Inugami Clan

What’s the reason behind this sequence of grotesque and bloody murders — and who is the ghastly murderer? These are the riddles that ace private eye Kosuke Kindaichi has to solve.

In mid-1940s Japan Sahei Inugami, wealthy head of the Inugami Group and ‘Silk King of Japan’, dies in his lakeside villa at the venerable age of 81. In his youth, Sahei was rescued from poverty and an early death by a Shinto priest. However, upon Sahei’s death, his debt of gratitude to the priest unleashes a bitter curse, triggering a chain of gruesome and bizarre murders as the members of the Inugami family are pit against each other in a desperate contest for his fortune.

This haunting tale of murder and suspense is the first of over 80 books, famous in Japan, featuring the popular detective, Kosuke Kindaichi. His disorderly character and eccentric habits conceal razaor sharp deduction skills that enable Kindaichi to solve the crimes.

Discovering the Inugami Clan’s terrible secrets of forbidden liaisons, monstrous cruelty, and disguised identities, Kindaichi unravels the complex web of human relationships and passions that lie behind the murders.

Seishi Yokomizo‘s books have achieved incredible success with sales of more than 55 million copies, and his novels have been made into countless movies and TV dramas in Japan. The film version of The Inugami Clan was the phenomenal event of the year when it was released in Japan.

The Inugami Clan is the first English translation of Yokomizo’s works, and is the best-selling book in the Detective Kindaichi series.

From the publisher: for more mystery from Japan, check out The Tokyo Zodiac Murders: Detective Mitarai’s Casebook by Soji Shimada.