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The Coincidental Murders
“...a sticky, rotten spider’s web of tangled desires...”
In the summer of 1947 a group of bohemians gather at their friend’s villa in the mountains to escape the city heat. Sparks fly, daggers are drawn, and the bodies soon pile up. A self-effacing amateur detective is tasked with identifying the killer from a large cast of eccentric characters including blackmailers, poets, and sexual deviants. But are the murders connected, or purely coincidental?
Sakaguchi Ango’s outrageous whodunnit (original Furenzoku Satsujin Jiken, 不連続殺人事件) won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1949, the year after Seishi Yokomizo took the prize for ‘Honjin Satsujin Jiken’ (The Honjin Murders).
Alexis J Brown is a translator living in London.
In the summer of 1947 a group of bohemians gather at their friend’s villa in the mountains to escape the city heat. Sparks fly, daggers are drawn, and the bodies soon pile up. A self-effacing amateur detective is tasked with identifying the killer from a large cast of eccentric characters including blackmailers, poets, and sexual deviants. But are the murders connected, or purely coincidental?
Sakaguchi Ango’s outrageous whodunnit (original Furenzoku Satsujin Jiken, 不連続殺人事件) won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1949, the year after Seishi Yokomizo took the prize for ‘Honjin Satsujin Jiken’ (The Honjin Murders).
Alexis J Brown is a translator living in London.
166 pages, Paperback
Published July 23, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 18, 2026
4/5 stars.
I adored this book. The whole affair between everyone involved is so messy and toxic... but at the same time, that is what made it so gripping. I was actually surprised at how 'deviant' a lot of it was considering this story came out in the '40s, but it all added to the trashy but fun vibe. (The author even shouts himself out blatantly in his own work, which had me looking up at the metaphorical screen like a character in the Office)
This is my first story from Sakaguchi Ango, and if any English publishers ever decide to translate more of his works, I will happily read them in the future.
Admittedly, I might be being kind with the four star rating. Is it perfect? No. A lot of the characters do feel samey and there are way too many of them (two of which were so inconsequential to the plot, I almost suspected them of being the murderers if only to give them reason for existing in the story) and there were definitely a few loose ends and a bit of missing emotional depth, but this story was so fast-paced and witty and fun the whole time, I am happy to give it the four stars instead of the three it probably deserves.
With most books, I have settled on being more of a 'journey over the destination' kind of person because I am usually just never satisfied with endings in stories... but this story actually was one of the rare times where I thought the ending to the mystery made a lot of sense and was truly satisfying and entertaining. So props to you, Sakaguchi Ango.
Once again, the translation work by Alexis Brown (whose catalogue I've been devouring) was super well-done... all the way up until the very last few pages. The last few pages there was a bunch of noticable errors but that amounted to maybe four pages max and they weren't story-ruining at all. Overall, I truly do enjoy her translation work and hope she continues to do so. She's been the only way I have had access to some of these classical Japanese writers.
Overall, a very good time.
I adored this book. The whole affair between everyone involved is so messy and toxic... but at the same time, that is what made it so gripping. I was actually surprised at how 'deviant' a lot of it was considering this story came out in the '40s, but it all added to the trashy but fun vibe. (The author even shouts himself out blatantly in his own work, which had me looking up at the metaphorical screen like a character in the Office)
This is my first story from Sakaguchi Ango, and if any English publishers ever decide to translate more of his works, I will happily read them in the future.
Admittedly, I might be being kind with the four star rating. Is it perfect? No. A lot of the characters do feel samey and there are way too many of them (two of which were so inconsequential to the plot, I almost suspected them of being the murderers if only to give them reason for existing in the story) and there were definitely a few loose ends and a bit of missing emotional depth, but this story was so fast-paced and witty and fun the whole time, I am happy to give it the four stars instead of the three it probably deserves.
With most books, I have settled on being more of a 'journey over the destination' kind of person because I am usually just never satisfied with endings in stories... but this story actually was one of the rare times where I thought the ending to the mystery made a lot of sense and was truly satisfying and entertaining. So props to you, Sakaguchi Ango.
Once again, the translation work by Alexis Brown (whose catalogue I've been devouring) was super well-done... all the way up until the very last few pages. The last few pages there was a bunch of noticable errors but that amounted to maybe four pages max and they weren't story-ruining at all. Overall, I truly do enjoy her translation work and hope she continues to do so. She's been the only way I have had access to some of these classical Japanese writers.
Overall, a very good time.
April 22, 2026
This book is just... real bad. The characters are all completely interchangeable and dislikeable, the atmosphere is flat, and the solution is uninteresting. I didn't know a murder mystery could be so boring. It is like the author is doing a subpar Seishi Yokomizo impression.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews