Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of this book. This was such a great mystery book with a murder plot but also adorable cat and cafe settings and characters that made this such a great and cute read. A cozy mystery that was a great read to distract from everything going on in the world right now.

Thank you so much to the publisher for the ARC! The cover art for this novel is adorable, and the title instantly snatched my attention. This review will be split into two sections, as this book contains two stories.

Murder at the Black Cat Cafe:
My initial impression upon reading was that the writing style was straightforward, without leaving much room for prose. Rather than unveiling the mystery as the plot thickens, it is instead, dictated to the readers. For those who relish being at "the scene of the crime" with the protagonist, I would say that there were a few memorable moments where I was immersed in the events of the story. The parts I thoroughly enjoyed were the ones where I was watching conflict unfold, rather than hearing about it from our main character. More often than not, I felt like I wasn't eased into the scene, but hurled. It is dialogue-heavy and most of the readers' understanding will stem from conversations that Murai has with the rest of the cast.

I will say, however, one of the aspects I found most satisfying was the inclusion of maps within the chapters. Rather than constantly having to return to the beginning to visualize the setting in which the crime happened, I could easily refer to the page that was near me. The writing style, even while being frank with its depiction of events, is much easier to visualize when accompanied by illustrations. I loved being able to actually see how things played out with visual aids.

Why Did the Well Wheel Creak?
To my surprise, there was a second short story! Did not expect it, especially with how many pages were left after the first one. I actually prefer this one over the first, as I enjoyed the deep lore of the family and the fortunes/misfortunes that befell them. Reading how events transpired and getting to know each member made for a captivating start. While the first part of the book demands attention to detail and patterns, this one is dependent on the relationships between each person. The touch of epistolary chapters also feels like breaking down the wall between writer and reader, allowing us to actively be a part of the story, rather than telling us at a distance.

I would give this a 3/5 rating :) I enjoyed parts of it, but ultimately, it isn't for me. I recommend this book to readers who prefer plot-heavy storylines and a mystery that will have you working to piece the clues together. For those who prefer something more emotionally packed, this second story may be what you're looking for.

I really liked this. Kindaichi felt very Benoit Blanc coded (though the author wrote these in the 1940s). It was a classic mystery and I really liked that. I like the breaking of the fourth wall aspect and the narrator voice

If you're looking for a mystery that will completely suck you in, you have to check out Seishi Yokomizo's Murder at the Black Cat Café. It drops you right into the middle of a dark and complicated post-war Tokyo. This book is a classic Japanese crime novel for a reason—it's an absolute masterclass in suspense, led by the brilliant (and wonderfully scruffy) detective Kosuke Kindaichi.

It all kicks off with a seriously gruesome discovery: a body is found buried in the garden of the Black Cat Café, a shady spot in Tokyo's red-light district. At first, it seems like a straightforward case of a love triangle gone horribly wrong. The police are zeroing in on the café owner, Daigo, and his wife, O-Shige, for the murder of Daigo's mistress, Ayuko. But just when you think you've got it figured out, Kindaichi starts digging and uncovers a tangled mess of lies, secret identities, and old secrets that flips the entire case on its head.

What I loved most about this book is how cleverly it's plotted. Yokomizo takes the old "faceless corpse" idea and just runs with it, leading you down one wrong path after another. Every time you think you know what's happening, a new piece of information comes to light and completely shatters your theory. It’s like a puzzle box where every character is hiding something, and you can't trust anyone's motives.

The setting is so vivid it basically becomes a character itself. The "pink labyrinth" of post-war Tokyo, with its sketchy bars, dark alleys, and the ever-present feeling of a city recovering from trauma, creates this incredibly rich and moody backdrop for the crime. You can almost feel the grit and the tension in the air.

The characters are just as well-crafted. O-Shige is this mysterious, traditional woman with a hidden past, and her story is really the core of the whole puzzle. And Kindaichi? He's the kind of eccentric, brilliant detective you can't help but root for. Watching him piece everything together is just so satisfying.

As a bonus, this edition also includes another story, "Why Did the Well Wheel Creak?", which is another great little mystery for Kindaichi to solve, this time in a more rural setting.

Honestly, if you're a fan of classic detective stories, Murder at the Black Cat Café is a book you absolutely need to read. It’s smart, atmospheric, and will keep you guessing right up to the final page. If you like Agatha Christie and want to dive into Japanese crime fiction, this is the perfect place to start.

Murder at the Black Cat Cafe is simple but still packed with mystery and questions that kept me curious. It’s a short story, so the plot moves pretty fast. It starts with the narrator — an author — meeting the famous detective Kosuke Kindaichi after the Honjin Murders case. I thought it was cool how their meeting happens by chance, and then they get into this unusual “faceless corpse” mystery, which is a fresh twist on the usual locked-room murder stories.

If you’re expecting a regular murder mystery, this one’s different — it’s smart, a bit dark, and definitely twisted. The story doesn’t have a bunch of characters or complicated side plots like some other Kindaichi stories, but the mystery itself isn’t any easier. Kindaichi solves it like it’s nothing, but I was guessing right up to the end!

Highly recommend

In this murder mystery, the reader has to figure out who the real murderer is based on the "faceless corpse" archetype of the genre. The premise of the archetype is simple: Person A commits a murder but in order to escape conviction, they must trade places with Person B (the victim). How is this done? Well, by making the face and body as unrecognizable as possible and setting the stage to kill two birds with one stone. Now Person B (the dead victim) is the prime suspect and Person A (the offender) is presumed dead and therefore free to find another identity. All this information is in the prologue as the author receives a letter with the case details from the series detective, Kosuke Kindaichi.

Now, I will be the first to say that after seeing the term "standalone" in the description, I was sceptical but assumed this was a detective series that could be picked up from any point and for the majority of the book, this was the case. Things got murky once Detective Kindaichi got involved, not because of his character, but because some parts of what he pieced together in the end were explained from his "off-page" observations rather than things the readers could have guessed at from the information given to us. Despite that, the conclusion felt surprising and well-crafted which as the author puts is, is the point of murder mystery in this genre.

The second title that comes in this book was told through letters and newspaper clippings which I found refreshing. The contrast between intimate correspondence versus the "objective" view from the newspapers was thrilling to read.

2.75 stars (review also posted on Storygraph)

The book contains two stories, Murder at the Black Cat Café, and Why Did the Well Wheel Creak?

Murder at the Black Cat Café:

This story was very fast paced, but at the same time it felt incredibly slow. This is probably because I'm so used to modern mysteries, where a lot happens, and there's twists and turns everywhere. This felt more like a classic Agatha Christie book, but I didn't enjoy this as much. The story itself was fine, but without more information, I think it would've done better as a short story rather than a novella.

If you enjoy other classic japanese mysteries, you'll probably also enjoy this one, and it is a very quick read.


Why Did the Well Wheel Creak?

This one I simply couldn't bring myself to finish. I gave it 30 pages, which is just about 1/3, and there was nothing keeping me reading, other than having to give a review, and that just wasn't enough.

Thank you Netgalley for the eARC! I was really interested in the premise of the book, however there were significant typos in the Kindle edition which made it really difficult to read and understand. I wasn’t sure if words were unfamiliar or typo’s, and had to guess the meaning of several words which took away from my experience and therefore didn’t finish the book. I would be more than happy to read it again when completed. My apologies, I hope this is a helpful review.

Kosuke Kindaichi is back to uncover the murder involving a complex and tangled love, jealousy and family tangled web.

Having read all of the other Kosuke Kindaichi novels Murder at the Black Cat Cafe did not disappoint. I love the descriptions of the characters as they always feel exceptionally real with the emotions present on the page. As the story unfolds I was more gripped with the family history and the jealousy that came from it. I read the novel in one sitting and couldn't put the book down until the very last page; 3.5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a quick read if you’re itching for a whodunit story! Set in 1940s Japan, the story starts off with a unique setting of finding a woman with a decomposing face buried next to a black cat found behind The Black Cat Cafe. As the crime unravels, it’s clear that this is a plot of twists and turns through love, betrayal, and jealousy.

This story is something to be compared to a classic mystery detective novel such as Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie. If those are your favorite types of novels to read, I would highly recommend picking this one up! It grabs your attention and will not let go until the whole story unravels.

I downloaded this eARC as a kindle file. There were many formatting and spelling errors in this document. Almost every page had a typo (the font size was standard on kindle). It seems like there was some sort of error or corruption… the majority of the typos seems to be words missing ‘fi’ (errors caught: ocers=officers?, rst=first?, o=off?,difcult=difficult?). This did make the story hard to read at times. The sentences did not flow smoothly, so I often found myself rereading certain parts with typos.

Along with the formatting errors, I found some of the sentences to be wordy and a bit hard to follow. Within the detective and characters monologues, it was hard to keep track of all the names and faces we were meeting. There were times where so much information was being given, it was hard to process it all. You need to be focused and take mental notes to follow their line of thinking. Personally, I enjoy a slower world build and story progression. This book was meant to be consumed in one or two focused sittings, so it may have not been for me.

Overall, the story was good but it was easy to get lost. This is more of a translation/file formatting issue than a story issue, which is why I rated this 3 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and Steerforth & Pushkin for a copy of this eARC! ❤️🐈‍⬛

2.5/5
Thank you for this eARC.
This was very quick read with interesting twist and turns. However, it was not to my personally preference.
I did have issues with the formatting on my kindle which ruined the reading experience for me - many words were misspelt or missing letters. i feel as if the option to send to kindle shouldn't be available if the formatting for it isn't set up for kindle.
However, I can see how this book would appeal to people who prefer a more traditional mystery setting in a book.

Im a massive fan of books set in japan so this was a great read, i really loved the murder mystery style and found it intriguing as its not normally a book i usually pick up.

I do want to read more from this author.

A murder takes place at the Black Cat Cafe and detective Kosuke Kindaichi investigates it. However, the victim’s face is completely disfigured which makes the investigation much harder.

I liked the short chapters, the twists and turns and the messiness of the characters’ relationships.

I read this book very rapidly and would recommend it to anyone that wants a quick whodunnit read.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book.

🖤 Book Review: Murder at the Black Cat Café by Seishi Yokomizo
🌟🌟🌟🌟
📚 Detective Kindaichi Mysteries
⭐️ Pub Date: September 9, 2025
#MurderattheBlackCatCafé #NetGalley #pushkinvertigo

Thank you #NetGalley and #steerforthpress @pushkinpress_us for the ARC!

Imagine stepping into post-war Tokyo, where shadows linger in alleyways and secrets bloom behind closed café doors… That’s exactly where Seishi Yokomizo takes us in this darkly delightful and compact murder mystery, featuring the ever-charming, scruffy sleuth Kosuke Kindaichi—Japan’s own answer to Hercule Poirot.

From the chilling opening—a headless body and a mysteriously dead cat found buried in a café garden—I was hooked. The setting, The Black Cat Café, is eerie and atmospheric, with just the right touch of noir. Nothing here is what it seems: not the body, not the cat, and certainly not the people surrounding the case.

Oshima, the enigmatic café madam, is a character I won’t soon forget. Her secrets unfold delicately, and the tangled web of jealousy, betrayal, and past sins feels straight out of an Agatha Christie novel. The pacing is sharp, the mystery is twisted just enough, and Kindaichi’s clever deductions reminded me so much of Poirot’s flair—except in a much more rumpled, loveable form.

This is my first book by Seishi Yokomizo, and I’m already in love with his writing! As a big Agatha Christie fan, I felt right at home—twists, suspense, and a brilliant detective with quirky charm. No wonder Yokomizo is called the “Agatha Christie of Japan.” His eerie plots and the unforgettable Kosuke Kindaichi hooked me instantly. Absolutely impressed—can’t wait to read more of his books and explore the manga adaptations too!

The bonus short story “The Well Wheel Creaks” was the cherry on top—a perfect little ghostly riddle with classic Japanese mystery vibes.

💭 If you love:
Classic whodunits
Unpredictable twists
A detective who looks unremarkable but thinks like a genius
Atmospheric, slightly spooky café settings

And Agatha Christie-style storytelling
…this book is your next favorite!

#MurderMystery #AgathaChristie #KosukeKindaichi #DetectiveStory #JapaneseCrimeThriller #MustRead #seishiyokomi

I love the mystery, plot and characters but I’ve noticed several spelling mistakes (I did send this to my kindle so I’m unsure if it’s a formatting issue or such). In the prologue alone there are several typos, for example: ‘…it was quite di erent…’ meaning different, ‘…had gone o to…’ with an additional O, ‘…grinning before he oered…’ and ‘I nally relaxed’ meaning finally.

I feel like this book changed my brain somehow. It made me thing differently for days, and I walked around being all detective-y towards my husband. I read this book aloud to my work-partner (blind) and he liked the way the authors way of describing things clearly. That’s high praise. I am now on my way to read all of Seishi’s books no matter what that does do me. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the chance to play detective at home.

I will start this review by saying that this is a different genre of book than I normally read- normally I mostly read fantasy/romantasy books, but I have recently read some thrillers and romance books that I really enjoyed! So keep this in mind when reading my review!

This definitely wasn’t a bad book by any means, Seishi Yokomizo has painted a very detailed and thought-out story that I can see a lot of people really enjoying. I was hopeful that I also would be one of those people. However, I think I found the book a bit confusing and wordy- I had some trouble following along with the story. I wasn’t completely sure what was going on at quite a few points in the story or what characters were being referred to. I think the correct words to describe this book would be very analytical and detailed. I will make a point of saying that there were definitely moments where I was enjoying the story too though, which is why I would rate this 3 stars, but I got lost along the way.

I did, however, really love the setting of the book- I really love books that are set in Japan and I found it that extra bit interesting considering it was set in a past time period! I thought that the concept surrounding the book and the setting was really interesting!

Although this particular book wasn’t personally for me, I would like to read more books from this author to see if there are any that would be!

Thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Vertigo for letting me read this ARC!! 🩵

This classic Japanese murder mystery was an entertaining, short read. There were twists throughout, and the writing style is similar to Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot stories. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and am grateful to have been able to read an early review copy!

Thank you Pushkin Vertigo (via Netgalley) for providing me with an eARC, all thoughts expressed are my own.

This was an ARC from Steerforth and Pushkin and Netgalley and is made up of two short stories.

Although the title may suggest otherwise, this was different from what I usually go for. I found the prologues for both, quite arduous at times and it took a while to get into the stories which isn't what you want from a short story.

I actually preferred Why Did the Well Wheel Creak to the titular story and enjoyed that is was told in the form of letters and newspaper articles.

I found the pacing quite slow for both but did enjoy the content.

This was not my favorite Kosuke Kindaiche book. Most of the action takes place before he enters the picture and he serves only to explain what actually happened. We spend very little time with him doing detective work, which is a shame for such an interesting, quirky character. Overall, most of the characters felt thin, but I did enjoy the way the post-war setting was used and ultimately was integral to the central mystery.