Tuesday, August 5, 2025

Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

Oh, it all started with the silly phrase 'No smoke without fire.' People have been saying that ad nauseam.
"The Moving Finger"

As a non-smoker, I had not even ever heard of cigarillos before...

Mori Asako works as a freelance tourist guide in the ancient capital of Kyoto and the last two days, she's been the exclusive guide to J.P Bernas, a wealthy Filipino who runs a cigarillo farm. Bernas came to Japan to talk business, as he hopes to extend the export of cigarillos from the Philippines to Japan, though that is difficult due to import quota on tobacco products, and the fact most of that quota is used for American tobacco. But as a lover of Japan, the trip isn't all business, so he has privately hired Asako so he can get a good look around Kyoto. After visiting Kiyomizu-dera Temple, he asks Asako he forgot to buy an English pamphlet as a souvenir, so he asks whether she could return and buy it for him. Aasako leaves her client for a minute, but when she returns, she finds the street is brimming with people, and an ambulance and the police: Bernas lies dead on the street, having been stabbed in the back with a knife! Asako is of course taken in for questioning, though she can't tell Inspector Kariya much about Bernas' businesses. However, Kariya does reveal to Asako that Bernas was holding tight to a 10 yen coin when he was found dead, and he wonders whether that has any significance, though Asako assures Kariya Bernas knew the worth of a 10 yen coin (not much), so it's not likely he was being robbed and he refused to give up that coin. When Asako returns home and discusses the murder her husband Ichirou, who is an investigative reporter, they really that Asako had visited Byoudou-in Temple with Bernas the day before, and that temple is featured on the 10 yen coin. Asako recalls Bernas had been acting a bit weird at the temple, after seeing something, or someone. Meanwhile, Inspector Kariya dives into Bernas' business partners at Tainan Bussan Ltd., where he learns that Bernas' son died last year in an accident with a Cessna: the son had been travelling with the Manilla manager of Tainan Bussan Ltd. to have a look at the tobacco fields of Bernas, when the plane crashed. Kariya suspects Bernas' death might have to do with his son's death, and perhaps some internal political struggle regarding wanting to import more cigarillos, but he can't seem to connect the dots together. Ichirou and Asako also start their own investigation, with Ichirou hoping to get a scoop, but the Moris soon learn there's a larger conspiracy hiding behind everything, and they are starting to attract attention to themselves in Yamamura Misa's Cigarillo no Wana ("The Cigarillo Trap", 1977).

It's not like I read Yamamura Misa's work often, but I have to say I was a bit confused when I started this book and learned the protagonist was called Asako, because that was also the name of the protagonist of the Yamamura novel I read last time, last year... Ichirou is also a name you see often in her works I think.

Yamamura Misa is a name you'll hear about sooner or later once you start reading up on Japanese mystery fiction, because she was extremely prolific and at a time, very often featured on television and video games due to various adaptations of her work, or new stories based on her work. Her main themes were women protagonists and the ancient capital Kyoto (and Japanese culture), which of course provided an entertaining for adaptations on television, and it made her name synonymous for the two-hour suspense drama television special set in Kyoto or perhaps some other touristic destination featuring a dramatic finale with the detective confronting the murderer at a cliffside looking down at the sea. I very occasoinally try out her work, but in general, the mystery plots are very light, though some books like Hana no Hitsugi, were more like the reasonably solid puzzle-focused books I generally read. 

My attention was drawn to this particular book, Cigarillo no Wana, because I saw it mentioned in a list with taped locked room murders: locked room situations where all the exits/entrances have been sealed with tape from the inside. Note that it didn't say whether it was good or bad or original or anything, just that it featured one, but that was enough to make me interested in the book, as taped locked room mysteries are not that common. I didn't read this particular version of the book by the way, but I like this cover better...

Cigarillo no Wana is certainly a typical Yamamura Misa work, with the focus on Asako, a fairly strong female protagonist who is actually married to a horrible husband who barely cares about her and is only thinking about his scoop, and then there's of course Kyoto as the setting, with various famous touristic destinations in the ancient capital playing an important role in the story. If you want to escape into fantasy and become a tourist in the pages of a book, Yamamura basically always has you covered when it comes to Kyoto. Inspector Kariya was originally a secondary character in Yamamura's work, but he kept on making appearances in several of her series (with women protagonists), and eventually became a leading protagonist himself too (even has his own live-action drama series!), and you could argue he shares the spotlight with Asako here.

The first few murders (yes, there are multiple murders) in the book are fairly simple in terms of practicality, with people just stabbed to death and things like that. The first half of the mystery is split in two interconnecting narratives, with Asako and her husband trying to investigate the case from their side (in order to get Ichirou his scoop), and Inspector Kariya (a recurring character in Yamamura's work) doing an official investigation. Because both sides have access to different information and means, they tackle the case from different angles, but slowly do come closer. Because Kariya suspects strongly Asako and her husband are intentionally not telling him the whole story, he starts to suspect them too, and that creates a rather fun read, with the two sides in reality working on the same case, but for different purposes which frames them as rivals. On both sides a lot of guesswork is done, but it results in both sides uncovering there's a rather big, political plot lurking behind Bernas' death, and it reaches surprisingly high in society. I remember that was also the case in Egypt Joou no Hitsugi ("The Tomb of the Egyptian Queen"), the Yamamura I read last year, and it reminds me of Matsumoto Seichou's work, who very much championed the mystery story about political intriges leading to murder among the common man. There's a distinct social school vibe going on her, though Yamamura does lean a bit more on the "classic" mystery tropes than Matsumoto would.

So a lot of the mystery revolves around figuring out why Bernas was killed, and that gets revealed bit by bit as the two sides start digging. It's a complex web of political intrigue, which I found entertaining enough, but it's not really the type of mystery I usually read or enjoy, so I do find it hard to describe this as a book I'd recommend. Nearer to the end, we have the taped locked room murder that first led me to reading this book: a man is found dead in his car parked near a cliff (it's always a dramatic cliff in these stories!), with the exhaust hooked up back inside the car with a hose, making it appear like a carbon monoxide suicide. The doors and windows have been taped tight from the inside and there's of course only the victim inside the car, meaning he must have done this himself, right? Of course not, because it was murder (it's always murder), but I have to say the trick was rather disappointing, as it's the same as the trick of a famous instance of the taped locked room murder: as I mentioned before, there aren't that many of them, so it stands out even more when you utilize the same trick. I do like what Yamamura did to ensure the trick would work within this specific story in terms of practicality, as in, I can imagine it working here, with the way she placed her props and set the scene. But still, I wouldn't be recommending this book per se if you're specifically looking for taped locked rooms, because you're likely already familiar with the better known instance.

Cigarillo no Wana isn't in any way much worse, or much better than the other Yamamura Misa works I have read until now. It's exactly the type of story you'd expect to be written for a two hour television mystery special you'd come across while zapping: nice shots of Kyoto, an inoffensive tale that is relatively easy to follow with a few twists and turns and by the time the special has ended, you'll already have forgotten most of the story. Not the Yamamura I'd recommend, but also not one I'd tell to stay away from.

Original Japanese title(s): 山村美紗『葉煙草(シガリロ)の罠』