The Little Sparrow Murders

About

Bodies are discovered in circumstances that seem impossible, and Detective Kosuke Kindaichi is summoned to untangle yet another case where the physical evidence contradicts everything witnesses claim to have seen. Yokomizo blends the impossible-crime tradition of John Dickson Carr with the social observation of Agatha Christie, setting his murders against the complex hierarchies of postwar Japanese society. The pleasure of a Kindaichi novel is watching the detective's disheveled genius cut through the elaborate staging of each crime to reveal the human motive beneath. The locked-room puzzles are fair and ingenious, the atmosphere is rich, and the solution rewards attention. Another impeccable case for Japan's most beloved detective — who solves impossible crimes while looking like he just woke up.