Seishi Yokomizo's "The Village of Eight Graves" immerses readers in a mist-shrouded world steeped in a bloody legend, weaving a captivating narrative that combines historical curses with a modern-day mystery. The novel unfolds against the backdrop of a village haunted by a sinister past, offering an enthralling blend of folklore and investigative intrigue.

The story begins with the ominous legend of The Village of Eight Graves, where eight samurais were brutally murdered centuries ago, invoking a curse upon the village. The rich historical context sets the stage for a mysterious atmosphere that lingers throughout the narrative. Yokomizo's narrative skillfully combines the past with the present, creating a sense of continuity and foreboding.

The arrival of the enigmatic Tatsuya, accompanied by a series of deadly poisonings, introduces a contemporary layer to the tale. The scruffy and brilliant investigator Kosuke Kindaichi steps into action, adding depth to the narrative with his unique and compelling character. Kindaichi's pursuit of the truth becomes a driving force, connecting the threads of the legend to the present-day mystery.

Yokomizo's writing style is evocative, capturing the essence of the mist-shrouded mountains and the ominous atmosphere of the village. The author successfully creates a sense of tension and suspense, keeping readers on the edge of their seats as they navigate the twists and turns of the investigation.

One of the strengths of the novel lies in its ability to balance historical elements with a contemporary mystery. The legend of the eight samurais serves as a haunting backdrop, while the investigation into the modern-day poisonings adds a layer of urgency and complexity.

While the narrative is engaging, there are moments where the pacing may feel a bit slow, and some readers may find the plot intricacies challenging to follow. However, for those who appreciate a blend of historical depth and mystery, these aspects may not detract significantly from the overall enjoyment of the novel.

In conclusion, "The Village of Eight Graves" earns four stars for its gripping tale of mystery, curses, and the interplay between the past and the present. Seishi Yokomizo delivers a compelling narrative that transports readers into a world where legends come to life, and the pursuit of truth takes center stage. If you enjoy atmospheric mysteries with a historical twist, this novel is a worthy addition to your reading list.

I had a hard time getting into this, the story just wasn't for me. I would still recommend this to others as the writing was well done.

When I picked up this book as a Detective Kosuke Kindaichi series my mind was full of an anime I used to watch called Kindaichi Case Files. However, the two Kindaichi's albeit sharing the same last name and profession are two different people. However, the Case Files guy might be modelled after Yokomizo sensei's Kindaichi.

Anywho, the story has a dash of paranormal setting being used to cover the actual crimes. Nothing very original there. But the actual story is pretty gruesome, cruel and disturbing at some point. A Trigger Warning there.

I actually enjoyed this book even though I winced and closed my eyes at some descriptions. It is a good book. But definitely not for everyone.

This was recommended to me a while ago as the equivalent of Agatha Christie and I must admit I was not disappointed. I hope more are translated and published by this author who seems to have been overlooked by the British audience.

The Village of Eight Graves begins with a legend: Back in the sixteenth century, a group of eight rogue samurai warriors stole a vast treasure and then hid in a remote village in order to evade capture and have the chance to start new lives. However, when the villagers learned of the treasure, greed soon got the better of them and they murdered the samurai, although they were not able to find the hidden loot. That’s not the end of things though, as eight villagers die soon afterwards, which gives rise to rumours of a samurai curse on the village.

It proves to be a rumour that just won’t die. In fact, when a massacre takes place in the village early in the twentieth century, it is blamed on the curse.

All that serves as background to the main story in The Village of Eight Graves, which is principally set in the troubled post-war period in Japan. Tatsuya Tarade discovers that his mother had fled from the village to Tokyo when he was a baby, with her flight being linked to the massacre of thirty-two villagers. A mysterious benefactor draws Tarade to the village with the promise that he will meet his extended family and become heir to the family wealth. Unfortunately, strange deaths begin almost as soon as he arrives, and people start to whisper that the curse has returned.

Although Tarade does a good deal of the investigative work himself, he is aided by the legendary Kosuke Kindaichi—Seishi Yokomizo’s series detective—who owes a lot to Sherlock Holmes. The mystery is twisting and complex, and despite the distinctly supernatural atmosphere that hangs over the story, its final unravelling is both ingenious and sadly plausible. The Village of Eight Graves marks another enthralling case for Kosuke Kindaichi.

I have read three other books with the lead character and think that this was probably the one that had the most delayed entry of our detective.
Like the other stories, we are first given an in-depth view of the location where the story is based. The history and rumours of the past, as well as the existing shadows in the Village of Eight Graves, are well established before we are introduced to any of the current players.
A lost young man with poor prospects is suddenly informed of a possible windfall. The fact that this information is accompanied by shady rumours does not dissuade him since he has nothing better to hope for in life. Once we get to know the mental and fiscal state of our lead protagonist, the first death occurs. Even with this hanging over his head, our sad young man years for family connections and is slightly enamoured by his companion.
Once he gets to the village, he finds out that they are all up in arms against him, thanks to the past. Once more people start dying, he struggles to maintain a semblance of sanity. The detective, with his scratching head( I really do not know why the focus is on the latter's dandruff, but I am starting to get used to it now!), makes a very subtle appearance. Although he provides advice, the voice and plotline focus entirely on the adventure of our lead protagonist. He actually figures things out thanks to running into the explanation rather than the detective work. The love story was slightly weird but given the situation of the book, it sort of made sense.
Even if no actual detection resulted in the final conclusions, it was an intriguing journey. There were hints at every stage. These hints took me on a chase as small clues led to smaller revelations concerning secrets of the past. The set-up felt so complete that I liked the journey and felt that the book served its purpose.
Like the previous work that I reviewed, the translator did a pretty great job of keeping me immersed in the story.
I received an ARC thanks to Netgalley and the publishers, but my review is entirely based on my own reading experience of this and other works in the series.

The best from the series yet!
I love how the author is covering that distinctive Japanese feel, traditions and the way of thinking and living into the mystery (which is generally the traditionally Western canon) ! This one is a complex story with murder mysteries, but the thriller feel is also added - and an interesting romance!
The hero Tatsuya is an interesting, sensitive young man, who finds himself in the extraordinary circumstances - he is suddenly a member - and an heir - to an important family. Yet, his mother was a victim of the lust of his father. And the village of eight graves got its name after the senseless killing - and his father did the horrible act of senseless killing some years ago, too! So, obviously he has good reasons for feeling uncomfortable in the village. And then, the deaths start...
I like the interesting look into the Japanese culture; the mystery is interesting and the old-school feel is charming and definitely not boring! Hope to read more of this series.

The Village of Eight Graves is another reissue from Pushkin Vertigo featuring the disheveled and unassuming, but highly effective, detective, Kosuke Kindaichi. Filled with feudal history, myth and the scenery of the mountainous countryside, this novel is narrated by a young man, living a rather anonymous life who learns he may the scion to an old family involved with a lingering curse.

Once he has been swept off to the countryside, he - and we readers - learn more about the ages old curse that has doomed his newly discovered family over the years. This novel has ancient curses, modern murders, and the eccentric Kosuke Kindaichi working to make sense of it all and prevent more bloodshed. This is another highly readable outing from Yokomizo.

A copy of this book was provided by Pushkin Press through NetGalley in return for an honest review

E' stato un piacere ritrovare il detective Kindaichi, anche se francamente l'ho visto brancolare alla cieca per buona parte del romanzo. Sempre piacevole l'ambientazione (un villaggio rurale nel Giappone del dopoguerra) e ben caratterizzati i personaggi, con uno scioglimento meno farraginoso che nel precedente The Inugami Curse; ma ho trovato singolarmente antipatico il protagonista, vigliacco, avido e piagnucoloso. Peccato se la sia sfangata.

Thank you Netgalley, publisher, and author for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Loved this book!! This one would be my favorite Seishi Yokomizo book. It was suspenseful with a lot of murders...A LOT!! The characters were interesting and the descriptions had the perfect cultural nuances. It had me guessing throughout and even though I guess the culprit towards the end, I had not guessed the why.

I would totally recommend these books to anyone wanting to read Japanese Murder Mysteries. Very excited for Death on Gokumon Island releasing soon.

What a fantastic story! I absolutely enjoyed reading every bit of this book. The backstory (killings of the 8 samurais and their curse) certainly added ounces of creepiness to the story - this books would make a good Halloween read!

I was hooked on to the story and could not out it down. Just when I thought I could calm down and have a breather, Bang! A crime. Goodness, people start dropping dead like flies - if someone has a secret to share with Tatsuya, the next day, they are found dead. It was as if the curse was for real - well, 8 dead bodies until the next episode.

Kudos to the translator for the excellent translation work. No translated work is interesting or engrossing if the translation is not done well. In this case, it never felt like I was reading a translated story - it was that good.

I highly recommend this book to all mystery fans.

Eastern magic/horror oh yes - not the western gore and splock - but real horror and spirits and scare instead of gore. Fun stuff for horror addicts

This was a really cool read -- I usually don't enjoy reading translated books that much because the prose almost always feels artificial in some way, and I've found this particularly true for translations from the Japanese, but the translator did a fantastic job on this one. (NB: I don't read/speak/understand Japanese, so YMMV if you're proficient in the language.)
The story itself was nicely complex, just the way I like it -- I hate having things over-explained to me, but I also don't want my reading experience to feel like a chore. It took a bit of getting into, mostly because the setting and the period were so unfamiliar, but a very enjoyable read nonetheless. In fact, I'll check out the author's other books.
A big thank-you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read an ARC of "Eight Graves" and discovering a new AOC (author of interest)!

I am a giant fan of honkaku mysteries, which aren’t easy to find in English. Honkaku can be roughly translated as ‘orthodox’ and describes the classic detective stories that provide all the clues and details needed for the reader to solve the puzzle of the crime. In Japan, these stories grew in popularity with a wealth of publications around the 1920’s to the 1950’s. Pushkin Vertigo has been slowly rereleasing some translated novels that had fallen out of print, and I am eternally grateful for their work. The Village of Eight Graves is another treasure, and I’m excited to have such a unique novel made more available to English readers!

While the mystery can still be considered ‘fair play’ like other classic honkaku works, The Village of Eight Graves takes a more adventurous approach to plot. This novel has the kind of mystery that veers into Scooby-Doo or Hardy Boys type shenanigans- missing gold, a labyrinth of cave passages, village curses, and hints at a supernatural presence. All of that coexists with the intricate plot characteristic of classic whodunnits, but those elements are more subdued. The detective, Kosuke Kindaichi, is not the narrator, nor is he present for most of the book. But that’s part of the draw of The Village of Eight Graves. The narrator, Tatsuya, has been thrown into a new and alarming situation when he learns he is the heir of a troubled family. Murder follows immediately with the familial revelation, while Tatsuya struggles to cope with the bombardment of history, legacy, and death. Events and revelations twist in on themselves as more and more people are murdered, echoing the historical tragedies from years before.

It's great!

A great set-up for a murder mystery and memorable characters. The culprit is relatively easy to figure out though the how and why remained a puzzle to the very end, and even then some of the "how" still remained unexplained. Once the explanation came though, it did seem a bit underwhelming and a tad preposterous, even for the genre.

This was all in all a very satisfying and enjoyable read, with a nice and creepy atmosphere, interesting mystery and characters, and quite a few parallel threads to keep one reading all through.

Worthy Addition To Acclaimed Series…
The third instalment in the cleverly plotted series of Japanese mysteries from an acknowledged master of the Golden Age of Crime fiction and featuring brilliant investigator Kosuke Kindaichi. With intricate detail, red herrings and twists aplenty, another puzzle unfolds. A worthy addition to this acclaimed series and great kudos to Pushkin Press for another very worthy reissue with perfect translation and with such wonderful cover art.

A very enjoyable read, my third by Yokomizo, the detective is quite absent in this with the story centering around the narrator. I guessed the villain early on and it was a fun read but I preferred the previous books more.

I look forward to the upcoming 4th translation later this year and hope to see more Japanese Crime fiction published in the future. Superb books that deserve the wider audiences they are now getting.

The Village of Eight Graves is the third of the Detective Kosuke Kindaichi books to be translated into English. Lie the others this is set in rural Japan after WWII and centers around a prominent local family but this story is not from Kindaichi's perspective. This novel is told by Tatsuya, a young man who is brought back to this village as heir apparent after spending almost his entire life not knowing who he was.

The story revolves around the legend of the eight Samurai who centuries before cursed the village and the father who a few decades before brought horror to the villagers. This was a very enjoyable story and maybe more so because while it was a Kindaichi story he was more of a supporting character.

I've enjoyed the previous two translated works from this author, and look forward to more being brought to an English audience.

This one is slightly different from the others as detective Kindaichi is seen from afar rather than as the main protagonist. I didn't particularly like this approach at first because it is meant to be an instalment in the detective series... But after a while I came around and enjoyed the narrative.

An inheritance, missing family members and plenty of murders, this one will leave you scratching your head until the reveal.

I would recommend to fans of the genre.