Murder at the Black Cat Café

Murder at the Black Cat Café is one of the lesser works of Seishi Yokomizo. Ostensibly written in reference to the common mystery novel of the faceless corpse, the gruesome tale hardly features Kosuke Kindaichi. Indeed, the story felt rushed and hardly developed one of the suspects in the homicide(s). It certainly began as a promising tale set in a seedy part of Tokyo with a faceless, decomposed woman's corpse discovered near the eponymous Black Cat Cafe. But as one likely expects, the case features a trick surprise that ultimately elucidates the whole affair in a rather silly way. The short story also included in this translation is scarcely any better. Another gruesome case involving elite families of a village, only one of these rich families has managed to maintain its status by the end of World War II. A daughter of this group sends letters to her ill brother about a possible case of fake identity for Daisuke, her brother who returned from World War II. It is unclear if he is who he says he is, so Tsuruyo must piece together what happened and find out who committed two murders in her household. The twist is a bit cheap and not particularly interesting. And as in the previous case, Kindaichi is barely in this. Fortunately, there are no silly near-death experiences for our sleuth in this short story. Let us hope that future translations of novels featuring Kosuke Kindaichi focus on her superior works instead of lesser duds.