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I think "The Village of Eight Graves" is my favourite Kindachi mystery since "The Inugami Clan". It's a lot thicker than the others I've read and I'm really coming to appreciate how versatilely Yokomizo deploys his scruffy weirdo detective. Here, he doesn't even really show up until halfway through the novel and honestly seems to be putting together pieces of the mystery off-page while the narrator is independently trying to figure things out from his perspective as a man who in adulthood has learned the identity of his birth father and his possible inheritance of a fortune (making him the main suspect in a series of mysterious deaths in the village of title).

Much like Holmes and Poirot, Kindachi has another party recounting the mystery, but Yokomizo favours the Christie of the Doyle: there's no one consistent chronicler. Which I think is what makes "The Village of Eight Graves" so engaging. There's a real family drama for the main character to explore that is an element of the mystery but has a more personal connection to the narrator, beyond being 'who dunnit?' or even 'how do I clear myself of these accusations ... nit?'

Yokomizo writes tight, twisty mysteries without writing formulaic novels, which, I think, is one of the things that sets these old, classic mysteries apart from those being written today (cozy or otherwise). Lots to sink your teeth into and also saponification!

I'm sorry to inform everyone, but "Death on Gokumon Island" by Seishi Yokomizo is NOT about a cool summer fun island like in a Beach Boys' song. The book doesn't even take place during summer!

There is, however, definitely death, with evocatively described crime scenes and an undercurrent of cabin fever isolation on the titular island, amplified by the war having recently ended. Kindaichi as a character feels a bit different when viewed as a recent survivor of frontline combat in a losing war, although in terms of mannerisms he hasn't changed much.

It does seem like Yokomizo is using the real life being put on pause by years of war as an explanation for why characters, especially returning ones, are still in the same place they were previously, which feels like a nice bit of explanation for the changelessness of the characters in this type of detective fiction.

Kindaichi, the detective solving "The Honjin Murders" as well as other mysteries by Seishi Yokomizo (most famously "The Inugami Clan"), is the perfect scruffy weirdo for people who love Columbo but want a traditional technically solvable (Yokomizo namedrops "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" in-novel) mystery novel. Tight, no fluff, under 200 pages, just a weird little guy wandering into a crime and some family drama partway through events. Love a little weirdo.