tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post4000424624371945137..comments2024-03-29T00:31:02.713+01:00Comments on ボクの事件簿: Locked DoorsHo-Linghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04673330638260132388noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post-16508569372359748192018-02-22T08:52:50.417+01:002018-02-22T08:52:50.417+01:00I am not Japanese, I just read Japanese mysteries ...I am not Japanese, I just read Japanese mysteries (and others...). As for Japanese writers who mostly focus on locked rooms/impossible crimes, the first two names that come in mind are Reito NIKAIDO and Takekuni KITAYAMA, but I don't think they have been translated in any major non-Asian language yet.Ho-Linghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04673330638260132388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post-52386214486295471262018-02-21T22:11:55.210+01:002018-02-21T22:11:55.210+01:00So, according to you, since you are also Japanese ...So, according to you, since you are also Japanese and therefore you know better than anyone else the writers of your country, which are the writers who besides Soji Shimada, have specialized in novels or stories with closed rooms or impossible stories, and that have been published overseas?Pietro De Palmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06051060020493340331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post-47505467253011917012018-02-21T13:10:24.480+01:002018-02-21T13:10:24.480+01:00Thanks for pointing out The Frankenstein Factory! ...Thanks for pointing out The Frankenstein Factory! <br /><br />Hmm, I absolutely love Yokomizo, but I would never describe him as a locked room writer. His Carr-esqueness lies more in being an atmospheric writer, I think. His Honjin Satsujin Jiken (http://ho-lingnojikenbo.blogspot.nl/2011/03/blog-post_25.html) is certainly one of the best known locked room mystery novels from Japan, but that is the exception. Most of his other famous mystery novels feature far different tropes, especially the mitate/nursery rhyme murder. He was by no means a writer who wrote a lot of locked room murders (or even impossible murders).Ho-Linghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04673330638260132388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post-73057859162236274942018-02-21T11:47:18.936+01:002018-02-21T11:47:18.936+01:00Did you read the pastiche by Hoch "The Franke...Did you read the pastiche by Hoch "The Frankenstein Factory, 1975"? It's a curious pastiche on "And Then There Were None". I would ask you for a thing. A great friend of mine, on Fb (are you on Fb?) told me a few days ago,about Yokomizo, as the best locked room japanese writer. A specie of Carr. The Japanese Carr. Because he told me several his novels were translated in french and today Pushkin press is going to translate in England, also on ebook, I ask you which are the best locked room novels by Yokomizo you know.<br />Do you have got the anthology of short stories by John (Pugmire) and Brian (Skupin) released in the last august? There's a my locked room story.<br />Greetings.<br />Pietro De Palma, Bari - Italy (Blog: Death Can Read)<br />Pietro De Palmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06051060020493340331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post-57011049015165264782018-02-10T13:24:12.119+01:002018-02-10T13:24:12.119+01:00Man, I can't even remember the first book I re...Man, I can't even remember the first book I reviewed on my blog (especially as it started as a personal blog...)<br /><br />I usually don't comment too much on characters, as I'm a rather abstract reader who's mainly there for the puzzle, but I really couldn't stand this cast. I'd argue them being even being worse outside the shelter: at least inside the shelter you can give them the benefit of the doubt like you say as it's not a nice spot to be in, but in the flashbacks you see they were all backstabbing each other anyway... <br /><br />For now, the book of Okajima that interests me the most is the gamebook actually. There are far too few of these around.Ho-Linghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04673330638260132388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post-46237284927600407762018-02-10T11:34:33.807+01:002018-02-10T11:34:33.807+01:00This is the first book I reviewed on my blog. I do...This is the first book I reviewed on my blog. I don't think I said anything about the characters in it. I remember finding them unpleasant when reading it; but my memory is also that the feelings towards them by the end (when the reader knows the worst) were slightly more sympathetic. They are obviously not showing their best sides in the situation they're in; and the nature of the mystery demands that we are ready to think the worst of all of them.<br />I've read several Okajima Futari books; and I actually like them, though none of them are great considered as puzzle detective stories. I don't know if you've read the books Patrick Quentin wrote in the thirties and forties; but the approach is quite similar (an interesting set up and a mystery that is revealed in a series of twists, leaving only a small amount of puzzle for the reader).<br />My disappointment with the book (which I didn't mention in the review) is that the writers didn't have the courage to go all the way with the unusual element (the bomb shelter prison). It would be harder to write, but a book without extended flashbacks (only, say, brief flashbacks that correspond to real memory recall) would have been more interesting.nigel.holmeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00387290866972027637noreply@blogger.com