When The Red Locked Room was released earlier this year, I mentioned how Locked Room International didn't have a full-length Japanese release in 2019 after the annual releases of The Decagon House Murders (2015), The Moai Island Puzzle (2016), The Ginza Ghost (2017) and The 8 Mansion Murders (2018). And that's why I assume few people were expecting to see Locked Room International publishing two of these books translated by me this year.
I first read the book myself in 2011, and in the review I wrote "A funny novel with a satisfying plot-structure that is sure to entertain the reader," which is an opinion I still had when I went through the book again while translating it. And on a side-note: huh, that was the first review since this blog got its current look. But it's no secret that I love mystery stories with a comedic atmosphere and Higashigawa always delivers in that respect. Higashigawa's work has been rather popular on the screen too by the way, with numerous adaptations of his novels. The best-known adaptation is probably the series and movie of Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de AKA The After-Dinner Mysteries, but the Ikagawa City series, including Lending the Key to the Locked Room, had an entertaining television adaptation too in 2014.
Anyway, I hope the release of Lending the Key to the Locked Room is a nice end-of-year surprise for you. It's a genuinely entertaining locked room mystery that sure got me hooked on Higashigawa's mystery stories (seriously though, I'm going through old reviews now for this post and I only now realized this novel was the first full-length book of Higashigawa I ever reviewed). And if you're still looking for some more winter reading, why not try The Red Locked Room or perhaps the re-released The Decagon House Murders?
Well this is exciting! The Ikagawashi series is one that's been high on my list since I started reading your blog, but I never expected to see a translation. I really can't wait to read this. Congratulations on yet another awesome looking translation! (I have to ask, are there endnotes?)
ReplyDeleteAlso, I find it funny that this series came up in the comments on post immediately preceding this one. :D
I mean, on the post immediately preceding this one.
DeleteThanks, I hope you'll like the book! No endnotes this time :( I'm a personal lover of reading and writing foot and endnotes, but this novel didn't really lend itself for additional TL notes.
DeleteYeah, I wasn't quite sure when exactly John would release the book, so I refrained from making any comments when you name-dropped the series ;)
Thanks for the hard work in translating the novel, and I’m thoroughly glad that the final release for LRI in 2020 is a novel - as I tend not to like short stories quite as much. In fact, I failed to progress beyond the first short story in “The Red Locked Room” - as I found the mention of “The Lilac Villa Murders” in the introduction too tempting, and read the novel instead!
ReplyDeleteMy only foray into Tokugawa Higashigawa was the very feminine manga adaptation of “ Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de” - which was entertaining, if somewhat unsubstantial. Looking forward to trying out the novel!
Hope you'll enjoy the novel! It's definitely a novel in the spirit of Nazotoki, so you should have an idea of the kind of story it'll be. And I hope you'll find an occassion to revisit the remaining stories in The Red Locked Room in the future ;) Personally, I liked the selection in the Red Locked Room better than Lilac, but as you know I'm the complete opposite and generally prefer short stories :D
DeleteCongratulations! You're on a roll this year. I've read the first short story from Nazotoki by Higashigawa (one with the victim wearing shoes indoors) and found it very clever, so I'm sure this one will be great
ReplyDeleteThat first story is really clever despite its limited length, and still one of my favorites of that series. It's such a mundane problem, yet it works perfectly as a mystery story. Now I think about it, one of the things I also like about the story it's set in a natural, modern, urban setting rather than a manor or island somewhere in the middle of nowhere, something I feel is also one of the strengths of Lending the Key to the Locked Room.
DeleteHope you'll enjoy the book!
It's ironic, isn't it? You're an Ellery Queen fanboy who loves dying messages and don't obsess about impossible crime stories, unlike some of us, but here you are translating one locked room mystery after another for us maniacs. Anyway, congratulations on having completed and published another translation. I look forward to reading it. And let's go for three in 2021! :D
ReplyDeleteIt's time for a publisher focusing on Queen school mysteries, especially in the short story format :D
DeleteHope you'll like the book!
I've been checking the LRI blog every single day since they mentioned they would be releasing a new honkaku mystery before the end of the year. It's going to arrive today, and I'm really excited to read it! Thank you so much for your work as a translator. You've made many great mysteries available to me that I would never get to read otherwise.
ReplyDeleteHah, I didn't even know it had been announced in advance ^^' Thanks, and I hope you'll like the book!
DeleteI'd have purchased a copy by now - but the Kindle edition doesn't seem to have been released? 😞
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, talking about translated mystery novels - I've just finished reading Jeremy Tiang's (English) translation of Chan Ho-Kei's 'Second Sister'. It's part of my reading marathon of modern mystery writing - I drew out 6 modern mystery/crime novels from my local library, in the hope of discovering that the puzzle-based Golden Age mystery still lingers on in modern fiction. 🧐
I've thus far burnt my way through 4 of the 6 modern mystery novels, and I think 'Second Sister' was definitely the strongest of the 4 in terms of offering an elaborate and (largely) fairly-clued puzzle. I enjoyed 'The Borrowed', both for the mysteries and for the Hong Kong setting, and I'm glad to say the same for 'Second Sister'.
More generally, I've found that some of the very best contemporary mysteries I've read over the past two years flow out of the pens of the shin-honkaku authors. 🤩 And what made 'Second Sister' stand out, of the 4 contemporary mystery novels I've just read, is precisely the influence of Japanese mystery writing: from the construction of the story and its key twists, right down to a character blogging about 'the latest Keigo Higashino novel'.
Hence my new year's resolution: read more Japanese mystery fiction! 🤓✨ (Translated into English, or at least into Chinese, of course. 😅)
You'll have to contact John at LRI for specific questions about purchasing the release, because honestly, I have no idea of how that works ^^'
DeleteOh, I knew Second Sister was out already, but I kinda forgot about it! I liked The Borrowed, so I really should take a look at it. Thanks for reminding me, and great to hear it's a solid read!
Let's hope I'll be able to help you with your new year's resolution ;)
I received it yesterday.
ReplyDeleteI've already seen (and really liked) the Ukai series with Tamaki Hiroshi, but it's been so long ago I barely remember any details in the plot (the only thing I seem to recall from that episode was a jumping cat with a knife in cartoon style used as a joke)
Thanks!
DeleteThe drama adaptation of this novel was mostly the same AFAIK, but the other main character of the drama series is still only a secondary cast member in this first novel (I'll avoid the name because I guess it's basically a spoiler?) They have a bigger role in subsequent novels, but the drama changed things so that character basically became the main character besides Ukai, and that's why that character is also featured more prominently in the adaptation of this novel). But on the whole, the drama adaptation was really funny.