Akitada's First Case: Akitada Mysteries
By I. J. Parker
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About this ebook
In this Shamus-Award-winning short story, the young Akitada becomes a detective when a father asks him to find his daughter. To Akitada’s dismay, the young woman has been murdered and the suspect is a convenient peddler. But this seems all wrong, and Akitada persists in his search for the real killer though it involves great risks to himself.
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Book preview
Akitada's First Case - I. J. Parker
AKITADA’S FIRST CASE
A Short Story
by
I. J. PARKER
Contents
About the Author
Pronunciation of Japanese Words
Introduction
Akitada’s First Case
Books and stories by I. J. Parker
and contact information
Preview:
THE DRAGON SCROLL
Copyright © 1999 by I.J. Parker
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living, dead, or undead, is purely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.
Edition: October 2011
About the Author
I.J. Parker was born and educated in Europe and turned to mystery writing after an academic career in the United States. She has published her stories in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, winning the Shamus award in 2000. Several stories have appeared in collections, such as Fifty Years of Crime and Suspense and the recent Shaken. The award-winning Akitada’s First Case
is available as a podcast.
The Akitada series of crime novels features the same protagonist, an eleventh century Japanese nobleman/detective. At present there are eight titles in print and electronic formats, with an ninth to be released soon. These books are also available in audio format and have been translated into twelve languages.
Pronunciation of Japanese Words
Unlike English, Japanese is pronounced phonetically. Therefore vowel sounds are approximately as follows:
a
as in father
e
as in let
i
as in kin
o
as in more
u
as in would.
Double consonants (ai
or ei
) are pronounced separately, and o or u are doubled or lengthened.
As for the consonants:
g
as in game
j
as in join
ch
as in chat
.
Introduction
Akitada’s First Case
was one of the early stories and still went through the hands of the late Cathleen Jordan, editor of ALFRED HITCHCOCK MYSTERY MAGAZINE. She was the first to publish my writing, and I shall always be immensely grateful for that.
To my astonished delight, Akitada’s First Case
was nominated by the Private Eye Writers of America as best short story in 2000 and subsequently won the coveted Shamus award. This in turn jump-started my writing career.
Akitada’s role as a detective in the novels and the other short stories usually disqualifies him for the Shamus, because he is normally working for the government and does not accept private fees for his work. In this story, however, he has just been dismissed and in his despair, being very poor, he accepts money to find a grieving father’s child.
The short stories were not written in sequence like the novels; some deal with a young Akitada and others with a middle-aged or elderly one. This story belongs to the beginning of Akitada’s life story.
As a detective, Akitada works strictly within the legal system of his time. This was originally based on the Chinese organization of local wardens, constables, tribunals, and judges. Criminals were generally arrested by local constables or by the police, or kebiishi. Confessions were required for convictions, but they could be obtained through flogging. The alternative to the death penalty (generally not permitted by Buddhism) was exile, which frequently proved fatal.
The events in the story take place when Akitada is barely twenty. He is poor, unsure of himself, plagued by a demanding mother, and bullied by his co-workers and his superior at the Ministry of Justice. Because he succeeds beyond his expectations in solving the disappearance of a young woman and bringing justice to her grieving father, he embarks on a career of criminal investigation that will last throughout his life.
Akitada’s First Case
Heian Kyo (Kyoto): 11th century—sometime during the Poem-Composing Month (August).
THE sun had only been up a few hours, but the archives of the ministry were already stifling in the summer heat. A murky, oppressive air hung about the shelves of document boxes and settled across the low desks. These were normally occupied by scribes and junior clerks, but at the moment they were empty.
Akitada, having celebrated his twentieth birthday with friends the night before—an occasion which involved emptying a cup of wine each time one failed to compose an acceptable poem--had overslept and crept in the back way. Now he knelt at his desk, feeling sick and staring blindly at a dossier he was supposed to be copying. He winced when two of his fellow clerks,