The Sign of the Twisted Candles

A white flame still enveloped the building like a shroud, and, streaming far away into the quiet atmosphere, shot forth a glare of preternatural light;

"Metzengerstein" 

As I also mention below, I happened to have visited Kyoto just before reading this book. Hadn't been there for over a decade, but it was interesting to see how... little had actually changed. 

High school student Sanada Amane won a contest which got her ticket on a special try-out tour of the soon-to-be-opened space station hotel Stardust, a new step in the world of budget space tourism. A series of murders happened in the space hotel during their stay, but Amane survived the ordeal and on her way back to Earth, she made a live-stream of herself playing Queen's Don't Stop Me Now on the keyboard. For Amane, this was her goal all along: she was trying to reach out to a friend, who had gone missing for over a year now: a live-stream from space might attract her friend's attention, especially when playing a song which held a certain meaning to the both of them. But after her return to Earth, it was not a warm reunion with her friend that awaited her: Amane had become the target of internet rage. People were stunned by the complete lack of respect she showed by trying to win internet credits,  while people had been murdered on the station. The comments on her stream soon turned to flaming and also started to shift to Amane's hometown, Kyoto, as was her haughty attitude and complete disregard for her fellow man not exactly what people had come to expect from those who hail from the ancient capital of Japan? Media of course had a field day with Amane, and influencers, hoping to attract more viewers and controversy, even hang around Amane's school, trying to bait her into engaging with them. 

The school tries its best to protect Amane and the rest of its students from the unwanted attention, and they direct Amane to the Kyoto Support Foundation, a group specializing in assisting "offenders" and their family in dealing with the reactions to their actions: for yes, Amane is seen as the "initial offender", but the backlash to her actions is way out of proportion and there is fear even her family will become targets themselves of all the bashing. Fujishiro Miyako of the foundation sets out a strategy for Amane to avoid most of the bashing and to protect her family. As she interacts with the people of the Foundation, she learns Touko, the friend she has been looking for, had actually been receiving help from the Foundation too: it turns out her father is involved with a pyramid scheme. Mei, a friend of Isesaki Nanatsu, has been looking for her friend too, and it turns out Nanatsu and Touko both disappeared around the same time and that they knew each other via the Foundation. Meanwhile, Amane has left her live-stream online in the hopes of getting a comment from Touko, but amidst all the bashing aimed at her and all the people of Kyoto, she notices a strange message:"First Kinkakuji Temple will burn." A strange sensation sends Amane to the famous temple, and just as she walks on the grounds, the temple catches fire. Amidst the chaos, she notices someone resembling Touko. Has Touko set fire to this symbol of Kyoto? What is her goal? That is the great mystery of Momono Zappa's 2024 novel Rousoku wa Moeteiruka, or as the cover also says: Is the Candle Burning?

 Rousoku wa Moeteiruka is the direct sequel to 2023's Hoshikuzu no Satsujin, which I reviewed a few months ago. And I have to admit, I have seldom experienced such a tonal shift in the same series. The first book is set in space in the very near future, where budget space tourism had become available. The space station served as an original closed circle situation while not feeling too futuristic, and the result was an engaging mystery with an original first murder. Its sequel however not only focuses on a different protagonist, it is also set in a very realistic Kyoto, and the mystery itself is also far more grounded in reality, so no "how could a man hang himself in a zero-G environment" premises. In fact, while people do die in this novel, most of the deaths occuring in this book are results of people caught in the fires (yes, plural), and there's generally not really a mystery of how the fires are started. So as a mystery, it starts out much vaguer, instead focusing more on the live of Amane: a girl who is seen as an instigator and whom everyone has a beef with, suddenly accosting her on the street to accuse of her everything wicked just because she made a live-stream, and because of the way she handles everything with a very Kyotoite-esque attitude, sparks are also directed to the local people of Kyoto. As a human drama, the story does give you some food for thought about how people, especially in a society like that of Japan, like to pile on top of "offenders" (in the very broad definition of the word) and like to show their superiority over them by bashing and condmening the offenders and their family in the oblivion.

So in a way, it might not even be surprising there's someone, singular or plural, who is starting to burn down all the famous locations in Kyoto, each time announcing their target in the comments to Amane's live-stream. It starts with the Kinkakuji and Ginkakuji Temples, but more follow, sending Kyoto into a mood of fear, as Kyoto happens to be full of touristic hotspots and nobody can tell what the next target will be. Amane however happens to spot someone who looks like Touko at every crime site, and she soon suspects Touko might be involved in the fires, but how, and why? And that is indeed the crux of this book's mystery: it is mostly a whydunnit Why is someone burning down famous locations in Kyoto, and why is Touko there every time? This mystery is interwoven well with the aforementioned focus on the human drama and the discussion regarding the 'sense of social justice towards offenders and their family'. While this is definitely not the kind of mystery I usually read, and I still find it surprising how such a grounded, realistic story serves as the sequel to a "murder... in space!" type of mystery, I do think this is a well-constructed story, where the core mystery might be a bit simple, but still quite captivating, because we do want to see Amane have her happy ending, or at least, have a somewhat tolerable conclusion to her experience.

This book oozes Kyoto by the way: many, many places are visited throughout the tale, from the more famous places to less famous ones, and the depiction of the locations and how they are connected to each other is great, and there's also a lot of focus on the cultural aspect too (like the stereotype of a Kyotoite and how neighboring prefectures look at Kyoto). I happened to have gone to Kyoto about two weeks before reading this book and it was pretty funny to see how a famous Japanese sweets shop I visited for the first time then, was also featured in the tale for a bit (Demachi Futaba). In fact, I was only in Kyoto for about a day, and I wasn't even touristing (I already did that when I actually lived there over a decade ago!), but even still, a lot of the places I passed through that day were also featured in the book, simply by virtue of it being a very realistic depiction of the city. So it's definitely a recommendation if you want to steep yourself in Kyoto atmosphere. 

I have to admit that I was a bit unsure initially about Rousoku wa Moeteiruka: I liked Hoshikuzu no Satsujin because of its (nearby) sci-fi setting, and Momono's first book, Rouko Zanmu, was also super memorable because it was a wuxia-themed mystery novel. Rousoku wa Moeteiruka in comparison feels drearily real, focusing on a girl who accidentally causes an online uproar and then gets caught in a series of arson in Kyoto. But as a realistic human drama focused mystery set in Kyoto, somewhat similar to a story you'd might expect from Higashino Keigo, it's quite entertaining and I'd definitely recommend it to those who are into the city of Kyoto. 

Original Japanese title(s): 桃野雑派『蝋燭は燃えているか』 

The Beast Must Die

I give my life, not for honor, but for you (Snake Eater)

"Snake Eater" (Cynthia Harrell)

For some reason bunko pockets of Kobunsha don't fit in some of my bunko pocket-sized cloth covers and it always irritates me...

It's Christmas day, when private detective Sugizaki Ren wakes up and finds a young woman sitting in the snow beneath his window. After a few questions being shot both ways, Sugizaki reluctantly lets the woman inside, who seems very evasive about her true reasons of being here, only asking for Sugizaki to take care of her and keep her out of sight for a few weeks, by hiring her as a help or something. He quickly learns people are indeed after her, as they are tailed by several men when they go out. Sugizaki is even more intrigued by the woman when he learns her name is Houjou Miya and that she is the daughter of Houjou Akio, the former director of the now-defunct Houjou Pharmaceuticals, a name Sugizaki unfortunately knows from a past incident. She has apparently run away from home, as one of the man trailing her is a private detective hired by Akio to learn his daughter's whereabouts, but Sugizaki and Miya are also trailed by two more dangerous-looking men, who Miya explains are the bodyguards of the influential politician Nakamura Kiyoshi, a personal friend of her father's: Nakamura and his sons are staying at the Houjou residence located on a cliff far away from town. Miya decides she will go home, but wants Sugizaki with her, hiring him officially as a bodyguard. Sugizaki accepts the request, and the following day the two are picked up by Nakamura's two bodyguards in a snowcoach, as it's a trip through the snowfields for over two hours back to the Houjou residence.

When they arrive at the house, Miya spots a person hanging from the ceiling of one of the upper-floor rooms: it's her cousin Makoto, who has been living here with his brother Asaji ever since their parents (Akio's sister and brother-in-law) passed away. The young man had failed his university entrance exams for many years in row now, so it appears to be a suicide, but they also find a strange card with the word "tsukioka" in the room. Sugizaki instantly realizes the people in this house aren't normal by any means: while Miya of course suggest they call the police and at least have this unusual death investigated, her father and Nakamura Kiyoshi decline, as Makoto's death might reflect badly on them. While Asaji's wailing for his young brother, Asaji's wife Saori is just calling her husband a crybaby and is openly flirting with Nakamura's second son Hiroshi, who has a very short fuse and even punches Asaji for being such a wuss. Slowly, but surely, Sugizaki feels these people here might not be human, but monsters, as how could a human be so cruel when confronted with death? Ironically, when Sugizaki later manages to have a private talk with Haruo, it is he himself who is accused of being a monster, as Haruo reveals he knows Sugizaki used to be a mercenary, literally a man who was paid to wage war and kill other people. However, the following day, another deceased is found on the premise, and this time it's obviously murder. However, the survivors soon learn the phone line's been cut, the snowcoach has been tampered with and the skis have been broken, making it practically impossible for them to contact or reach the city. While the situation turns into the classic closed circle situation, there's one thing that sets this apart from others: practically all the people in this house are beasts who'd rather kill all the others in the most cruel ways rather than be killed. Who will survive this hellish murder game in Asukabe Katsunori's 2003 novel Lamia Gyakusatsu ("Lamia Massacre")?

Asukabe Katsunori was mostly active as an author in the early 2000s, but most of his books had been out-of-print for many years, with only a few of them available digitally, so he had become mostly a somewhat obscure writer with a cult status. However, a few years ago, bookshops Shosen and Horindo started a project where they'd publish facsimile reprints out-of-print books themselves with the cooperation of the original authors/publishers. Asukabe's Datenshi Goumonkei ("Torture of the Fallen Angels" 2008) was one of the bigger titles (as the original release had reached insane prices on the used market). This release was the first Asukabe I read. Apparently, these releases have awakend the original publishers too, as they have been re-releasing Asukabe's work themselves now too: Datenshi Goumonkei got a bunko (pocket) release last year, and recently, publisher Kobunsha decided to finally give Lamia Gyakusatsu a bunko release, 22 years after the book was originally published!

Lamia Gyakusatsu is an odd book. The story opens with a prologue where we are told UMAs have actually been errr... identifie: at first, there were only signs of monstrous beasts roaming the world, like the discovery of the shedded skin of a gigantic snake of over seven meters, but eventually, people actually occasionally witnesses these beasts, like a man-bird. And then... we move to the narrative of Sugizaki and Miya and we hear a lot of talk about beastly persons, and a lot of philosophical discussions about what makes a human being... human, and what sets them apart from the beasts, but the initial set-up of the monsters roaming the world barely comes into play for most of the book, with just an occasional reference to 'oh, yeah, lately these beasts have been appearing all around the world'. While this set-up steps more into the spotlight the end of the book, it's not really an integral part of the mystery plot like most of the mysteries with a supernatural/science-fiction setting I discuss here. It's just... there. The concept does allow for some interesting discussions on man, beast and also mythological beings, but you might be disappointed at what you are getting considering what the prologue seems to set-up at first.

The way most part of the story develops in Lamia Gyakusatsu is actually very tame and tropey in comparison to the fantastical prologue, as we have a very classical closed circle situation with everyone trapped in the house in the snow, with the telephone line dead and the means of transportation (snowcoach/skis) having been tampered with. And of course, people are getting killed one by one, and most people seem to have a motive, whether it's financial motives or just sheer sadistic tendencies. To be honest, I wouldn't recommend Lamia Gyakusatsu for its mystery plot, as while it works fine enough as a whodunnit, the main features of the plot will likely give you a feeling of deja-vu: much of what is done you will have seen in other stories already, especially in terms of misdirection. The motive for the murders is in a certain way pretty original, but very simple and straightforward too, and I think your mileage might vary on how convincing you'll find this to be. I know of a character with somewhat similar motivations in a different Asukabe novel (not the culprit per se), but I had the feeling it worked better there than here.

The atmosphere of Lamia Gyakusatsu is great though. While the story itself develops in a rather predictable manner as a detective story, you feel there's something off about all this beneath the surface: it's the actors in this drama who all exude a very dangerous aura, making it feel like the tropey story could change drastically simply because everyone's so... wild. Everyone's acting instinctively beastly towards each other, with some of them openly declaring they'd be willing to kill all the others to make sure they alone will survive. Some characters have apparently crossed paths with Sugizaki when he was still a mercenary, and it's their discussions with him that reveal he has quite the chip on his shoulder. Sugizaki however does intend to do his job and protect Miya throughout this ordeal, and as a mercenary, he of course has some experience with incapitating opponents. At first, the confrontations between Sugizaki and the rest of the cast are somewhat polite, as they actually discuss things and delve into philosphical matters. But by the end, all hell's loose: The climax is bombastic, with the murders being solved while all these animalistic characters finally go at each other as their stress levels explode and they let loose.

In a way, Lamia Gyakusatsu feels a lot like a lite version of the two earlier works I read by Asukabe (though this novel actually predates Datenshi Goumonkei). While it doesn't focus on art, nor has the cool paintings Asukabe himself painted like in Junkyou Catherine Sharin ("The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine's Wheel"), we do have these conversations in this book that are filled with interesting anecdotes regarding historical/artistic interpretations of beasts and animals, and then there's the 'madness lurking beneath the surface' sense of dread throughout the novel that was so memorable in Datenshi Goumonkei, just in a much shorter novel with a story of a much smaller scale (closed circle situation in a remote house vs. an isolated village). In a way, you could thus read Lamia Gyakusatsu as an 'easy' introduction to Asukabe, though I do think the aforementioned works are better both as complete novels, as well as mysteries specifically.

I guess Lamia Gyakusatsu is far closer to an entertainment-mystery novel than "a pure" mystery novel, but I did enjoy the easy read. That said, it was certainly not Asukabe's best work I have read, and as it's becoming easier and easier to find his work nowadays, I do have a feeling I will find better works among his bibliography than this one. In fact, I already have a few of his books in the to-be-read pile, including his latest new release, so expect more of Asukabe on this blog in the future.

Original Japanese title(s): 飛鳥部勝則『ラミア虐殺』

Murder on the Thirtieth Floor

"Are you interested in buildings or builders?"

"Columbo: Blueprint for Murder" 

Read until the end to learn about the mystery hiding beneath the mystery... 

Paul Redknapp is the head of the Design and Planning division of the L.A. branch of Bradford Architecture, an architectural bureau which recently finished the prestigious Sky Tower project in Los Angeles, a 70-storey high-rise building near Union Station. The current branch manager, Gordon O'Brien is set to vacate his position soon and while under normal circumstances, the promotion of deputy branch manager Jack Bernstein would be a mere formality, things have changed three months ago: it was Paul Redknapp who headed the Sky Tower project, and that has made him the new golden boy, and a very viable candidate to become the next branch manager. An executive meeting is planned in four days at the New York headquarters and while Paul isn't going to attend in person, he will be sending a video message to help his promotion. After asking Charlie, the marketing guy, to set-up the company , studio so he can record his video message, Paul is invited by his rival Bernstein to have lunch. Of course, this is no normal lunch, as Bernstein reveals he has found evidence Paul bribed a few people in order to get the Sky Tower built: he is to retreat from the promotion race completely. With a huge promotion in sight and his reputation at stake, Paul Redknapp decides to do what everyone would do: kill Jack Bernstein. His plan is simple: he reschedules the shooting of his video with Charlie to the following day, but in reality, he films it that very evening in secret. The next evening, he pretends to be recording his video, but he sneaks out of the studio to surprise Bernstein in his office, instantly shooting him. The pre-recorded video message will prove to be his perfect alibi... at least, so he thinks. But then LAPD Lieutenant Columbo appears at the scene, and while he seems to be very impressed by Paul's reputation and the wonder that is the Sky Tower, the police detective also seems a little bit suspicious of the architect in Stanley Allen's Columbo: The Secret Blueprint (1999), which was translated to Japanese by Oozuma Yuuichi as Garasu no Tou ("The Glass Tower", 2001).

A few years ago, I reviewed William Harrington's The Grassy Knoll, one of the original tie-in novels to the wonderful Columbo series. Harrington wrote a few of them, and they interestingly were based around real-life crimes. I only read The Grassy Knoll and while at times it felt very much like a Columbo story, at other times it also very much did not feel like one, partially because of the real-life crime focus, but also due to other story beats. The Secret Blueprint in comparison feels much closer to what you'd normally expect of a Columbo episode. It has the familiar story beats of Columbo mentioning his wife (in this case, Columbo being interested in the fancy Chinese restaurant in the Sky Tower and Paul "generously" offering to set-up a reservation for Columbo and his wife if he solves the case), the dog appears, Columbo has some chili, people mistaking him for something but the police, etcetera etcetera. It all feels genuinely like the scenes you'd see in the show.

And then we have Paul Redknapp of course, who fits the standard model of a Columbo culprit perfectly as a succesful man trying to grab the biggest chance in his career, humoring Columbo with the Chinese restaurant dinner date: no surprises here and while reading the book, you can easily imagine this as an actual episode.

And you know what, you can actually very easily visualize this as an episode, as the Japanese release features original illustrations by Yamanobe Waka, so there's actually a visual design for Paul Redknapp. 

But let's get to the core mystery plot of The Secret Blueprint, and it's here where the book kinda disappoints. For let's admit it: Paul's plan is way too simple: just filming something beforehand and then pretending it was actually filmed during the timeframe of the murder. Had his plan had more stages to it, it might have been more interesting, but very few Columbo culprits try to get away with something this simple. And I think Stanley Allen also realized this, because the plot then adds a few external factors beyond Paul's control that affect his plans in unsuspected ways, adding some tension to the otherwise very boring scheme. However, for me, this didn't work. While Columbo culprits have often seen small coincidences mess up their plans in some ways, allowing Columbo a way to tear down their plans, Paul Redknapp must have been extremely unlucky for so many minor setbacks to occur during the execution of his plan, beginning with something as simple as a co-worker accidentally spilling some ink on his shirt on the day of the murder (which, unless dealt with, would create a contradiction with the video he recorded the day earlier). It's little accidents like these that upset his plans, but they're not really... satisfying to see, if I'm being honest? It's just being very unlucky, several times within a time period of just a few hours, and it just cheapens the plot a bit: as if the authors themselves couldn't figure out a more clever way for Columbo to start having suspicions about Paul, and therefore just using coincidences to create hickups in his plan. 

And you know what? It's a shame, because the final gotcha moment is pretty clever. The way in which Columbo reveals how Paul messed up is great and I'd loved to have seen this in real-life with Peter Falk. I do think the gotcha is reliant on some coincidence, and it would have worked so much better if The Secret Blueprint didn't already have so many of those moments: had it been this one coincidence that had created a contradictoin in Paul's story, a coincidence that he might have not been aware of at first, but which would have been properly clewed throughout the story to us the reader, then this would have been a much better book. The Secret Blueprint is still an amusing read, mind you, but I couldn't shake the feeling the grand plan was a bit too simple to carry a whole story, and trying to add "volume" through unlucky accidents doesn't work.

But you know what, there's actually a secondary mystery about The Secret Blueprint. And that is... it doesn't appear to be available in English in the first place! The copyright page of the book notes how the original English title is The Secret Blueprint, written by Stanley Allen, copyrighted to Universal in 1999 and the licensing details, and the afterword also notes that the book is actually written by two people, Stanley and Allen, who are apparently two young writers who had been great fans of Columbo since they were young.... but I honestly can't find information on an English-language release of this book. In Japan, this book was published in the same line as the novelizations of the episodes and the other tie-in novels like the aforementioned William Harrington novels and the Alfred Lawrence ones. And you can easily find information on the original English releases of those books, but The Secret Blueprint remains obscure. By the way, the English title might suggest a connection to the early episode Blueprint for Murder, but as you can see, the story is completely original.

EDIT: the commentator sengyotei posted a reply to this post, explaining the book is in fact a pastiche written jointly by mystery writers Ookura Takahiro and Sobu Kenichi, as Stanley Allen. I haven't read anything by Sobu yet, but Ookura is of course known as a Columbo fan and the inverted Lieutenant Fukuie series is obviously inspired by Columbo, so in a way, it all makes sense.

Overall, I do think  The Secret Blueprint is an interesting book. The story is hurt a bit by the simple murder plan and the many coincidences thrown by Fate at it to mess it up, but the general story development is exactly like what you'd expect of Columbo and it has all the neat Columbo-staples. The illustrations too add a lot of character. And perhaps most interesting is just the fact the book seems to come out of nowhere, with basically no information available on it in English, adding a veil of mystique. Not a perfect Columbo tie-in story perhaps, but it offers enough to keep the fans of the series entertained.

Japanese title(s): スタンリー・アレン（著）大妻祐一（訳）『刑事コロンボ　硝子の塔』

The Lost Gallows

"I see," said Poirot thoughtfully. "I have come across the phrase, you understand, under certain circumstances where none of those explanations would apply. It seems to refer to a gang of international criminals or something of that kind; only—"

"Only what?" I asked, as he hesitated

"Only that I fancy that it is something on a large scale. Just a little idea of mine, nothing more. Ah, but I must complete my packing. The time advances."

"The Big Four"

The one problem with not writing a review soon after reading a book is definitely forgetting character names...

The murder on Professor Murayama Kodou was a curious one, and promptly led to an extensive police investigation, as he was an authority on bloodtype research and therefore not an unfamiliar face to the authorities. It was quickly determined the professor had in fact been killed elsewhere the night before, and that his body, for whatever reason, had been moved to the garden of Murayama household, where he was discovered by a servant in the morning. Fragments of a letter were found on him and while the police did find fingerprints of a suspicious person on the fragment, they quickly decided it was not relevant: the owner of those fingerprints, Hasuno, was a burglar who three years ago "visited" the Murayama household and was known to have gone through Murayama's belongings. Hasuno was eventually caught and tried, and while he was recently released from prison, the police realize that Hasuno's fingerprints on the letter are old and that he is not a real suspect in the murder. Hasuno, and his friend Iguchi, an artist, are surprised by a visit by Mizugami Toshiko: she is the niece of Murayama Kajitaoru, the recently deceased head of the Murayama household. While their names might suggest otherwise, Kajitarou and Kodou (and Toshiko) were all just distant relatives of each other, despite living together under one roof. Kajitarou passed away only two months ago and it is his death that casts a shadow over Kodou's murder.

For Toshiko and two family friends discovered a letter among Kajitarou's belongings that proved he was in fact a member of Gallows Co., an international anarchist terrorist organization that has been bombing places all across the world. In the letter, it is revealed that Kodou had knowledge of Gallows Co. and Kajitarou's ties to them, and that he was planning to go to the police with his knowledge. Kajitarou would therefore enlist the help of a spy to keep an eye on Kodou's movemements and if necessary, take him out. Having read the letter, Toshiko realizes that if Kodou was really killed by this agent of Gallows Co., it also means the spy must be one of the few people who actually frequent the house; i.e. the two family friends, Kodou's brother-in-law, or perhaps the servants. Having learned of Hasuno and Iguchi's exploits in detection, she hires Hasuno to find out who the agent of Gallows Co. is, hoping he will find them before the police will in Yuuki Haruo's 2019 novel Koushu Shoukai ("Gallows Co.").

Yuuki Haruo made his debut as a professional author with Koushu Shoukai by winning the 60th Mephisto Award (which grants a publication contract). Because I am notoriously bad at reading series in order, I have already read the other two books in the late Taisho-era historical mystery series featuring the painter Iguchi and his ex-burglar friend Hasuno. I read them in reverse order too, having read 2024's Salome no Guillotine ("Salome's Guillotine") before 2023's Tokeidorobou to Akunin ("Clock Thieves & Crooks"). Though I do want to make a note that it doesn't hurt to read Tokeidorobou to Akunin before Koushu Shoukai: while Koushu Shoukai was published first, it is set after the events of Tokeidorobou to Akunin and in fact makes several references to the adventures Hasuno and Iguchi have in that book, so in a way, it might even be better to read those two books in reverse order (though Salome no Guillotine should probably really be read last).

Sometimes you can really feel how a series grows and develops, but in this case, I'd say Koushu Shoukai felt very familiar and similar to the later two books, and I mean that in a positive way: it doesn't feel like a debut novel, and the late Taisho-era setting, as well as the relationship between Hasuno and Iguchi, and Hasuno's shady past, are incredibly well-defined here already, and they form a good foundation for the sequels. And at the same time, Yuuki brings a very interesting whodunnit mystery: who is the agent enlisted by Kajitarou to take out his own relative Kodou? The agent is hired by Kajitarou, and not the international terrorist organization Gallows Co. itself, so this creates a unique problem, because the agent might not be strong follower of Gallows Co.'s anarchistic beliefs, though throughout the book, Hasuno and the police detectives do try to fish out who may or may not have anarchistic beliefs. This leads to an interesting contradiction early on, when Hasuno points out all the suspects deny being anarchists, yet they do all, be it reluctantly, allow Toshiko to hire Hasuno to find out who the killer is seperately from the police, thus undermining the authority of the police. 

The story also develops in a rather surprising adventurous manner, at least, it would be if I hadn't already read the sequels. But yes, Koushu Shoukai isn't a solely investigation-focused story, it develops in a surprisingly dynamic manner with even some action scenes in the middle. The narrative also occasionally follows other characters, like Iguchi's niece Mineko who has a knack for getting into trouble in each of these books. The result is a book that is very readable, despite it being relatively long.

While Hasuno does utilize some Queenian techniques when deducing the identity of the killer, focusing on actions of the culprit and the motives/reasons for taking said actions, I'd say Koushu Shoukai's merits lies in the fleshed out motives of all the characters in the book. All the suspects in this book take significant actions, and these actions are all firmly grounded in convincing motives that in turn are very firmly grounded in the book's time setting: this is a historical detective story (even if the late Taisho-era is 'relatively' close to our times), and a lot of what the characters do, whether they are the killer or not, only make sense in this specific historical context. Yuuki does a great job at making this a tricky whodunnit by using this historical setting, with all its limited technology and science, to its fullest and by intertwining the actions of all the characters in a complex web that at first might seem dazzling, but it all makes sense at the end when Hasuno reveals all. There is some really clever misdirection going on too, using a certain concept for one thing that is relevant to the mystery plot, but then the same concept is used for something completely different too, in an even more relevant way! This is really clever mystery writing, as you think 'that one card' has already been used and discarded, only for that card to be revived from the discard pile to be used again for something else!

The titular Gallows Co. is an interesting concept by the way. Considering the late Taisho-era setting, this being a detective novel and Gallows Co. being some kind of international terrorist/criminal organization, my own mind quickly goes to Agatha Christie's The Big Four and The Secret Adversary, which... I actually both like a lot, despite being very different from what you'd usually associate with Christie's work. But the criminal organizations in those novels are far more front-and-center, and I was surprised how despite being in the title, Gallows Co. is a fairly understated device in the novel. This is partially because we learn that Kajitarou had enlisted the help of someone himself, and not 'in name of Gallows Co.', and in fact, the main organization itself doesn't know who Kajitarou has persuaded to do his bidding: because of that Gallows Co. is more a shadow that looms over the story in the background, rather than being a direct adversary. So if you were fearing this would be more like a spy thriller like The Secret Adversary, no fears!

I have already read a lot of Yuuki Haruo's work, so it was only a matter of time until I'd read his debut work, but I am genuinely surprised, pleasantly so, by how well-rounded Koushu Shoukai is. It's a really good detective that makes great use of its unique time setting, and the whodunnit plot is absolutely excellent, with great misdirection and some fantastic plotting going on. Definitely recommended reading.

Original Japanese title(s):  夕木春央 『絞首商會』

The Book of Changes

"postea vero quam Tyrannio mihi libros disposuit mens addita videtur meis aedibus" 

"Ad Atticum"

"And ever since Tyrannius has arranged my books, the house seems to have acquired a mind."

"Letters to Atticus"

Since the last five years or so, a lot of my reading has shifted from the physical format to the digital format. While I personally like the medium of paper better, sometimes books aren't easily available physically anymore while an e-book is just one click away, and more important (for the wallet), digital storefronts very often have sales and coins-back campaigns, which make digital releases often a lot cheaper, and this also makes it more easy for me to try out all kinds of books (whereas I'd be much more conservative in the books I'd buy if I'd only read physical books).

So when I was in the bookstore a while back, I suddenly got the urge to look for a mystery novel that doesn't have a digital release, and when I googled on the topic, one book was recommended a lot: Sugii Hikaru's Sekai de Ichiban Sukitootta Monogatari (2023), which also carries the English title The World's Clearest Story on its cover. The obi mentions how it is a book that only works in its physical format and indeed, there isn't even a digital release available of this book. And yet, when you pick the book up, you wouldn't expect this to be the case, as it looks very normal, and it's not like the book comes with physical pieces of evidence like the Crime Dossiers or anything like that. The book is actually quite thin, so on the surface, it really looks like nothing special.

Of course, that's until you start reading it. Or to be exact, when you reach the ending.

Fujisaka Touma is a student who lost his mother recently: his mother was a well-known proofreader, who once had an affair with the famous mystery writer Miyauchi Shougo, a notorious playboy who quite often cheated on his wife. Touma's mother decided to raise Touma herself, accepting nothing from Miyauchi and cutting all ties between them, though most people in the industry know about the affair and that Touma's Miyauchi's child. When Miyauchi also passes away, he's suddenly approached by Matsukata Tomoaki, his half-brother. Touma had not even ever spoken to his father, let alone his half-brother, but the first impression is not a favorable one: Tomoaki is only calling Touma to tell him his father was not nearly as rich as people thought he was and that there's nothing left for Touma, if he dares to make a claim on the inheritance, and he wants to know whether Touma knows anything about "The World's Clearest Story": Tomoaki found notes indicating his father had been working on a manuscript with that title, and that a version of the manuscript had even been sent to a proofreader, which Tomoaki suspects might have been Touma's mother, considering their history. Because the inheritance is so small, Tomoaki wants to have the manuscript published posthumously soon to cash in on his father's death. Touma says he's sure his mother never had anything to do with his father anymore, but Tomoaki is quite pushy, and eventually strikes a deal with Touma, who will be paid to find out where the manuscript went to (but Touma has to relinquish any claims on the Miyauchi inheritance). And so Touma starts looking for the last story his father wrote, a story nobody seems to know about or what is about, with the title The World's Clearest Story as the only clue.

This is a very difficult story to talk about, as not only is it very short, explaining why this book indeed can't be released digitally would of course spoil the surprise, and even hinting at it might ruin the fantastic ending Sugii has prepared for the reader. The story itself focuses on Touma's investigation into the manuscript, trying to find out where it has gone to: diary notes by Miyauchi across a longer period of time do indicate the existence of an advanced version of The World's Clearest Story and that it has been sent somewhere, but where? What makes the manuscript even more elusive is that there are no notes on the actual contents, so no research or drafts/summaries. Tomoaki gives Touma the contact information of all the known affair partners of his father hoping Touma can trace the whereabouts of the manuscript, but Touma also receives valuable help from Kiriko, a literary editor at the major publisher S who often worked with his mother, and who has become a family friend. She acts as this story's armchair detective, as she's the one's who is able to properly process all the testimonies Touma gathers from all the "suspects" in order to arrive at the true meaning behind The World's Clearest Story. As the story progresses, Touma learns about more the man his father was through the eyes of the people he questions, slowly forming an image of a man he never actually knew. Where someone like Miyauchi's own son Tomoaki has nothing good to say about his father, others are far more forgiving, remembering the great mystery writer as someone to be respected. This ever-changing image of Miyauchi is also what colors what Touma, and the reader, will think The World's Clearest Story will be, as it is obvious Miyauchi wasn't working on "just" another mystery novel.

To say even more however, would be spoiling the fun. What I can say is that I was hugely surprised when the truth behind The World's Clearest Story was revealed. While I had already suspicions about certain things, I had never expected it to be utilized in such an amazing manner. It also helps Sugii really helps set up the surprise in a human manner too, as his portrayal of Miyauchi (through the eyes of the others) really sells the idea: without this context, you might think "cool idea, but why would anyone go to the trouble of doing all of that?", but in this book, you just understand why someone would want to endeavour to accomplish exactly that. But yes, this is impossible to do correctly in a e-book, it is only possible in a physical book format, and it's really worth the experience.

So I can't really talk too much in-depth about this book, because that'd spoil the fun, but I can safely say Sugii Hikaru's Sekai de Ichiban Sukitootta Monogatari has been one of my favorite reads of this year and I can easily recommend this. Even if you generally read e-books, it's definitely worth getting this as a physical book, as it will provide a reading experience simply not possible with an e-book. With many moving to digital books, it's cool to see people coming up with such great books that only work on paper! There is a sequel by the way, which does have a digital release, so I do wonder what kind of thing is played out there...

Original Japanese title(s): 杉井光 『世界でいちばん透きとおった物語』

A Body To Die For

"Bart, I have a riddle for you. What is the sound of one hand clapping?"
"The Simpsons"

 

Never seen a full sumo match before now I think about it.

 

Disclosure: I translated Yamaguchi Masaya's Death of the Living Dead. What, you haven't read it yet? Go read it!

 

Kazumi hadn't been in Sam's life for a long time as his stepmother before she passed away, but she had a great influence on Sam's life, and it sparked a life-long interest in Kazumi's home country of Japan. After losing his father too, Sam decided to emigrate to Japan. Fortunately, his stepuncle reassures Sam he's welcome in Japan in a letter, and soon, Sam found himself boarding the ship on its way to Kannon City, a harbor city known for its gigantic statue of the Bodhisattva Kannon (which also serves as a lighthouse). Sam has studied the language and culture of Japan in the States, but of course, there's a lot one can only learn "on-site". However, soon after he lands in Japan, he finds himself involved in several curious murder cases that are inticrately connected to Japanese culture, from a harakiri ritual where the head is stolen to a murder in a locked tea ceremony room. After solving these cases successfully, Sam, who now goes by the nomer Tokyo Sam, decides to open his own detective agency, and after getting the right licences, he's all ready for business in Kannon City, but what Japanese wonders await him in Yamaguchi Masaya's short story collection Zoku: Nihon Satsujin Jiken ("The Japan Murder Case: A Sequel", 1997)?

Or, if you have read the first Tokyo Sam book, you'd know that the "real" author of this book is one "Samuel X", an American who got all his knowledge on Japan from books and stuff, but who had never visited the country itself. Yamaguchi, supposedly, came across this book in a used book shop, and found it so curious, he decided to translate it after managing to contact Samuel. The Japan as envisioned in the book was set in the modern world, but was at the same time an amalgation of  'all the cool Japanese stuff Samuel knew' with a good dash of cultural misunderstandings, with for example people using mobiles, but also samurai walking around, and people still using rickshaws. After the success of this translation, Yamaguchi contacted "Samuel" again, and it turned out he had an unpublished manuscript lying about for a sequel, and after some nagging by Yamaguchi, he got permission to translate this second book.

Yes, this is just a framing story, but it's a really fun one, and it was what made the first book so special: the setting was incredibly unique as it was about a fictionalized, idealized and misunderstanding-filled Japan, imagined by someone who had never visited the country and made up of stereotypes and very broad interpretations of Japanese culture. But, Yamaguchi also used this laughing-mirror Japan to present mystery plots that were only possible in that very unusual Japan, making use of ideas and concepts that were genuinely Japanese, but still transformed in a way that felt unnatural, in a deliberate manner. If this had been written by a non-Japanese author, they would have been criticized due to their complete mispresentation of actual Japanese culture, but because we had a Japanese author do this, it resulted in a very unique experience, as it was Yamaguchi's knowledge of actual Japanese culture, but also the stereotypes that allowed him to write this.

 

The book opens with Kyojin no Kuni no Gulliver ("Gulliver in the Land of Giants"), which starts with Tokyo Sam opening his detective agency, and soon he is visited by his first client: a sumo wrestler he met the day before via a shared acquaintance. While this wrestler belongs to a sumo stable which focuses not on competitive sumo, but in ceremonial sumo, they do occassionally participate in matches, and recently, there had been tragic accident during one of this wrestler's matches, and his opponent passed away after tripping in an unfortunate manner. But a few nights ago, in the garden, he heard his dead opponent calling out his name and he swears he saw the man's head sitting on one of the garden lanterns. Tokyo Sam is to find out whether this is the handiwork of someone trying to scare him, or the actual floating ghost-head of his opponent. Sam visits the sumo stable where he learns about ceremonial sumo, and during his visit, the stable is also visited by wrestlers from the stable to whom the dead wrestler belonged, and these wrestlers are clearly still very pissed about the deadly incident. Tokyo Sam of course suspects wrestlers from the other stable are trying to scare his client, but one afternoon, after following up on a lead and returning to the stable, he finds one of the wrestlers has been murdered. He loses consciousness due to a timely earthquake, but then finds the body gone, and later finds the gigantic body hanging from a torii gate. Who has committed this murder, and why?

This is a fairly long story (about 2/3 of the whole book), more like a novella, and feels quite different from the stories in the first book because of it, even if it has a lot of recurring characters and does have the same slapsticky feel at times. The story uses the extended page count to slowly set-up the story, and the story focuses more on Tokyo Sam's adventures/investigation than previous stories, even with chase scenes and Tokyo Sam going undercover in search for clues. I personally liked the more "problem-focused" approach of the previous book more, but your mileage may vary here, and while of course the Japanese aspects in this story are fictionalized up to a degree, learning about other types of sumo besides competitive sumo was quite interesting. As a mystery story, I think the tale has some good ideas, some others I'm rather indifferent to. There's one clue for example regarding symbolization that is really good, and very well based on Japanese culture which I think even local people might fall for pretty easily, and that works really well in the context of the book: presenting misunderstandings about Japanese culture even Japanese might have. But other parts like how the (big) sumo wrestler's body disappears from the stable and ends up hanging from the torii gate I found not as interesting, especially not because a certain revelation related to that trick seemed to fall flat for me: the way it was presented here, the "revelation" didn't feel like one, and just a weird oversight by everyone until the story decided it should become relevant now.

 

Jitsuzai no Fune ("The Ship of Existence") has Tokyo Sam befriending a travelling zen monk, who has been planning to visit a local temple Tokyo Sam thought to have been abandoned. The monk brings back a manuscript written by an American who had also been visiting the temple titled The Ship of Existence, where he questions his understanding of zen and pleads for help. Tokyo Sam, mesmerized by the manuscript makes his way to the temple, where he sees the American being killed by a figure. What is going on? To be honest, even after reading the story I don't really know. This story is completely different from the previous stories, delving into zen and philosophy to basically work towards a punchline. I have seen Yamaguchi do something similar in a different short story, so to me, this felt a bit like a rehash, but the way it was told here, via zen koan problems to make Tokyo Sam realize something, just didn't appeal to me personally. This might be an interesting story if you're into zen philosophy, but I found this so extremely different from the other stories, I just couldn't enjoy it at all.

I liked the first book in this series a lot, but I have to admit I didn't like Zoku: Nihon Satsujin Jiken that much. While the first story is alright, it misses the impact the stories in the first book had, and it's fairly long despite the mystery plot not being that dense. The second story is just a completely different type of mystery, being based on philosophy, and that's just not really a topic that really interests me, and I found this story really not fun to read at all. So overall, I was a bit disappointed with this second volume of Tokyo Sam, as I did enjoy the first book a lot. This is also the last book featuring Tokyo Sam, so it's a bit of a sad way to end the series for me, but nothing to be done about it!

 

Original Japanese title(s): 山口雅也『續・日本殺人事件』:「巨人の国のガリヴァー」/「実在の船」

The Gambler's Club

"It's me, Kaiba. And this time, you don't stand a *ghost* of a chance."

"Yu-Gi-Oh!" 

The Kyoto University Mystery Club is a name you'll hear about sooner or later whenever you get into Japanese mystery fiction. It is, in essence, the birthplace of the shin honkaku  (new orthodox) movement in mystery fiction, as the first writers who were actually promoted with the term "shin honkaku" were members of the Mystery Club. Members of the club are all fans of crime and mystery fiction in general and there are quite a lot of members who after graduation find work in related industries, like publishing (editing). I attended the Honkaku Mystery Award ceremony earlier this year and I was surprised to learn so many people there had roots in the KUMC, with a few people even I knew personally from my own time there. But with quite a few well-known alumni who have become established mystery authors, it's no wonder there are also many members who focus on the creative side of mystery fiction, ergo, writing stories themselves. 

Houjou Kie was active as a writer during her time in the club too, but she made her professional debut in 2019 with the stunning Jikuu Ryokousha no Sunadokei ("The Hourglass of the Time-Space Traveller") and she has since become a personal favorite of mine. Since her debut, she has been entertaining her readers with tightly-plotted mysteries that utilize original settings, ranging from murders inside a virtual reality game, a girl teaming with a ghost to solve a murder and a series about a hotel for the criminally inclined. She has also been writing a lot of short stories lately, published in several magazines. The last time I wrote a post tagged short shorts, I discussed two stories by her and funnily enough, this time I will be discussing another short story by her. 

Shoubu no Yukue ("The Outcome of the Match", 2025) was written for a new series of flash fiction titled "5 Minute Labyrinth" in the weekly magazine Shuukan Bunshun ("Weekly Bunshun"). As the story is only about four pages long, you can guess I can't tell you too much about it, but the premise is pretty alluring: the story opens late at night, in a nearly empty bar with only a few regulars hanging around until it's time to close. A woman enters and she starts a wager with the other people in the bar: the bar regulars have to guess whether a new customer will arrive within the next fifteen minutes or not. If they guess right, the woman will pay 30.000 yen, while if they get it wrong, they'll have to treat her on a glass of the most expensive drink in the bar. It turns out the regulars in this bar had already heard about the woman: she has been doing this bet in all the bars in the neighborhood. The regulars accept the bet and start guessing whether it's likely a new customer will come or not, but why is this woman repeating this wager with everyone?

As I said, the story is very short, but Houjou does manage to make it a neat armchair detective experience, with proper hinting available and even surprise twists, all tightly compressed in a few pages. The somewhat sinister ending is also very Houjou-esque, who has been doing these "dark ironic twists" a lot in her Amulet Hotel stories, but you already saw glimpses of anti-hero nuances in her Ryuuzen Clan series. In fact, I could actually imagine the basic idea of Shoubu no Yukue as an Amulet Hotel story with some rewriting. 

And to move on to another Kyoto University Mystery Club member who has made a professional debut: Washuu Takumi is actually a current member of the club, who recently (jointly) won the third iteration Sougen Mystery Short Story Award, which is given by publisher Tokyo Sogensha for the best new short mystery story by an amateur writer. As is usual with these awards, the winners are given a publishing contract for their story, in this case, the stories are published in Tokyo Sogensha's literary magazine Shimi no Techou and as a seperate e-book. Washuu Takumi's story is titled Yuurei Shashin ("The Phantom Photograph"), which starts not long after Anri lost her father suddenly. While reminiscing about her father, her uncle mentions her father loved to take photographs as a hobby, though Anri only has vague memories of that and says she didn't really see him doing photography that often anymore in recent years. They go through her father's study though and find some undeveloped negatives. She goes to a nearby camera shop to have them developed, but one photograph stands out: it is a picture of her father in his study. Nothing wrong with that, but the camera also printed the date on the picture and it is dated on the day after her father died. This is thus not a photograph of a ghost, but a phantom photograph, a photograph that shouldn't exist. But why is there a photo of her father dated the wrong way?

This is a tightly-written mystery with an everyday-life theme: while one can easily come up with a direct reason why the wrong date could be printed on a photograph (wrong setting, battery failure), one wonders how exactly it could have happened. The commentaries of the three judges in the committee on all the finalistsis included and regarding Yuurei Shashin, they note how this is an incredibly complete story, almost unimaginable from an amateur writer. One even wonders how Washuu could develop from this point on. Indeed, the story is very competently written, with a mystery that is, admittedly, a bit too mundane for my own personal taste, but as a story, Yuurei Shashin is very well-plotted, with good clewing for the mystery too and even substantial character development. As a standalone mystery story in a slice-of-life setting, I think it's a very well-crafted tale worth a read.

Oh, in case you missed this post, last year I discussed a Danganronpa guess-the-culprit scenario written by another current member of the Kyoto University Mystery Club. 

Anyway, I just wanted to briefly discuss these two KUMC-related short stories that happened to be published around the same time. It's become easier for me to get hold of these kinds of stories in serial publication, so you might see the short shorts tag used more often in the future too.