The Inugami Curse by Yokomizu Seishi and translated by Yamakazi Yumiko or The Most Dysfunctional Family ever.

 

This was deeply disturbing on multiple levels. The actual killer was evil, pure evil, I think Kindaichi calls them demonic in the book and that is a very good description. But here's the thing almost every suspect was completely unlikable and a shade of evil. To be honest I think this is the first time in my life where I've actually wanted just all of the suspects to be guilty because they all deserved to be in jail for one reason or another. 

As an orphan and on the verge of death Seihi Inugami is taken in by the Head Priest of a Shrine and his wife. This one act of kindness will change Inugami's life and he goes on to become one of the leaders of Japan's silk industry. He knows he owes the people who saved his life everything and even though he has three daughters of his own from his mistresses when the Priests granddaughter Tamayo finds herself orphaned he takes her in too. Inugami's daughters expect that even though he was never a loving father in life they will be remembered in death and when Inugami finally passes away they believe they will inherit his fortune and his company or at least their sons will. But Inugami's love for his saviors family continues even in death and he leaves everything to Tamayo, creating a complicated will that becomes the catalyst for murder. 

I think I covered the whole this book was disturbing but oh man was this book disturbing. Just when you believe that the Inugami Clan can't get any more dysfunctional it does. And while the murders themselves are pretty straightforward cold, calculated acts of greed it's really a series of coincidences that makes this case so complex and difficult to solve. 

Overall this was easily one of the best murder mysteries I've read, ever. I can see why this book spawned not one but two movies in Japan. And really why he was such a beloved author period. From what I can find it looks like only three books from this series have been translated so far so I'm looking forward to reading the next one and hoping that they'll translate the entire series, especially since while in the translated series this stands as book two but in the original Japanese this is book six. I'd really like the four in between!