玉の輿の呪い The Teahouse Girl and the Daimyo’s Curse

雑司ヶ谷鬼子母神門前の茶店の娘・お菊は、上総勝浦の大名・植村土佐守に見初められ、下屋敷へ上がることになる。貧しい茶店の娘に訪れた、夢のような玉の輿――しかしその前夜、お菊は湯屋帰りの路地で何者かに斬られ、命を落とす。

疑いは、元恋人の徳松、義姉のお吉、そしてお吉を庇う父・弥助へと次々に移っていく。三人が三人とも罪を背負おうとする不可解な事件に、神田明神下の銭形平次が乗り出す。

凶器は本当に剃刀だったのか。
なぜ、お菊は声も上げずに斬られたのか。
玉の輿に見えた幸運の裏に、何が隠されていたのか。

大名家の体面、町人の悲しみ、父娘の情、そして一人の娘の無残な運命。
野村胡堂が描く、銭形平次捕物控の人情ミステリーです。

Okiku, a beautiful young woman working at a teahouse near Zoshigaya Kishimojin in Edo, is chosen by a daimyo to enter his household. What appears to be a miraculous rise in fortune soon turns into tragedy. On the night before she is to be taken to the daimyo's residence, Okiku is found dead in a dark alley after returning from the bathhouse.

Suspicion quickly falls on three people: Tokumatsu, her former lover; Okichi, her plain and sickly stepsister; and Yasuke, Okichi's father, who tries to take the blame to protect his daughter. As each of them becomes entangled in confession, fear, and sacrifice, the case grows more complicated.

Zenigata Heiji, the famed Edo-period detective, is called in to uncover the truth. Was the barber's razor really the murder weapon? Why did Okiku not cry out? And what hidden force turned a dream of fortune into a fatal curse?

A tale of love, jealousy, social ambition, family devotion, and the cold honor of a samurai household, this story is a classic human mystery from Zenigata Heiji Detective Stories by Kodo Nomura.

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