Thursday, March 11, 2010

『Lの悲劇』

「『第一私は、アルセーヌ・ルパンが、このよに実存することさえ信じていないんです。ルパンというのは、本当にいるんでしょうか?』(・・・)メグレは、黙って微笑している。事務長が、自分が自分の言葉の矛盾に気付いていないらしいのが、何となく可笑しかったのである。アルセーヌ・ルパンが存在しなければ、メグレとエラリーも存在しないのである。だから、メグレたちに向かって、ルパンが本当にいるのかと質問することは矛盾しているのだ。」
『名探偵が多すぎる』

"'I don't believe in the existence of Arsene Lupin in the first place. Does Lupin really exist?" (...) Maigret laughed silently. It seemed like the manager hadn't noticed the contradiction in his own words, but it was strange. If Arsene Lupin didn't exist, then neither would Maigret or Ellery. That's why it's a contraction to ask to Maigret and the others whether Lupin really exists"

 "Too Many Great Detectives"

I finally picked up the volumes I was missing in Nishimura Kyoutarou's Meitantei (Great Detectives) series, which stars four famous detectives, Ellery Queen's Ellery Queen, Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, Simenon's Maigret and Edogawa Rampo's Akechi Kogorou. I thoroughly enjoyed the first in the series, something I've never done with Nishimura's train mysteries, so I was very happy seeing these books in the Book Off. Especially for a 105 yen price.

And reading the back covers, I instantly decided I should read Meitantei ga Oosugiru ("Too many Great Detectives") at once. Because this book did not only contain a crossover between the aforementioned four great detectives, the story would pit them against the legendary French gentleman thief Arsene Lupin. Which made this awesome crossover series into something that words can not describe. I actually opened the book with an enormous grin on my face. And some pages in, I decided this world must be from another world, as even Akechi Kogorou's nemesis Kaijin Nijuu Mensou ("The monster with twenty faces") makes an appearance. How many awesome-ness can one single story from this world possible contain?

The story is set upon a cruise ship (points added!) where Akechi has invited the other detectives for the holiday. It's not long before Ellery Queen gets pickpocketed by Arsene Lupin, a warming up before Lupin makes his formal challenge to the four detectives, as he proclaims he'll steal juwelry from under their noses. The goods are indeed stolen, but the detectives do not only find the disappearence of the juwelry, they also find a dead body inside a locked room. Has Lupin, the gentleman detective, finally commited a murder, or is someone else pretending to be Lupin?

While this story is not as satisfying as the first book, not even containing a challenge to the reader, the book is still really fun to read due to crossover-awesomeness. References to whether the person claiming to be Lupin in Edogawa Rampo's Ougon Kamen ("Golden Mask") was really Lupin? Nice nod to the grandfather of Japanese detective fiction! Queen getting pickpocketed by Lupin? Hilarious! Someone calling Queen out for being an expert on persons playing multiple roles (or in Queen's case, multiple people playing one role)? I couldn't help but smile. Poirot not liking the American Ellery Queen? I could see it happen. The four detectives not wanting to solve the mystery in the hallway, but prefering to first move to a parlor or a lounge? Classic! The somewhat vengeful Lupin in the novel feels a bit out-of-character at times, but the post-813 Lupin is indeed a bit darker. And the ending is almost heart-warming. Almost.

I really wonder whether there is any other detective novel in existence with such a grand scale, pitting 4 great detectives against 2 phantom thieves! 

Original Japanese title(s): 西村京太郎 『名探偵が多すぎる』

6 comments :

  1. Saw this on amazon the other day. Sounds fun but I don't know enough about most of these characters so I wouldn't be able to thorougly enjoy this one.

    I'd love to read some Ellery Queen but their novels are such rare items... The copies which are in a reasonable condition are fairly expensive and those who aren't... well, I'm aware of the fact that the pages discolour in the case of such old books but I won't pay money for crinkly spines and damaged edges or even loose pages. Not the prices I mostly see on the net.

    Oh well, at least I still have Carr, lots of Christie and soon finally Van Dine's Bishop Murder Case to read for after semester break. When I really have free time and don't even have to step outside I read as much Japanese as I can. I'm already sad that I'll most likely only finish one more book until I have to work on a paper. Knowing myself I'll be handing it in on the last possible day and by then semester break is almost over...

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  2. Depending on your location, Queen shouldn't be that hard to locate. I bought most of my novels in the Netherlands, scouring the second hand shops. I surprisingly easily found most of the nationality novels (both in Dutch and English) for 2, 3 euro a piece. While not in mint condition, it's about what I'd expect from a (Dutch) second hand pocket. Which of course is different from the condition of a Japanese second hand book, but everything for the Queen.

    And even if they're actually radio plays, the easily available "The Adventure of the Murdered Moths and Other Radio Mysteries" is an excellent work that really shows Queen's charm.

    I'll probably finish two or three novels the next few days before I'll start in Kasai's "Tantei Shousetsu Ron" which I've finally procured. Which will probably take up most of the remaining time of my vacation. Well, that and games. And the novels I will start reading anyway even though I know I can't finish before the end of the vacation.

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  3. I'm not versed in second hand shops in Germany... maybe I really should search for those once I find the time for that.

    As for your recommendation: If I wanted to buy it from the german amazon I would find it quite expensive... converted into yen I could almost buy a brand new game with that money.

    I 'only' have one month remaining until my vacation is over. Considering I usually need about a week to finish my novels (mostly the koudansha novels format at the moment) I won't be able to finish that much due to that damn paper. And games have to wait anyway...

    Thanks for mentioning Kasai, I guess I'll also have to buy his stuff for my bachelor's thesis since I'll most likely also want to write something concerning that whole field. Right now I only have Kawana's Murder Most Modern. Which is good as an introduction though since (of course) I still read English faster... sadly.

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  4. Oh, I found The Roman Hat Mystery for 5 euro with free shipping on a certain auction site. Didn't know what else to start with and it actually seems to be in an acceptable condition apart from one fairly crinkled edge.

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  5. Ash, that sounds like a really fun book for detective geeks! I'm curious, though, are the names of the detectives actually Hercule Poirot and Ellery Queen, or are they thinly disguised (e.g. Herlock Sholmes in the Lupin stories)? Because I'm sure Christie's estate never gave permission for her characters to be used in other people's works.

    "I really wonder whether there is any other detective novel in existence with such a grand scale, pitting 4 great detectives against 2 phantom thieves!"

    Leo Bruce's Case for Three Detectives comes to mind. Three detectives, obviously Poirot, Wimsey and Father Brown, try to solve a locked room mystery in their own unique way. Lots of fun if you're familiar with the characters and their methods.

    Anyway, when you come back from Japan, we must have that talk again about starting our own international publishing house and conquering the world!

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  6. @mousoukyoku: While by far not the best of Queen, it's probably indeed just plain fun to start with "The Roman Hat Mystery". Not as polished as his later works, but a nice preview of things to come. Also very Van Dine-ish. Hope you enjoy it!

    @TomCat: They appear with their original names, but but of course Nishimura didn't had permission of the Christie estate. I doubt he even informed them of his book. Japanese detective writers seem to have a knack for borrowing literary characters without minding copyright. Besides Nishimura and the mentioned Lupin in an Edogawa work, famous examples Lupin III and Kindaichi Shounen come in mind immediately.

    Actually, the Yokomizo estate did complain about it, so while in earlier stories young Kindaichi swears 'in the name of his grandfather, Kindaichi Kousuke', he later shortens it to just his grandfather, without mentioning any names. Of course, by then everyone knew who his grandfather was...

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