Dead in the Water

Resignedly beneath the sky 

The melancholy waters lie

"The City in the Sea"

Will the next cover be a green one, like in a forest? Or a yellow one, like in a desert? Who knows!

High school students Tadokoro Shinya and Katsuragi Teruyoshi had been suspended for a while after the two had snuck off during the summer trip to meet a famous mystery writer, getting themselves not only trapped on a mountain on fire, but also getting involved in a murder case occuring at the home of the writer. But even after their suspension ended, Katsuragi did not return to school. At first, it was because his grandfather had died and he was given leave, but he's been absent from school longer than he was supposed to be, which worries Tadokoro greatly. Due to his upbringing, Katsuragi is very sensitive to lies, a trait which has made him quite a talented amateur detective. However, the events on the mountain had thorougly shaken Katsuragi's beliefs in what a detective is supposed to be, as he had been confronted with can happen if you just call people out on their lies without thinking about other people's feelings or how they may react. Learning that Katsurugi is currently not staying in the city, but the manor of the Katsuragi clan in the village of Y and that the Buddhist service on the 49th day after Katsuragi's grandfather's death is coming up, Tadokoro and classmate Mitani decide to visit Katsuragi to convince him to return to school. 

Tadokoro and Mitani make their way to the remote village, where they find the Katsuragi manor standing on a hill, where they are welcomed by Katsuragi's older brother Tadashi, a police detective who thought his little brother how to be a detective. He's glad to that his brother actually has friends who are worried about him and brings the two to his brother. Katsuragi himself is glad to see some familiar faces, but is clearly still coping with his trauma. During their visit, Tadokoro and Mitani also meet the other members of the Katsuragi clan who are present for the service, and at first sight, they all seem like nice and impressive people: Katsuragi's own parents are accomplished politicians and scholars, he also has a sister who's a model, and his uncle and aunt are all succesful in their own fields. But it doesn't take long for Tadokoro to realize how Katsuragi became so sensitive to people's lies, as it's clear everyone is just keeping up appearences. Tadokoro and Mitani aren't the only uninvited visitors: the sleazy reporter Sakaguchi used to date Katsuragi's sister Michiru is hanging around and seemingly has something regarding the death of Katsuragi's grandfather some weeks ago. Tadokoro is also puzzled by statements by Katsuragi's little cousin who seems to suggest his grandfather didn't die a natural death. Due to a heavy storm, Tadokoro and Mitani are offered to stay for the night, and even the reporter is allowed to stay at the manor because with roads flooded, it's honestly too dangerous to go outside. During the night however, everyone is awakened by the disaster alarm on their phones, warning them of the river flood and advising people to evacuate Y Village. When they realize that Tadashi hasn't shown himself, they go looking for him and his body is discovered in the annex. The annex was originally grandfather's quarters and had been offered to Sakaguchi last night, but Tadashi and Sakaguchi had swapped rooms. Tadashi was shot in the face with a shotgun, so it's obviously a murder, but due to the relentless rain, the village below is slowly flooding, making the arrival of the police impossible. But as time passes on and they discuss Tadashi's death, Tadokoro notices something horrible: the whole Katsuragi family is trying to push a narrative that it was an outsider who killed Tadashi, and definitely not someone of the family. Realizing that he and Mitani might be in danger with the family seemingly conspiring to push the blame elsewhere, they hope Katsuragi can help him by solving the murder, but his earlier trauma and the death of his brother seemed to have its toll. Meanwhile, the water keeps on rising and rising and slowly, but surely, the water is swallowing the villlage below and creeping up to the manor on the hill. Can Tadokoro escape this predicement in Atsukawa Tatsumi's Aomikan no Satsujin ("The Murder in the Marine Azure Manor", 2021)?

I read Atsukawa's Gurenkan no Satsujin in 2020 and found it an entertaining mystery novel: it was absolutely packed with classic mystery tropes and the way it made use of the mountain fire to create a suspenseful closed circle situation was actually surprising, not being just a "thrilling" plot device but actually intricately connected to the core puzzle plot. It was a bit too packed perhaps, as the novel was definitely not short, and the meta-discussions on what a detective should be and how they ought to act is something your mileage may vary on. Still, when I learned that Aomikan no Satsujin would be a direct sequel to Gurenkan no Satsujin, I knew I wanted to read it, as Atsukawa had shown he could plot a great mystery novel. Oh, and have you seen that cover! The cover also has the English title Murder of Aomikan by the way.

Aomikan no Satsujin will feel very familiar to to those who have read Gurenkan no Satsujin already, as the plot structure is nearly identical. The first half of the book sets up the murder, but also introduces us to the cause behind the closed circle situation: the storm and resulting flood. Last time, it was a fire that trapped our heroes on the mountain, this time it's the rising water that forces the people of Y Village to evacuate, and near the end of the novel, some of the remaining people find themselves forced to evacuate to the Katsuragi manor on the hill, which isn't actually that safe either as in the past, floods have reached inside the manor. Like the previous book Aomikan no Satsujin's second half also takes on a slightly different form: after the initial investigation into Tadashi's death and the proposals of several theories regarding his death, we see Katsuragi once again peeling away the layers of deceit of everyone involved, as everyone inside the Katsuragi manor seems to be hiding something, even if it's not directly related to Tadashi's death. This is the exact same set-up Gurenkan no Satsujin had, so at times, the book will feel a bit too familiar.

For those who like Ellery Queen-type mysteries, Aomikan no Satsujin is once again a book worth checking out. In the first half, we have a few interesting moments where the rest of the Katsuragi clan seem intent on proposing theories that point away from the family and towards any of the outsiders present in the house. The focus on the physical evidence, as well on the actions and knowledge the characters have to create elaborate hypotheses regarding the murder on Tadashi is of course straight out of the Queen school. The initial crime scene may seem simple, as it's basically a man shot in the face in an annex building, but the scene holds many clues that allow for diverse possible theories regarding the murder, but at the same time these clues also function as evidence to disprove incorrect theories. As the reader, you'll be asked to stay focused, as new theories are proposed constantly, making a seemingly simple murder an amusingly complex matter. The focus on physical evidence remains throughout the novel, even when the initial hypotheses have been discarded, so it's interesting to see how some pieces of evidence are considered from multiple angles to support different theories.

Things go into overdrive as the water rises more rapidly in the second half, and Katsuragi's father decides to evacuate the last remaining people in the village and invite them into the Katsuragi manor. Katsuragi meanwhile finally makes up his mind about what a detective ought to do, and he decides to solve all the mysteries that have puzzled him until now, whether they are directly related to the murder of his brother or not, hoping to find who his family members truly are behind their facades. Everyone has something to hide, and this section can be a bit slow: basically everyone is involved in something that is making the murder on Tadashi so mysterious, whether intentionally or not, so Katsuragi has peel away all the layers of lies that are currently covering the truth. It's only by solving all these minor mysteries Katsuragi starts to see the true shape of the crime, which allows him to unveil a rather diabolical truth behind the murder on his brother, but like in Gurenkan no Satsujin, the plot does seem to rely a lot on coincidence. This is a consequence of how Atsukawa plotted these books: if you want everyone (even those innocent) to be involved in some minor mystery, and have all those mysteries ultimately connect together to the main crime directly or indirectly, you're bound to have to rely on coincidence. There are actually quite few parts of the mystery where we learn the murderer was secretly trying to influence things, but it's basically a matter of luck whether they'd be successful and the way so many things just happened the way the murderer planned, seems a bit hard to swallow. Of course, coincidence often plays some role in mystery fiction, but there's a lot of it in this book and some of the machinations of the murderer seem rather farfetched attempts. That said, the core puzzle regarding the murder on Tadashi is surprisingly complex and does feel rewarding after all the fake solutions proposed in the first half of the book. The murderer actually pulls off some quite memorable feats throughout the tale, and while that's also definitely partially because they simply had a lot of luck that everything went as planned, the fundamental scheme is a fun mystery unravel, leading to a great climax scene where Katsuragi slowly pieces the underlying logic together to work his way towards the identity of the murderer. Guessing who the murderer is based on instinct may be easier than the book actually thinks it is, but figuring out how it was actually pulled off and more importantly, figuring out the logic that points towards the murderer is far more difficult, but fun to read for fans of logic-focused mystery fiction.

Aomikan no Satsujin is a book that is very similar to Gurenkan no Satsujin, almost to a fault. While it does not recycle actual plot points/clues, the story structure and themes are basically unchanged, so I think it's best to wait for a while after reading one before starting on the other. But like Gurenkan no Satsujin, Aomikan no Satsujin is an entertaining mystery novel, that is obviously written by a mystery fan, for mystery fans. It builds clearly on familar tropes, but uses them in a confident, capable manner, weaving a plot that, despite its reliance on concidence, is really the kind of complex murder mystery fans of the Queen school will enjoy. I like Aomikan perhaps a little bit better than Gurenkan, though I'd say you'd best read these books in order, as Aomikan is really a direct sequel and answer to the first book. If you liked the first book, you know exactly what you can expect here.

Original Japanese title(s): 阿津川辰海『蒼海館の殺人』