This was one of the things that I loved about this book, all the references to classics of the Golden Age, mostly to classic locked room mysteries, but also to stories like The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, where the reader doesn’t understand the full significance of what has been read until all is revealed at the end. The fourth wall breaking adds to the intimacy of the story, giving it an immediate impact, as if we’re watching a performance, as the author visits the scene of the crime, talks to witnesses and, at the end, explains how he structured his story to let us deceive ourselves: a trick he learned from Agatha Christie, he tells us. The author explains that he wants to write a book and has chosen this true crime as the basis for his story.
This mystery is set in 1937, but the story is told to us by the author in 1946. The solution to the mystery is ultimately simple, but also extremely shocking when we learn the motive. Luckily, the uncle of the bride knows a talented detective (Kosuke Kindaichi) and summons him to help.
The local police have several suspects but are baffled as to how it could have happened. The bride and groom have obviously been murdered (the weapon found outside some distance from the locked building shows it wasn’t suicide) but it is impossible to see how the murderer could have left without being seen and without leaving any trace in the snow. It has been snowing earlier, and while in walking around the annexe, they have already found a bloody katana thrust into the snow and have noted that the snow on the ground is completely unmarred by footprints. Inside they find the dead bodies of the bride and groom, and no one else. Several walk fully around the annexe seeking a way in and eventually use an axe to break through a locked shutter. Everyone rushes outside to the annexe only to find the door to the annexe locked. The screams are followed by the sound of a kobo (a traditional Japanese musical instrument) being played. On their wedding night, long after everyone has gone to bed, the household is suddenly woken by screams coming from the annexe where the newlyweds are spending the night. The eldest son of the Ichiyanagi family marries a beautiful and intelligent young woman. This is a fantastic mystery that is immediately engaging and stays engaging right to the end, making it a very quick read.
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