Preamble
If you enjoy nineteenth-century historical fiction, take a look at my short story collection featuring Victorian “lady detective” Meinir Davies: order now!
See also
These lists capture other stories and characters that I thought of as I was reading this piece. I won’t explain why, to avoid spoilers, but they’re associations and not ‘if you liked this, then you’ll love…’ recommendations!
- Japan Story by Christopher Harding
- The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley
- Prodigal Son (s2e1, “It’s All In The Execution”)
- Line of Duty
Review
I’m grateful to the publisher and NetGalley for the digital ARC of this book, publishing in June 2024.
I really enjoy the Pushkin Vertigo series, which has introduced me to lots of twentieth-century fiction I would never have otherwise read, much of which I’ve reviewed here, including books by Seishi Yokomizo, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, and Frederic Dard. I have not read anything by this particular author before, as relatively little of his work has been translated into English, but this is one of the things that Pushkin does best, and I’m really glad to have picked this up.
In contrast to some of the other twentieth-century Japanese crime fiction translated for the series, this one has a historical setting, taking us back to the mid-nineteenth century and the rulers following the Meiji Restoration. This is a turbulent period with various regional alliances and conflicts churning away as the governance of the country is reshaped. The guillotine in question is a French import, accompanied by a French executioner, and it serves as a conflicted symbol of modernisation/Westernisation.
Thematically, the plot hinges on weighty philosophical questions like the nature of Japanese society, the (self-)righteousness and corruptibility of law enforcement, and the purification of the state. These themes are elaborated through a series of criminal investigations conducted by two “rival” inspectors in the Imperial Prosecuting Office, Kazuki and Kawaji in the few years prior to the reform of the Japanese criminal justice system, which was indeed modelled in part on the French system. The historical elements are really interesting here, and Yamada alludes not only to past events but also to future rebellion, which helps to set clearly the boundaries of the book as a historical set piece.
The novel proceeds largely with a structure of individual stories, framed as a form of competition between the two friends and colleagues. Each of the murders has its own self-contained chapter, although there are some crossovers of characters and back-story. Towards the end, however, the overarching narrative plot comes into view, with a rather thrilling ending. Because of this structure, the primary focus is on progressing each individual plot, and there is less character development of the two rivals (and certainly less of the French executioner) than I might have liked. However, the structure is really effective as a quasi-“casebook”, and it’s certainly not out of keeping for the genre, following a pairing with some Holmes/Watson elements.
I look forward to more of Yamada’s work being translated in the future, and I will also be hunting out his Holmesian pastiche short story The Yellow Lodger and having a read around neo-Victorian criticism about his work in the meantime!
If you enjoy nineteenth-century historical fiction, take a look at my short story collection featuring Victorian “lady detective” Meinir Davies: order now!
Dominique Gracia 
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