The Lost Gallows

"I see," said Poirot thoughtfully. "I have come across the phrase, you understand, under certain circumstances where none of those explanations would apply. It seems to refer to a gang of international criminals or something of that kind; only—"

"Only what?" I asked, as he hesitated

"Only that I fancy that it is something on a large scale. Just a little idea of mine, nothing more. Ah, but I must complete my packing. The time advances."

"The Big Four"

The one problem with not writing a review soon after reading a book is definitely forgetting character names...

The murder on Professor Murayama Kodou was a curious one, and promptly led to an extensive police investigation, as he was an authority on bloodtype research and therefore not an unfamiliar face to the authorities. It was quickly determined the professor had in fact been killed elsewhere the night before, and that his body, for whatever reason, had been moved to the garden of Murayama household, where he was discovered by a servant in the morning. Fragments of a letter were found on him and while the police did find fingerprints of a suspicious person on the fragment, they quickly decided it was not relevant: the owner of those fingerprints, Hasuno, was a burglar who three years ago "visited" the Murayama household and was known to have gone through Murayama's belongings. Hasuno was eventually caught and tried, and while he was recently released from prison, the police realize that Hasuno's fingerprints on the letter are old and that he is not a real suspect in the murder. Hasuno, and his friend Iguchi, an artist, are surprised by a visit by Mizugami Toshiko: she is the niece of Murayama Kajitaoru, the recently deceased head of the Murayama household. While their names might suggest otherwise, Kajitarou and Kodou (and Toshiko) were all just distant relatives of each other, despite living together under one roof. Kajitarou passed away only two months ago and it is his death that casts a shadow over Kodou's murder.

For Toshiko and two family friends discovered a letter among Kajitarou's belongings that proved he was in fact a member of Gallows Co., an international anarchist terrorist organization that has been bombing places all across the world. In the letter, it is revealed that Kodou had knowledge of Gallows Co. and Kajitarou's ties to them, and that he was planning to go to the police with his knowledge. Kajitarou would therefore enlist the help of a spy to keep an eye on Kodou's movemements and if necessary, take him out. Having read the letter, Toshiko realizes that if Kodou was really killed by this agent of Gallows Co., it also means the spy must be one of the few people who actually frequent the house; i.e. the two family friends, Kodou's brother-in-law, or perhaps the servants. Having learned of Hasuno and Iguchi's exploits in detection, she hires Hasuno to find out who the agent of Gallows Co. is, hoping he will find them before the police will in Yuuki Haruo's 2019 novel Koushu Shoukai ("Gallows Co.").

Yuuki Haruo made his debut as a professional author with Koushu Shoukai by winning the 60th Mephisto Award (which grants a publication contract). Because I am notoriously bad at reading series in order, I have already read the other two books in the late Taisho-era historical mystery series featuring the painter Iguchi and his ex-burglar friend Hasuno. I read them in reverse order too, having read 2024's Salome no Guillotine ("Salome's Guillotine") before 2023's Tokeidorobou to Akunin ("Clock Thieves & Crooks"). Though I do want to make a note that it doesn't hurt to read Tokeidorobou to Akunin before Koushu Shoukai: while Koushu Shoukai was published first, it is set after the events of Tokeidorobou to Akunin and in fact makes several references to the adventures Hasuno and Iguchi have in that book, so in a way, it might even be better to read those two books in reverse order (though Salome no Guillotine should probably really be read last).

Sometimes you can really feel how a series grows and develops, but in this case, I'd say Koushu Shoukai felt very familiar and similar to the later two books, and I mean that in a positive way: it doesn't feel like a debut novel, and the late Taisho-era setting, as well as the relationship between Hasuno and Iguchi, and Hasuno's shady past, are incredibly well-defined here already, and they form a good foundation for the sequels. And at the same time, Yuuki brings a very interesting whodunnit mystery: who is the agent enlisted by Kajitarou to take out his own relative Kodou? The agent is hired by Kajitarou, and not the international terrorist organization Gallows Co. itself, so this creates a unique problem, because the agent might not be strong follower of Gallows Co.'s anarchistic beliefs, though throughout the book, Hasuno and the police detectives do try to fish out who may or may not have anarchistic beliefs. This leads to an interesting contradiction early on, when Hasuno points out all the suspects deny being anarchists, yet they do all, be it reluctantly, allow Toshiko to hire Hasuno to find out who the killer is seperately from the police, thus undermining the authority of the police. 

The story also develops in a rather surprising adventurous manner, at least, it would be if I hadn't already read the sequels. But yes, Koushu Shoukai isn't a solely investigation-focused story, it develops in a surprisingly dynamic manner with even some action scenes in the middle. The narrative also occasionally follows other characters, like Iguchi's niece Mineko who has a knack for getting into trouble in each of these books. The result is a book that is very readable, despite it being relatively long.

While Hasuno does utilize some Queenian techniques when deducing the identity of the killer, focusing on actions of the culprit and the motives/reasons for taking said actions, I'd say Koushu Shoukai's merits lies in the fleshed out motives of all the characters in the book. All the suspects in this book take significant actions, and these actions are all firmly grounded in convincing motives that in turn are very firmly grounded in the book's time setting: this is a historical detective story (even if the late Taisho-era is 'relatively' close to our times), and a lot of what the characters do, whether they are the killer or not, only make sense in this specific historical context. Yuuki does a great job at making this a tricky whodunnit by using this historical setting, with all its limited technology and science, to its fullest and by intertwining the actions of all the characters in a complex web that at first might seem dazzling, but it all makes sense at the end when Hasuno reveals all. There is some really clever misdirection going on too, using a certain concept for one thing that is relevant to the mystery plot, but then the same concept is used for something completely different too, in an even more relevant way! This is really clever mystery writing, as you think 'that one card' has already been used and discarded, only for that card to be revived from the discard pile to be used again for something else!

The titular Gallows Co. is an interesting concept by the way. Considering the late Taisho-era setting, this being a detective novel and Gallows Co. being some kind of international terrorist/criminal organization, my own mind quickly goes to Agatha Christie's The Big Four and The Secret Adversary, which... I actually both like a lot, despite being very different from what you'd usually associate with Christie's work. But the criminal organizations in those novels are far more front-and-center, and I was surprised how despite being in the title, Gallows Co. is a fairly understated device in the novel. This is partially because we learn that Kajitarou had enlisted the help of someone himself, and not 'in name of Gallows Co.', and in fact, the main organization itself doesn't know who Kajitarou has persuaded to do his bidding: because of that Gallows Co. is more a shadow that looms over the story in the background, rather than being a direct adversary. So if you were fearing this would be more like a spy thriller like The Secret Adversary, no fears!

I have already read a lot of Yuuki Haruo's work, so it was only a matter of time until I'd read his debut work, but I am genuinely surprised, pleasantly so, by how well-rounded Koushu Shoukai is. It's a really good detective that makes great use of its unique time setting, and the whodunnit plot is absolutely excellent, with great misdirection and some fantastic plotting going on. Definitely recommended reading.

Original Japanese title(s):  夕木春央 『絞首商會』