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Last modified on Tue 27 Apr 2021 06.25 EDT
After a day of joyous wedding celebrations, a bloodcurdling scream echoes into the night. The newlywed bride and groom are found dead in their bed, stabbed with a katana sword, now thrust into the snow outside. Their bedroom was locked from the inside, and there is no way the murderer could have broken in to do the deed, let alone escaped without leaving a trace. How was this impossible crime committed?
The Honjin Murders
This is the chilling opener of The Honjin Murders, a masterful detective novel by Japanese writer Seishi Yokomizo. First published in 1946, it was the first of his books to be translated to English, in 2019 (one more has followed, with two more on the way). It is also a perfect example of a honkaku mystery: a fascinating form of crime writing that first emerged in Japan in the 1920s and, thanks to a recent raft of translations and republications, is now enjoyed by English readers more than ever.
A darkly humorous story from Chloe Wilson.
‘The girl’s father wants the boy to be served chai in stainless steel cups only. If the girl mistakenly serves him in ceramic, her father waits for the customers to leave, then smashes the cup.’
Kritika Pandey’s ‘The Great Indian Tee and Snakes’ won the 2020 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, as well as winning the regional prize for Asia.
The other regional winners were: ‘When a Woman Renounces Motherhood’ by Innocent Chizaram Ilo, representing Africa, ‘Mafootoo’ by Brian S. Heap for the Caribbean, ‘The Art of Waving’ by Andrea Macleod for the Pacific and ‘Wherever Mister Jensen Went’ by Reyah Martin for Canada and Europe.