The Clock House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji, translated by Ho-Ling Wong (Pushkin Vertigo) ~Ernie Hoyt

Yukito Ayatsuji is a Japanese mystery writer from Kyoto. He made his literary debut in 1987 with his book, 十角館の殺人（Jukakukan no Satsujin) which was translated into English in 2015 as The Decagon House Murders by Locked Room International and again in 2020 by Pushkin Press. The story was adapted into a streaming drama for Hulu Japan in 2024.

This book would also be the first in Ayatsuji’s House series which includes a total of ten books. Kodansha Publishers categorizes Ayatsuji’s House series as a honkaku mystery, a subgenre of the mystery fiction that was inspired by the Golden Age of Detective Fiction which includes writers such as Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and Ngaio Marsh.

The Clock House Murders is the fifth book in the House series and was originally published in the Japanese language as 時計館の殺人 (Tokeikan no Satsujin) in 1991 by Kodansha. The book had won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Best Novel in 1992. It was translated into English by Ho-Ling Wong, who also translated The Decagon House Murders, The Mill House Murders, and Labyrinthine House Murders for Pushkin Press. This book was also adapted into a streaming series for Hulu Japan in 2026. 

One of the main characters in this novel is Takaaki Kawaminami. He currently works as an editor for a magazine called Chaos which focuses on articles about the occult and supernatural. He is meeting with Kiyoshi Shimada, an up and coming mystery novelist who writes under the pen name of Kadomi Shishiya. The two had met three years ago in Oita Prefecture where Kawaminami was a third year university student. 

Kawaminami remembers making Shimada’s acquaintance quite well. It all started when he received a letter that was signed by Seiji Nakamura. Nakamura was a well renowned architect and had designed two curious buildings on the island of Tsunojima in Oita Prefecture in Kyushu. One was the Blue Mansion and the other was the Decagon House. However, Kawaminami received the letter after Nakamura’s death. 

In order to solve the mystery of the letter from beyond the grave, Kawaminami was visiting the home of Seiji Nakamura’s younger brother Kojiro. This is where Kawaminami first meets Shimada. They would become friends and work together to try to solve the mystery of the lette, but during their investigation, a series of murders would occur. The events from that time kept Kawaminami from contacting his friend.

Kawaminimi asks his friend if he has ever heard of the Clock Mansion in Kamakura. When he mentions the building, Kadomi gives his friend a questioning look and says, “Do you mean to say…” and Kawaminami answers, “Yes, it is exactly what you think. The house, which is also known as Clock House, is one of the buildings designed by Seiji Nakamura”.

As the editor of Chaos, Kawaminami tells his friend that the magazine is working on a special feature - “Confronting the Ghost of the Kamakura Clock House”. He tells his friend that the house used to belong to a man named Michinori Koga. Koga died nine years ago and around the same time, a lot of other people died as well. The deaths lead to the rumor that the house is haunted. “The most repeated one is about the ghost of a girl that manifests at the house and roams around the surrounding forest. And that apparition is said to be none other than Michinori’s daughter, who died long ago…”

Kawaminami then fills Koga in on what the magazine has planned. He and a few others will be locked inside the Clock House for three days. A well-known psychic named Mikoto Komyoji, will also be a part of the team. She will hold seances and try to contact the ghost. Kadomi has a bad feeling about his friend staying in that house for three days. He says to his friend, “It doesn’t feel right somehow. It would be a different story if it were any other haunted house, but this is one of Seiji Nakamura’s creations we’re talking about…”

In the past, horrible events had transpired in the Decagon House, the Mill House, and the Labyrinthine House - all of them being creations of Seiji Nakamura. Kawaminami suggests that Kadomi should join them and that he will try to get permission from the current caretaker of the house. Although Kadomi would like to join, he says he will check out the place on his own at his own leisure. 

For the magazine project, aside from Kawaminami, the others chosen to stay in the house are Shigeo Kobayakawa, the deputy editor-in-chief at Chaos and Kawaminami’s boss. Atsushi Utsumi, photographer for Kintasha, the company that publishes Chaos. The psychic, Makoto Komyoji. There will also be five members from W–University’s Mystery Club. Four of the members had camped near the Clock House about ten years ago, the same year when Michinori’s daughter is said to have died. 

Once all the members are gathered, then the real story begins. The medium told all the participants that they would have to change clothes and leave anything synthetic behind - necklaces, wristwatches, cell-phones, etc. She tells the group, “Spirits bound to a building are extremely sensitive to anything that is brought in from outside”. 

In the evening, the seance appears to have been a success but shortly afterwards, one of the members is grisly murdered. Soon, another murder takes place, then another. The team is being picked off one by one. Will the ones that are still alive be able to find the killer? Is the killer one of them? Will they get any help from the outside? 

Although I have not read the previous novels that precede this story, it indeed feels as if you are reading a novel from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, think Ellery Queen or Agatha Christie. The novel had me guessing all the way through until the end and I still couldn’t figure out who the murderer was until I read the book to the very end. Very satisfying indeed!