The Riddle in the Rare Book

「危険思想とは常識を実行に移そうとする思想である」

『侏儒の言葉』

"The ideology of putting common sense into practice, is a dangerous ideology."

"Words of a Dwarf"

And it's only after writing this whole review I realized it was also six years ago when I first read this book, just like what happened to Hajime...

It's the summer holiday, and Hajime has to clean up the house. He comes across a cup wrapped in an old newspaper and his attention is drawn to one of the small news articles in the corner of the page. It is dated six years ago, and talks about a man who died of starvation in Mt. Asama. When he learns the name of the deceased is "Dejima", his memories throw him back six years ago, back when he was still in elementary school: Hajime had spent his summer holiday six years ago near Mt. Asama, where he had become friends with four children who lived in the Heretic House of Professor Ema. The expert on bacteria was not only the biological father of Junya, but he had also adopted three orphans. All four of them were experts in their own fields despite being as young as Hajime: Junya was a prodigy artist, Kentarou was a brilliant programmer, Ruriko a gifted violinist and Hiro an award-winning writer. Hajime recalled how one night, they had played a game and visited the creepy ruins of a mansion in the mountains. They all fled when they heard spooky moaning coming from a locked cellar room, and on their way out, Hajime tumbled across a backpack. But now six years later, he still vividly remembers the Akutagawa Ryuunosuke book Jashuumon (Heretics) inside the backpack, as well as the name "DEJIMA" in the backpack, which makes him realize that perhaps the 'moaning' he heard back then didn't come from a ghost, but from a man being held there against his will. Wanting to know the truth behind this, Hajime takes the old newspaper article with him go back to Mt. Asama, back to his friends to learn more about the death of Dejima. But after Hajime's arrival at the Heretic House where he's reunited with his old friends, a threatening note is delivered, telling him to scram, signed by "The Heretic". When Hajime doesn't, one of his friends is murdered and that's of course the moment you know Hajime will do everything to catch the murderer in Amagi Seimaru's novel Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo: Jashuukan Satsujin Jiken ("The Young Kindaichi Case Files: The Heretic House Murder Case" 2001).

During the original run of the Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo manga between 1994-2000, writer Amagi Seimaru also wrote novels for the series, accompanied by art by Satou Fumiya. These were not novelizations of the comic stories, but original stories that were proper part of the series mythos. The second case that occurs in the Opera House is from the novels for example, and several semi regular characters like the young Chinese acrobat Xiaolong originate from the novel series. Eight novels were released during the original run, though recently, two new children's novels were also released (reviews here and here). Seven of the original novels were adapted for the anime TV series and the animated theatrical releases, while three of them also acted as the source material for episodes in the various drama series. 2001's Jashuukan Satsujin Jiken however is an outlier: it was never adapted for the anime, nor for the drama series, making it only available as a novel. Which is pretty rare for this series, I mean, even the audio dramas on cassette tapes were adapted for the anime!

By the way, I originally read this novel in 2013, when the re-release was published (the original release was kinda hard to find by then), but I somehow never wrote a review of it. Weird actually, because I usually do Kindaichi Shounen reviews whenever I read a story for the first time.

Anyway, the story set-up of Hajime revisiting old friends might sound familiar. Indeed, in my review of the live-action adaptation of The Yukikage Village Murder Case, I also referred to this novel, as the two stories do share the same minimalistic set-up and the focus on the human drama, with Hajime confronting old friends who have all grown up in the last six years. One difference however is that Jashuukan Satsujin Jiken is even more minimalistic in set-up. We don't even have an impossible situation in this story, and that's kinda a cornerstone of the series! The Yukikage Village Murder Case had a no-footprints-in-the-snow problem, but this story has a very trick pulled by the murderer concerning their alibi, but it's really, really meagre compared to what you're used to in this series.

Instead, the story revolves around on the why: why was Dejima killed, why was Hajime's friend killed and how is Hajime able to deduce that? I think the main clue that points in the direction of the murderer might be a bit crude (and Hajime has a really lucky break coming across that other important article), but I do like how the story is built around misdirection: there are several instances in this story where utterances by multiple characters can be interpreted in multiple manners, which leads to the creation of the mystery. These are not lies or intentionally cryptic statements, but sometimes, some conversations can be interpreted in multiple ways, unbeknownst to both the speaker and listener. This story builds on that idea by having a few characters misunderstanding other people, or assuming certain things only from their point of view, which results in a mystery plot that is at the core not really complex, but where the confusion between some characters create a nice cloud of misdirection. It's a type of misdirection that is sometimes utilized in this series, but seldom as the main concept, so it does make Jashuukan Satsujin Jiken feel very different from what you'd expect of the series.

I guess that I didn't review Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo: Jashuukan Satsujin Jiken the first time I read it, because it's so... minimalistic compared to the other novels. It's not bad per se, but it's not exactly what I'd expect from a Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo novel. The novel is more character-focused than other stories in the series, which works well with the 'misdirection built around interpretation' theme of this story, compared to the more grand impossible situations that we usually see. So it has an interesting angle in that regard. And for fans of the series: one character introduced in Jashuukan Satsujin Jiken also returns in Kuromajutsu Satsujin Jiken ("The Black Magic Murder Case") from the manga (also adapted as an OVA). I was probably not the only one who had no idea who that person was when they first read that manga story, only to learn he came from the novels. Anyway, Jashuukan Satsujin Jiken is not the best of the novels out there, but fans should try it if they have the opportunity.

Original Japanese title(s): 天樹征丸、さとうふみや（絵）『金田一少年の事件簿　邪宗館殺人事件』