Judith Sullivan is a writer in London, originally from Baltimore. She is working on a crime series set in Paris. Fluent in French, she’s pretty good with English and has conversational Italian and German and 20+ years in Leeds improved her Yorkshire speak.
The title here is deceptive. This is not about yobs getting into a knife fight outside their local in a dodgy neighbourhood in North Leeds. Far from it: This is a weird and wonderful Japan-set book unlike any other police procedural I have read.
Black Swan is a hard book to describe, a Rubik’s cube construct of scenarios for the murder of textiles-company boss Gosuke Nishinohata, which the reader is asked to dissemble and then reassemble multiple times until it feels right.
Ayukawa (ably assisted by translator Bryan Karetnyk) dares us to look at Nishinohata’s murder from every possible angle – personal, professional, societal and practical. Then he asks to jumble those factors up again and take a fresh look.
The structure is unusual to those of us used to Anglo procedurals. Ayukawa regular Inspector Onitsura does not even appear until the midpoint of Black Swan. He comes onto the scene because the first detectives are stumped by a murder apparently committed by someone strong enough to chuck the not-insubstantial Nishinohata from a railway bridge. Likewise the Black Swan, more bar than pub, is first mentioned about a third of the way through.
Prior to those developments we are treated to a zippy investigation throughout many sites in Japan, where the first cops on the job (DI Sudo and Constable Seki) sift through the many possible culprits and motives. And they are many – a wronged wife, irate employees, a love child, the list goes on.
Sadly for the cops on the job the investigation plays out amid a heatwave, referenced multiple times over the course of the plot.
Yet despite the oppressive weather and the officers’ constant back-ing and fro-ing to interview various suspects and witnesses, the plot hangs together and the conclusion satisfies fully.
The book was written more than 60 years ago (Ayukawa died in 2002). Yet it feels fresh and bouncy and relevant in 2024. The author permits himself gentle asides about post-war Japan that never feel spurious. He presents a wide array of citizens, male and female, wealthy and working class, old and young, always objectively described and beautifully drawn. Ayukawa neither judges nor chastises, he simply spins a compelling and complex yarn.
Despite the title, the cover art references the multiple train journeys the police must take to unravel the mystery. This is definitely one for rail enthusiasts, focused as it is on this type of travel. Also to be super helpful, train schedules are included in the pages and one character is obsessed with railway stamps.
The promo literature for Black Swan slots the novel into the alibi-deconstruction school of murder mysteries. I would also put it into the category of must-read for any lover of English language mysteries keen to discover how other nationals present their whodunnits and how those mysteries shed light on societal customs and habits.
Editor’s Note: translated into English by Bryan Karetnyk
