge tragically ends with one falling to their death.
In 1943, as war rages on, the once illustrious family has fallen. Both potential heirs have been drafted into war, and a string of strange and violent happenings has beset the house of Omari.
Combining the classic honkaku mystery and Golden Age crime writing with the trappings of historical fiction, it’s easy to see why Murder in the House of Ōmari is an award-winning sensation in Japan! Set in Semba (modern-day Osaka), this gripping murder mystery twists and turns with dark secrets, red herrings, and the turbulent history of Japan in the early 20th century.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ashibe (Murder in the Red Chamber) delivers a ponderous historical mystery set in the merchant quarter of Semba, Japan (now Osaka). In 1906, Sentaro Omari, the designated heir of his family's cosmetics business, vanished mysteriously. Several decades later, in 1945, other members of the family begin to die one by one. As the corpses proliferate, so do characters hoping to solve the murders, including police superintendent Kusakabe and officer Kaibara; doctors Namibuchi and Natsuko Nishi; the family's daughter-in-law Mineko; her young, detective novel–obsessed daughter, Fumiko; and self-styled PI Koshiro Hojo. The truth is tied to Sentaro's long-ago disappearance, but Ashibe takes his time getting there, focusing instead on detailed, sometimes repetitive descriptions of life and commerce in early-20th-century Japan. When the solution arrives, it feels rushed and far-fetched, though patient readers may be charmed by Ashibe's engagement with the tropes of golden age detective fiction and his vivid evocation of old Semba. It's a bumpy ride.
