Appointment with Death

Ave, Imperator, morituri te salutant

De Vita Caesarum  

"Hail, Emperor, those who are about to die salute you."

"The Life of the Caesars"

I love the cover art of this book!

Jarimistan is a small nation in the Middle-East which only a few decades ago shifted its focus from oil to a new foundation of the national economy. The Jarimistan Terminal Prison is a unique facility, as it houses those who have been sentenced to death from not only Jarimistan, but all over the world. Nations can transfer their condemned to Jarimistan for a fee, so they don't have to maintain a death row themselves. The thousands of inmates of the Jarimistan Terminal Prison are offered relative freedom: their only obligations are an 8-hour daily activity (with some salary) and classes to learn the Jarimistan language, after which they are free to themselves. (Light) alcohol and cigarettes can be bought, internet can be freely used and even a midnight stroll across the square is allowed. However, death for any of these inmates can come at any time, as the Sheikh of Jarimistan decides on a whim when the death sentence will be executed, only four days before the fateful day. With people of so many nationalities thrown together under such special circumstances, it's no wonder that the Jarimistan Terminal Prison has become a society of its own. One of the new arrivals is Alan Ishida, an American who was sentenced to death for murdering his parents and attempting to burn them together in their house. He is soon taken under the wing of Old Schultz, who is not only the oldest inmate, but also the person who has lived longest within the confines of the prison walls. In the many years he spent here, this head inmate of Prison Wing 2 had gained a reputation as a keen-minded problem solver, who has even earned the respect of the guards and management of the prison. And though they are destined for execution, it seems there's definitely a need for the presence of Old Schultz and Alan in the prison, as strange happenings do occur inside the four walls as depicted in Torikai Hiu's interlinked short story collection Shi to Sunadokei ("Death and the Hourglass", 2015), from an impossible double murder inside a cell block with guards inside, to the legend of the one man who managed to escape the inescapable prison.

My first review of this year was of Torikai Hiu's Gekisou Fukuoka Kokusai Marathon - 42.195 Kilo no Nazo, which I only picked because it was set in the city of Fukuoka. I had never even heard of Torikai before, but the novel was a nice surprise, as it was a very entertaining sports novel with a solid mystery basis. I decided to see what else Torikai had written, and my attention was immediately drawn to today's Shi to Sunadokei. Impossible situations and other mysteries to be solved inside a prison setting, and a special prison too, with only death row inmates and from various countries? I had read mysteries set in prisons before, like Ellery Queen's The Tragedy of Z, and the Kindaichi Shounen story Gokumonjuku Satsujin Jiken, which was set in a cram school that was originally a prison. With rules that govern the inmates inside and guards everywhere, a prison is a very alluring setting for a mystery story, so I knew I had to make this my next Torikai.

Maou Shafo Dolmayan no Himitsu ("The Secret of the Magic King Shafo Dolmayan") starts with the farewell speech of Shafo Dolmayan, a refugee from Central-Asia who had roamed Europe as a magician and freak show, but who was sentenced to death after a mishap in an oil state. He is scheduled to be executed tomorrow, as is a Japanese soldier-of-fortune, but the next day, Old Schultz and Alan are informed that both Shafo and the soldier-of-fortune were killed that night. The event raises many questions: How did the murderer enter the special death row cell block as there was a guard standing outside all night? Where did the murder weapon go? Why was the soldier-of-fortune killed with a clean cut, but Shafo horribly stabbed countless of times across his body and limbs? And most importantly, why kill two people who were scheduled to be executed anyway? A very fun opening story. Some of the hinting is a bit too obvious, so it shouldn't prove too much trouble to deduce where the murder weapon went and as a result, how the murders were committed, but this is a very well plotted story, with several hypotheses posed throughout the story, which keeps the reader on their toes and the motive of why these murders were committed in the first place is really well done, with surprisingly good hinting and set-up ( and there's even a very good fake solution in regards to the motive).

In Eiyuu Chen Weizi no Shissou ("The Disappearance of the Hero Chen Weizi"), Old Schultz and Alan are given three days to solve the disappearance of Chen Weizi, the one man who managed to escape from Jarimistan Terminal Prison. Chen was a Chinese surgeon whose liberal thoughts and support to rebels eventually earned him a death sentence. As a doctor, he was already a very popular man among his fellow Chinese inmates, but his escape from the prison several months earlier made him a hero among all prisoners. Inmates of the Jarimistan Terminal Prison are under observation through two systems: besides the watchful eyes of the guards, inmates also have a microchip implanted in them, which gives them a horrible electric shock should they ever enter places they shouldn't be. Nobody knows where this implant is as the patients are always under the influence of anesthetics during the operation, so removal is impossible. Chen Weizi however had somehow overcome these two hurdles, and what's more, he managed to escape on a bright night with a full moon and strangled the strongest and most fearsome guardsman in the whole prison on his way out. There's been no sign of Chen since his escape, but political pressure from China (where most of the inmates of Jarimistan Terminal Prison come from) has the Sheikh of Jarimistan desperate to find out what happened to Chen as soon as possible. This is the best story of the collection, as Chen's escape really seems impossible considering all the security measures going on. Of the two obstacles in Chen's way, one is relatively easy to guess how it was beaten, but the other is really brilliantly done, with a wonderful explanation for why Chen chose that particular night to escape and that guardsman as his victim. The conclusion is quite cynical too, fitting perfectly with the whole collection.

The inmates of the Jarimistan Terminal Prison are treated relatively well, but even so, some guards occasionally forget they are in fact working with humans and abuse their position. The Jarimistan Terminal Prison is therefore subject to an annual inspection, where the inmates can talk directly with the visiting inspector to talk about their living conditions here. Kansatsukan Gemaya Kaled no Toukai ("The Self-Effacement of Supervisor Gemaya Kaled") introduces us to Gemaya Kaled, the veteran supervisor who has been doing this job with pride and joy for many decades and who will retire immediately after his inspection this year has finished. During his inspection of Wing 2, Adamson, an American inmate, tells Kaled about Mubarac, a guard in Wing 1 who not only abuses the prisoners there, but even rapes them. Adamson had originally been in Wing 1 himself, until he bribed himself to Wing 2. Kaled promises to look into this, but he is murdered that night in his office. Schultz and Alan are also asked to think along, though the case seems clear as day: Mubarac's fingerprints were found on the knife that had been stabbed into Kaled several times, a witness had heard Mubarac enter the office and have a row with Kaled and another witness saw Mubarac leave some minutes later, after which Kaled's body was found. And yet Schultz has his doubts about what happened, and for good reasons too. As a mystery, this story is very easy to solve, as some of the wording used makes it very clear what must have happened, but I did like the clue Schultz points out that supports this solution: this supporting clue is easy to miss, but makes so much sense in hindsight.

Hakamori Lagba Garpo no Homare ("The Honor of Gravedigger Lagba Garpo") starts with Marco, an Italian inmate who's friends with Alan and Schultz, telling how he heard that the gravedigegr Lagba Garpo was seen eating a corpse he had dug up. Lagba is a Tibetan who despite his many years here has not learned the common language Jarimistanese, making it impossible for anybody to communicate with him. While most people would hate to be digging graves for their fellow inmates each and every day, Lagba does this daily task faithfully and few others would be so good for the job. Marco, Schultz and Alan check out the graveyard, and indeed find a freshly dug-up grave, and inside they see that the arms of the body inside have been cut off. Schultz warns the other two to keep silent about this, but this becomes impossible when Lagba is discovered right as he's busy mutilating another body. Sotojor was an immensely popular inmate, so many were shocked to hear Lagba was using his shovel to cut Sotojor's arms off and cut open his chest. Schultz does not believe Lagba was trying to eat Sotojor, but what were Lagba's intentions then? I like how one clue is used as the foundation of a fake solution, but given a completely other, and far more original interpretation in the true solution, but it is a bit hard to guess what Lagba's true motive is if you don't have knowledge about a certain custom. If you do know it, you might be able to guess what's going on here, but it is a lot harder without that knowledge (as it's hardly hinted at), though I have to say this is a thematically very strong story.

Joshuu Maria Scofield no Kaitai ("The Immaculate Conception of the Female Prisoner Maria Scofield") is the shortest story in the collection, and has Layla, the female doctor of the women's quarters visit Dr. Haji of the men's quarters, as well as Schultz and Alan. Maria Scofield is a woman who has lived in the Jarimistan Terminal Prison for over thirteen months now, but for some reason she's become pregnant. No men (guard or prisoner) are allowed in the female quarters and Maria even claims she's a virgin and never ever had relations with a man before, so how did this impossibility occur? This story is perhaps at its best when Alan is proposing all kinds of realistically sounding hypotheses of how Maria could've become pregnant now which are shot down by Layla one by one but after the first half, the story changes when Alan is brought to the women's quarters to have a talk with Maria herself. The story reveals itself to be something quite different than seems at first sight. Is it really still a mystery story? Yes, I guess, as in hindsight, there's a really cleverly formulated sentence at the start of the story, but both the length and the type of story make this the least interesting of the whole collection.

About two years have passed since Alan Ishida was transferred to the Jarimistan Terminal Prison, but now his time has come in Kakuteishuu Alan Ishida no Shinjitsu ("The Truth of Death-Row Inmate Alan Ishida"). With only four days left in his life, Alan Ishida decides to tell Schultz about the crime that brought him here. He was sentenced to death after killing his parents and attempting to set their house on fire, but Alan says while he did kill his (step) father in a rage, it was his father who killed his mother. As Alan tells Schultz about his past however, he realizes something about these events he had never done before, and with the deductive skills cultivated in his time spent with Schultz, he decides to reveal his conclusions at his farewell speech. The realization of Alan is rather easy to guess considering all the previous stories, but one has to admit this was really well set-up. One important clue is only mentioned in this story, but that only becomes meaningful when you realize you have to combine it with various minor, almost insignificant events that occured over the course of all the previous stories. This 'bringing the whole thing together' moment is quite fun and while the conclusion takes on a different tone from the rest of the puzzle plot mystery book, the cynical twist at the very end is one that really fits this collection well.

Shi to Sunadokei is thus a very entertaining short story collection that not only offers a very unique setting, it uses that setting to bring very alluring mystery plots. The prison is mostly used for impossible situations, but there's not only the expected impossible murder or impossible prison break, but even an impossible pregnancy, and the other stories leave an impression especially because they are set in this death row prison. I for one have no doubt this short story collection will turn out to be one of my favorite reads of this year.

Original Japanese title(s): 鳥飼否宇 『死と砂時計』: 「魔王シャヴォ・ドルマヤンの密室」 / 「英雄チェン・ウェイツの失踪」/ 「監察官ジェマイヤ・カーレッドの韜晦」/ 「墓守ラクパ・ギャルポの誉れ」/ 「女囚マリア・スコフィールドの懐胎」 /  「確定囚アラン・イシダの真実」