訃報は午後二時に届く

by Shizuko Natsuki, 夏樹 静子

While Kosuke Okita rushes to help a desperate woman who phoned him accidentally, a millionaire Country Club entrepreneur who owes Kosuke a lot of money is killed--and the murder weapon is one of Kosuke's golf clubs

Genres: Mystery, Japan, Crime

587 pages, Paperback Bunko

First published November 1, 1983

About the author

Shizuko Natsuki (夏樹 静子) was born in Tokyo in 1938. She graduated from Keio University with a degree in English literature. She married in 1963 and moved to Fukuoka, where she has lived since that time with the exception of nine years spent in Nagoya. Natsuki is not only one of Japan’s best-selling mystery writers but also one of the most prolific. She has written more than eighty novels and short-story collections, and more than forty of her novels and stories have been made into films.

Natsuki published her first mystery novel, Tenshi ga kiete iku (the angel has gone), in 1970. The first of her novels to be translated into English was W no higeki (1982; Murder at Mount Fuji, 1984). Several of her short stories have been published in translation in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Natsuki’s writing, like that of many other Japanese mystery writers of her generation, often shows the strong influence of well-known mystery writer Seich Matsumoto.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fine, weak 3 stars, nothing special. The mystery wasn't very exciting or difficult. I mainly enjoyed it for the 1980s Japanese setting.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Japanese mystery. A landscape architect is accused of the murder of the owner of the golf course he was working on. He has motive and opportunity and when he disappears, it is assumed to have been because of his guilt. It is a fairly quick read and does offer some insight into some Japanese cultural elements.

I have been reading a lot of Japanese literature from a box of books my brother-in-law sent to me.

[JoeG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poorly named (translation?) mystery which is otherwise well executed throughout (until the too neat, too quick ending).
Proletariat is landscaper who is framed for the murder of a golf course owner and pursued for most of the book. Very interesting and unique method of pretending to be dead. Enough spoiler information.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've heard Shizuko Natsuki referred to as "Japan's Agatha Christie." I really would not go that far. This is the second Natsuki book I've heard (the other is "Portal of the Wind") and it's third-rate Christie at best. I almost gave up halfway through because I found it so boring. However, the pace picks up around the time of the second murder, which is downright creepy, so I gave this book three stars.

The story involves two businessmen, a crooked golf course scheme, and the owner of a landscaping company who is probably being used as a patsy for both the scam and the murders. Well, at least the first murder, since he is dead by the time the second one is committed - or is he? Natsuki did a good job with the killer, who is mysterious until near the very end, and this is what redeems the novel.

[Sae-chan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although as a mystery, it wasn't that mysterious, I quite enjoyed this story.