The Little Sparrow Murders Audiobook By Seishi Yokomizo, Bryan Karetnyk - translator cover art

The Little Sparrow Murders

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Kosuke Kindaichi comes to remote Onikobe expecting a peaceful mountain retreat, but finds death stalking him at every turn. No sooner has the famous sleuth learnt of a decades-old murder haunting the village than a new series of killings strikes the community.

This time the victims’ bodies are eerily arranged to allude to the lyrics of a children’s song. As the scruffy sleuth investigates, the murders continue, with a sinister, stooped old woman appearing before every new death.

Kindaichi must unravel a tangled tale of broken hearts and blackmail to get to the truth. Can he do so before the killer reaches the final verse?

2025, The Society of Authors Translation Prizes (UK), Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Translation Prize, Short-listed

©1971 Seishi Yokomizo , 1996. English translation Bryan Karetnyk, 2024 (P)2024 Bolinda Publishing Crime Fiction Mystery Murder Crime International Mystery & Crime Historical Traditional Detectives Heartfelt

Critic reviews

'Seishi Yokomizo took a pinch of John Dickson Carr and a dash of Agatha Christie in creating Kosuke Kindaichi, solver of impossible crimes ...' (The New York Times)

Continue the series
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Our dear Detective Kindaichi should've known his "vacation" to a remote mountain village was ill-fated from the start! Inspector Isokawa returns to play buddy cop to investigate a bizarre series of murders tied to a local children's song--intriguing and chilling in equal measure--as well as an old murder case dredged up from Isokawa's past.
As in other Kindaichi mysteries, there is a sprawling cast of characters to keep tabs on, but the narrator's range of voices helps distinguish them. The author skillfully turns over one card after another, and while I've been able to make an educated guess at the solution to the case in other Kindaichi mysteries, the twists and turns kept me guessing until the very end. A little lighter in tone than the The Devil's Flute Murders, which was also recently released as an audiobook, The Little Sparrow Murders is another fantastic entry in a mind-bending mystery series.

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