I did read this book in the winter, fitting the theme, but by the time this review is posted here, it's probably almost summer...
The very short stories however are once again the less memorable parts of the book. Yoku kangaeru to Kowakunai demo nai Hanashi ("A Story That Could Be Creepy If You Think About It") tells the story of Kotoko's boyfriend Kurou, who has a part-time job as a mover. This time, he's moving stuff out of a house which is said to be haunted, but to his co-workers' surprise, nothing happens at all that day. It's more a story that works towards a punchline about the supernatural, but it's easy to predict where this is going if you know who Kurou is (and his history was already explained in the first book). Similarly, Mato wo enaide Mato wo iyou ("Hit the target without hitting the target") is a very short story where Kotoko is asked to arbitrate between two monkey spirits who are arguing about a bow and arrow they stole. This leads to a Judge Ooka/Judgement of Solomon-esque situation, but the story is over before you know it. These stories are not bad per se, but just so short you'll barely remember them once you're done with the book.
Shisha no Futashika na Dengon ("An Unclear Dying Message") starts with the visit of Reina to her grandparents in the countryside. On her way back to the station, she runs into a mysterious woman, who reminds her of her old high school classmate Kotoko. It turns out this woman is Rikka, cousin of Kotoko's boyfriend Kurou. Reina tells Rikka about Kotoko's life at high school and how everyone thought she was so mysterious, with rumors flying around that she had ties with the supernatural, and that she'd sometimes help people out, though often not in the way most expected. For example, one day, a classmate wanted Kotoko's help due to a problem her uncle had. Her uncle had been rivals with a co-worker at the office, vying for the same positions, but one day, the man was hit on the head with a hammer and died. But before he died, he wrote down the name Takehiko, which was the uncle's name. He became a suspect of course, but soon after the police arrested another man, who had confessed to the death, caused by a freak accident, This seemed to clear the uncle's name at first, but nobody knows why he wrote the name "Takehiko" before dying, and that combined with rumors of a bloody ghost still appearing at the scene of the death, and rumors of the uncle being the real murderer who somehow got away, the man is more-or-less ostricized at the office, unable to get a promotion. Kotoko's classmate has to listen to her uncle's story every time the family meets, so she hopes Kotoko can clear things up so her uncle will finally shut up. While initially, you might be inclined to think this is a classic dying message story, it certainly isn't, and that's made clear rather early on through a discussion about the dying message trope in mystery fiction and how it's so unbelievable and unpracticable. And that fits this series perfectly, because of course Kotoko's answer to the dying message is probably made-up, but it's convincing enough, and what's more, Kotoko's clever enough to recognize the true problem her classmate has, and the solution she provides is just a whole pack of convincing conjecture, but which does allow her classmate to solve the underlying issue. It's a fun story because it turns the idea around of a detective needing to find the truth, instead of focusing on the idea of a detective who only needs to find a workable solution for everyone involved.
The first and final story in this book are the main dish, and form a set together. Yukionna no Dilemma ("The Dilemma of the Snow Woman") features an interesting problem that, at first sight, could only occur in this series. Kotoko is this time approached by Yuki Onna (a female snow spirit) who seeks help for a dear human friend. Masayuki had once been saved by this Yuki Onna in the past already, but he had retreated to the countryside once again his wife cheated on him: he left his company and went back to the place where long ago, Yuki Onna had saved him from an icy death. Sheer coincidence has the two meet once again, and they slowly develop a friendship, with the Yuki Onna often staying at his home to drink and eat. A year after his divorce however, he's visited by the police, as his ex-wife has been murdered, and there are clues, like a partial dying message that point to Masayuki as the killer, as well as a letter written by his ex-wife sent after her death, where she accuses Masayuki of the murder if she dies an unnatural death. When asked for his alibi for the night of the murder however, Masayuki finds himself in a bind: he technically has an alibi, as he was eating and drinking with the Yuki Onna at his home, but how are you going to explain to the police you were spending the night with a spirit!? Masayuki and the Yuki Onna therefore ask Kotoko for help to resolve this problem. The idea of someone having a perfectly fine alibi save for the fact it's a supernatural alibi is pretty fun, though most of the problem is solved by Kotoko in a surprisingly "conventional" manner: she doesn't really need to twist facts for the police to solve this case without revealing the existence of the supernatural, for at the core, the murder itself is a completely human affair, and it's only the problem of Masayuki's alibi that depends on the supernatural. In that respect the story might be a bit disappointing, because the existence of the Yuki Onna is used in this story more effectvely for dramatic effect rather than for the mystery, even if it's an enjoyable story on its own.
The final story, Yuki Onna wo Kiru ("Slaying the Snow Woman") involves the Yuki Onna once again, but for a different problem. Long ago, in the Edo Period, there was a swordfighter who managed to defeat a Yuki Onna who had been challenging swordfighters and killed many of them. This man, Shirakura Hanbei, perfected his swordstyle, opening his own dojo and while he had no child of his own, he adopted a mysterious child who was at least as talented. At age 40 however, the unbeatable swordfighter Hanbei was found with his neck slashed open in the garden of his dojo and with his dying breath, he seemed to accuse the Yuki Onna. Many generations later, and Shirakura Shizuya finds himself consulting Kotoko. He is a direct descendent of the adopted son of Shirakura Hanbei, and he wants Kotoko to find out what happened to Hanbei, because he fears he's actually the offspring of the Yuki Onna, and thus a terrible murdering beast himself. Kotoko consults with the Yuki Onna from the first story, who reveals that Shizuya is actually her nephew, and that the Yuki Onna from the old story was in fact her older sister. So Shizuya is indeed half-youkai and while she explains everything to Kotoko, Kotoko is burdened with a different task: she has to come up with an explanation that will give Shizuya hope, an answer that won't lead to him cursing his own blood forever or even worse, actually turn himself into an evil spirit. This is not a conventional mystery story, as once again a lot of the "truth" is explained by spirits, and Kotoko's main concern lies not with the truth, but focuses on an acceptable lie. Personally, I do think the historical setting of (large parts of) the story undermines the "power" of this series. Kotoko's elaborate lies work best in the context of her abusing existing hard evidence to dance around the supernatural explanation, and such evidence are more clear in modern-day, real-time cases. But here, we're talking about a murder case that happened centuries ago, with only hearsay as "evidence" so Kotoko's interpretations just feel less... convincing in general.
I'd say Kyokou Suiri Tanpenshuu - Iwanaga Kotoko no Junshin (Invented Inference Short Stories - Innocence of Iwanaga Kotoko) is on the whole a fairly entertaining volume, though I do feel the first short story collection was better, with the individual stories being more memorable. This book does offer something interesting with two very different cases involving a Yuki Onna and those two stories are definitely the better ones in this volume, but their best moments simply don't match the best moments from the first short story collection. I'd still say the first book in this series is the best, and if you like the concepts and characters found there, this volume is also worth reading, The next one is a full novel again, and I have already purchased it, so let's see how that one will turn out!
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