Topsy-Turvy Land

The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain

"The Rain in Spain" (My Fair Lady)

I do like how all the covers in this series have managed to incorporate elements of all stories included, and not simply only the title story.

Professional photographer/amateur detective Minami Mikikaze has been close friends with the Kittridges for some years now, ever since father Kittridge acted as the surgeon who successfully conducted Mikikaze's heart transplantant a few years back. Daughter Elizabeth Kittridge, a medical forensic expert, has been visiting Japan to attend an international symposium and workshop program on criminal forensic investigation, and Mikikaze has been showing her around his home country since, but for some reason the two keep getting involved in various murder cases. After a few shorter cases in Aru Egypt Juujika no Nazo ("An Egyptian Cross Mystery") and Aru America-Juu no Nazo ("An American Gun Mystery", 2022), and a longer adventure in Aru Girishia Hitsugi no Nazo ("A Greek Coffin Mystery), Beth is almost ready to return to the States, as the symposium is over and her father has been in bad health lately. But before she leaves, she's of course going to visit her old friend Takizawa Atsushi, who lives in Wakayama. Atsushi is very fond of the country Spain, and his Spanish wife Alicia, and his home has been built like a Spanish house. A few years ago, they built a giant sculpture and set it on fire like the Fallas, which attracted the attention of a lot of locals, and ever since, they've been doing it every year, with more people participating with their sculptures. It's for this reason the cliff where Atsushi's house stands is known as the Spanish cape. During their visit, Mikikaze and Beth see how Alicia's daughter Akemi from a previous husband is attacked in the garden house, even though she should be alone in there and the doors and windows were locked. They also learn about an earlier attack on Alicia a year ago, when she walked out in the garden, but was found by her uncle lying naked in the garden, having been knocked out. Her clothes however were found neatly folded in the house hallway. Who is after Alicia, and why had she been left naked in the garden a year ago? That's the big mystery in Tsukatou Hajime's Aru Spain Misaki no Nazo ("A Spanish Cape Mystery", 2023).

With this final book, Tsukatou Hajime finally ends this miniseries starring his series detective Minami Mikikaze. As one can guess going by the titles, this miniseries took its inspiration from the earliest Ellery Queen novels (the 'nationality' books). These stories are not directly based on the respective Ellery Queen novels though, but only built on themes or just the title: in the case of Aru Spain Misaki no Nazo, we have a location called the Spanish Cape, and there is a naked victim. The collection itself features three stories, which might sound surprising to the more attentive reader: for The Roman Hat Mystery, The French Powder Mystery, The Dutch Shoe Mystery, The Greek Coffin Mystery, The Egyptian Cross Mystery, The American Gun Mystery and The Siamese Twin Mystery have all been adapted already in this series, which should only leave The Chinese Orange Mystery and The Spanish Cape Mystery, so two stories. Well, in Japan, the book The Door Between is published with a title that translates to The Japanese Jay Mystery, which is why it's considered quasi-part of the Nationality novels. It's actually the same in this book too, as it's basically a bonus story, set after Beth has already left Japan, so it's not "really" the same kind of story as the ones preceeding it.

In the first story Aru China Daidai no Nazo ("A Chinese Orange Mystery"), we folllow Mikikaze and Beth during their visit to Nara General Art College: Atsushi's son Shigeru is a student here, and they're having a campus festival today, and Shigeru is actually part of the committee. The big artistic project they show off today is a hall where everything has been turned around and topsy-turvy. They actually made two of these rooms, as one was used during the day, but they have a second room prepared for the evening part of the festival. One of the guests at the festival is the Chinese artist Xu Yuan and his interpreter, as he'll be doing a speech in the evening, and in the meanwhile, they are being shown the campus by people of the committee. When the students can't find Professor Tachibana, they learn someone has locked the storeroom serving as the evening topsy-turvy room from the inside on all three entrances. They break the door open, and find a dead woman lying on the ground, but whose face has been burned off. And that's not all, want the victim is wearing her clothes the wrong way around, with the front facing her back. Meanwhile, the main topys-turvy room is discovered to also have been tampered with: somebody has put everything back in its proper place and facing the correct direction. What has happened at this university?

I kinda liked how this story came up with a reason to have a topsy-turvy room like the original The Chinese Orange Mystery, and it even has a mystery with a "normal" room which should have been topsy-turvy. This was a story I partially liked, and partially didn't like. The mystery part for the room which has been turned back normal was by far the part I didn't like: a lot of the deductions leading to the solution came out of nowhere, and it was dependent on so many outlandish assumptions by the culprit to do that, but also an outlandish idea to create the exact motive that forced the culprit's hand, it didn't feel at all convincing as a mystery. The murder victim in the "straightforward" topsy-turvy room however, was a bit more interesting. While the locked room mystery isn't really an important factor in the grand picture and a lot of other clues seem a bit simple, I do like the reason given to explain why the murderer did all kinds of seemingly silly things to create the crime scene, as the reader is just as likely to fall for the trap as the in-universe characters. As a mystery story, I don't think Aru China Daidai no Nazo ranks among the best of this miniseries, but hey, it's not the worst story in this book!

The second and title story is by far the longest, and the story is in scale also quite large, as it spans two periods of time: Mikikaze and Elizabeth see how Akemi crumbles down in the garden house as they approach it, but find the building locked from the inside, and when they do get inside, they can't find any trace of an assailant hiding. Afterwards, another character disappears from the Spanish Cape, making the matter even more baffling. As "impossible crimes", these present-day mysteries aren't really memorable, though I do like some of the deductions Mikikaze poses in regards to Akemi's attack, as it does require you to have spatial awareness, which is something I always like in mystery stories. My favorite part is definitely the past mystery, when Akemi was knocked out by someone in the garden, and left naked there. While the fact she was found in the garden does seem to indicate the attacker was someone of the household (she was not sexually assaulted either), the mystery remains baffling, for why did the attacker undress Akemi and why did they go all the trouble to fold her clothes up and leave them in the hallfway of the house? This mystery is also related to Akemi's dark past, as she actually committed two acts of arson during a stressful time. After surviving her attack, she decided to come clean, but some of the victims of course never forgave her even to this day, which would provide a motive for attacking her now, but what then about the attack on her in the past? I love the explanation to why Akemi was left naked in the garden: it is sooooo simply, but so easily overlooked, and I like how elegant it is: once you figure out why Akemi was left naked, you immediately realize it could only have been one person, and this would immediately also explain some other mysteries lingering in the background. Definitely the best story of the collection.

Both these stories still have the usual problems this series has had with its writing by the way. In my review for the first book, I wrote: "Tsukatou often jumps a few minutes ahead and has the characters discuss all kinds of things that seem slightly vague to the reader and after that section, the narration catches up and explains how they got to that point (which explains the vague allusions in the earlier dialogue). It's a story device you often see in detectives, especially in the conclusion when the detective suddenly unveils the identity of the murderer, and only after that, the narrative explains how the detective laid their trap, but these stories, it happens too often: Tsukatou does this 'jump a bit forward, have some dialogues that include facts the reader hadn't heard about yet and then explain afterwards' thing few times per story. It's like you're being driven around in a car, but the car speeds up for no reason, only to turn around and do the same part slowly once again. It's jerking you around all the time, which makes enjoying the stories a bit difficult. At first, I thought it was just me needing to adapt to Tsukatou's writing style with the first story, but it happens in all four stories." This hasn't changed at all in this fourth book. The stories feel unusually long, because each time you get a scene in media res with some cryptic comments and names, then it jumps back in time to explain everything, and then you get the original scene again, and the next section it happens again. Every scene feels much longer than they need to be, being told in a roundabout manner. Even after so many stories, I still can't get used to this writing style, and each time, I can't help but feel annoyed by it.

The final story Aru Nippon Kashidori no Nazo ("A Japanese Jay Mystery") feels more like a gaiden story, as it's set after Mikikaze and Beth have gone their own ways. During a stay at an acquintance's place, Mikikaze hears Tanemura Kaitarou has been arrested on suspicion of murder of his roommate Kyouko. The elderly poet was living together with a woman whom he considered a soulmate, though not in the romantic sense of the word. The two live in a small house near Mikikaze's acquaintance, and the woman was bed-ridden, being taken care of by Kaitarou. After a rare visit to the city to talk with his publishers, Kaitarou returned home to find Kyouko had been murdered, having been attacked by someone, but instead of contacting the police or the physician, he decided to go on a stroll in the forest to process the death, as, as he claims, he had promised to Kyouko to write a poem immediately after she died. It was only long after Kaitarou had, by his account, found Kyouko's body he bothered to inform the authorities, and this of course seems more than suspicious to them. But as Kaitarou himself also says the house was locked when he returned, it does seem only he could've committed the murder on Kyouko.

This story just didn't work for me. Part of it might simply be because I don't feel as strong about the original The Door Between as for the Nationality novels, but some of the mystery in this story also seems a bit forced. A large section of the otherwise not very long story is for example dedicated to a certain theory the inspector in charge has, but the theory seems to come out of nowhere and they keep going on about it for such a long time, it felt a bit tiring. There had to be a more natural way to introduce that theory, because it comes so sudden now and I do like the idea behind this theory, but the story is so short, it doesn't feel like its full potential has been tapped into. Perhaps a re-read at a later time might change my mind.

So overall, Aru Spain Misaki no Nazo was a somewhat uneven end to this miniseries with Minami Mikikaze. The first two stories are the best, but I can't love them unconditionally, and I didn't like the last story at all, which is always a sad way to end a series. Overall, I think the first two books in this series were better than the last two books, but I'm still glad I read them all as a fan of Ellery Queen, and also because it was Aru Egypt Juujika no Nazo ("An Egyptian Cross Mystery") which got me reading Tsukatou seriously four years ago, and it has brought some interesting things on my path. I wonder whether Tsukatou will have Mikikaze take on other "series" in future books! Only the future will tell!

Original Japanese title(s): 柄刀一『或るスペイン岬の謎』:「或るチャイナ橙の謎」/「或るスペイン岬の謎」/「或るニッポン樫鳥の謎」