In the prologue, this is used as a way to explain why it is so difficult for an outsider to solve a crime on the island: the islanders are fiercely protective of their own. Death on Gokumon Island can stand on its own feet without being compared with Christie's masterpiece, this coming from a huge fan of Christie. The explanation of the crime also includes conversations which take place with witnesses off the page.

In the army, he met Chimata, the son of a fishing mogul on the (fictional) Gokumon Island; and Chimata, while not a coward, had a single fear: of dying before getting back home. But Kindaichi has not come merely as a messenger—with his last words, the dying man warned that his three step-sisters’ lives would now be in danger. People are claiming that at my instigation, Ukai-san lured Hana-chan here and that he and I killed her together.The Honjin Murders, The Inugami Curse and The Village of Eight Graves are also available from Pushkin Vertigo.

Overall, ‘Death on Gokumon Island’ was a delight and certain to please lovers of classic detective fiction.The atmosphere sexism created in the third book, The Village of Eight Graves, is one of the main reasons that book got two stars. The scruffy detective is determined to get to the bottom of this mysterious prophesy, and to protect the three women if he can. Set in Gokumon Island which literally means Hell’s Gate Island, Kosuke Kindaichi found himself tangled with the murders of three sisters after he brought the news that their brother had died in a war.