Among stunningly prolific Japanese mystery writer Jiro Akagawa's 650-plus books is the Casebooks of Mikeneko Holmes series, comprising more than 55 titles and still expanding. The intriguing first volume, originally published in 1978, arrives in the U.S. as A Game of Cat and Killer, smoothly translated by Haydn Trowell. Akagawa writes with a charming nonchalance reminiscent of the popular cozy mystery genre, but the body count--and the related causes--may disqualify this title from those shelves.
Akagawa opens with a quick first murder: a student using sex work to make fast money is killed by her client. Katayama, 28, is the Tokyo Metropolitan Police detective assigned to the case, although he's "squeamish at the sight of blood" and even more afraid of women: "If I get near a group of them, I get headaches, dizziness, nausea... sometimes even hives," he laments to his boss when he realizes he's being sent to a women's university. But go he must to the office of Tomoo Morisaki, dean of the Faculty of Letters, who alerts Katayama about a potential prostitution ring on campus. Katayama also meets Holmes, Morisaki's cat--whose unusual calico coloring is "believed to bring good luck." Morisaki's conviction that "cats may understand people far, far better than we think" proves prescient, especially after Morisaki is murdered and Holmes chooses Katayama as her next person. With a paw, a tail flick, a plaintive meow, Holmes knows exactly how to move an investigation along. Katayama is also not without a human ally; despite his professed fear of women, student Yukiko (who reveals herself to have been Morisaki's lover) is surprisingly helpful--for a while. But more murders happen before Katayama and Holmes figure out who's done what to whom and why.
Katayama's bumbling-but-possibly-brilliant persona is undoubtedly endearing enough to launch a series, although it's his feline accomplice who remarkably and readily remedies what he may lack in investigative (and people) skills. "Life has thrown a lot at you, hasn't it?" his aunt comments at the story's end. Indeed, amid the multilayered, didn't-see-that-coming revelations, Akagawa also presents Katayama with first love, sibling secrets, family legacy, and more. At least he'll now have lucky Holmes by his side. --Terry Hong
Shelf Talker: Jiro Akagawa's extensive detective-and-kitty mystery series finally gets an English debut of the intriguing first volume, A Game of Cat and Killer, almost 50 years after its 1978 Japanese publication.