Huh, now they went for the color yellow for the book title for the third time in a row.
Disclosure: I am a member of the Honkaku Mystery Writers Club of Japan. I didn't vote for any stories this year as always. But I did manage to go to the Honkaku Mystery Award ceremony for the first time! Finally got to meet some of the authors I have translated and also met some other authors I have been a fan for a long time!
Occasionally I already know some of the stories collected in this book and if I'm lucky, I even have discussed them already on the blog. While I had already read two of the stories in this year's anthology, I haven't actually written the review of that story yet, so I guess I'll do it here... But the story I have already read, and have already discussed is Hayami Shirou wo Oikakete ("Chasing after Hayami Shirou") by Mamon Kouhei, which was included in Bokura wa Kaishuu Shinai ("No Pay-Off for Us", 2024), so I refer to that post for the write-up on that story. The tale was actually not my favorite of Mamon's book, but it has some interesting clues so I can see why it'd get high praise.
Gainen Tantei ("The Concept Detective") by Shiotani Ken starts with the strange tale of Manami, who explains that when she was a child, she saved a spider-like creature at the beach, which turned out to have god-like powers. Grateful for her help, it says it will grant Manami one wish. She wishes for a great detective like from the novels. As it would be a bit weird to just "give" her a living person, the being grants her a special power, that allows her to turn anyone she wants into a great detective, complete with amazing deductive powers and the police willing to listen to the lengthy explanation scenes. Fast-forward to a grown-up Manami, who is now in university. She's still a huge mystery buff and hopes to film a mystery film. She also has her star in mind: Houga Hiromichi, a fellow member in the university's mystery club. She's been trying to get an OK from him, but he's reluctant, saying he's not suited to be a great detective. One day, after a party with most of the members of the club, the members return to the club room, only to find two of the members lying dead at the table: the couple had taken poison together and died. The Romeo and Juliet couple came from fueding families, which is why their fathers were against their dating at first and the two had made up their mind to elope. So why did they commit suicide togehter? But was it really a suicide pact? If only there were a great detective around...
This is an interesting premise for a series, so I'd like to see Shiotani develop this further. It has some parallels with Ooyama Seiichirou's Watson-ryoku, where everyone within the radius of the Watson Force becomes a great detective, but here it's Manami who (unconsciously) can turn a specific person into a great detective, so it'd be cool to see how that'd work out in a series with recurring characters. The story itself is a solid puzzler whodunnit, that follows Queen-esque deductions of determining certain characteristics of the person who could've poisoned the two star-crossed lovers and then determining which of the suspects fits the bill.
Steam Dragon no Kisou ("The Enigmatic Ride of the SteamDragon") by Kasumi Ryuuichi stars the private detective Kurenaimon who is hired to keep an eye out during the maiden ride of the illustrious steam locomotive C63 0, also known as the Steamdragon. The C63 0 was a steam locomotive that had been designed, but never built. Decades later used car mogul Aratani Goichi and his two sons (of different monthers) Sentarou and Reiji have used their fortune to build the locomotive and have it run on their own private railway in Hokkaido, a surprisingly large network of rails which was purchased after it became obsolete. Some great train anoraks have been invited to be on the maiden voyage too, but because sometimes such enthusiasts can become a bit too intense, Kurenaimon was hired to keep an eye on things. Reiji has a rather unique train fetish, so he likes to... get naked and meditate to become one with the train, and he has a luxurious carriage all to himself to indulge in his pleasures: it is the very last carriage. Kurenaimon and his friend see Reiji enter his carriage and the two hang around in the carriage before that. When after a while, Sentarou comes looking for his brother, but when they enter, they find only Reiji's head. This is fairly short story, with most of the story dedicated to the set-up rather than the investigation after the discovery of the murder, but it features an interesting train-based locked room mystery with a solution that is just believable enough while also a bit silly when visualizing it. The good kind of crazy!
Aosaki Yuugo's Nawa, Tsuna, Rope ("Cable, Line, Rope") was written especially for an anthology to celebrate Arisugawa Alice's 35th anniversary as a novelist, and is a pastiche of Arisugawa's Writer Alice series. In the foreword featured in this anthology, Aosaki actually says it feels weird to him this story was selected, as he tried to mimick Arisugawa's style the best he could, so did the story win on his merits, or those of Arisugawa? I do really understand why this story would be picked though, as it's a really solid whodunnit. Criminologist Himura Hideo and mystery novelist Arisugawa Alice are assisting the police in the investigation of the murder of a woman, Yasumi Nodoka, who was found washed up on the shore, with clear signs of having been tied. A witness saw a figure carrying something tied up in rope to the waterfront in the night, so it is quickly determined Nodoka had been killed in her apartment and her body dumped in the sea. The motive appears to be a rare trading card Nodoka owned, but is now missing. However, security footage also helps determine the murderer must be someone inside the apartment building, i.e. one of the fellow residents. Because the witness saw Nodoka had been tied up, the police guess the culprit must have thrown the rope that was used away, as it was garbage day for burnables the following day. They examine the security camera footage of the garbage collection site of the building and determine three persons threw away ropes/lines/cables. But which of these three residents killed Nodoka?
This is a very solid story, both as a pastiche and a standalone whodunnit. Aosaki mimicks the style of the Himura stories perfectly with the familiar banter between Himura and Alice and the type of deductions Arisugawa often uses for his stories. As a whodunnit, well, what do you expect of the "Ellery Queen of the Heisei period"? It is a great logical problem, which is solved by logically following all the actions the murderer must have taken based on the evidence and from there, the reader can "easily" determine the identity of the murderer, at least, if they're clever enough. I love the way the story plays with the Japanese language by the way, with nawa, tsuna and the loanword "rope" all refering to, well, ropes, but all just slightly different enough.
Housoubu ni wa Horobasenai ("I Won't Let Broadcasting Club Fall") is the first time I read a story by Tsubota Yuuya, and it's actually his debut story. The story revolves around a school's broadcasting club, which is preparing for the upcoming sports festival of the school. They have a suggestion box for playlist requests, but one day, they find an anonymous letter from someone who writes they don't like the sports festival and hopes they can cancel it. The narrator is of course not able to do so, but curious to the reason why, he decides to write a letter back to the writer. What follows is a series of short letters between the two, where the narrator tries to determine why the writer wants the festival cancelled. There are some nice clues hidden within this cute story with a bittersweet conclusion, and I really like it as a school mystery.
Dare mo Yomenai ("Unreadable") by Shirai Tomoyuki was written for a shogi ("Japanese chess) special and therefore revolves around the sport: Chiyokura Hinode is a professional shogi player who has trouble getting into the absolute top, but he's now playing one of his important promotional games. It's becoming late with the game still going on, so the game is paused for a moment, with Chiyokura having to write his next move in advance, which is then sealed so they can continue the game the following day (this to ensure Chiyokura doesn't have a full night to contemplate his next move). When he's alone, he's suddenly abducted by a man and a woman. Chiyokura recognizes neither of them, but it turns out he once played a game with the young man seven years ago, when the latter was still a child. Chiyokura had seen potential in the kid, and had given him his business card. Now the young man has grown up to be... not a shogi player, but a member of the organized crime. And he's in trouble, as last night, two "business contacts" were killed, and he is the main suspect. He, his captain and the big boss were staying in a hotel nearby to meet their business contacts, but early this morning, these two contacts were found dead in their villa. The murderer escaped with the car that belongs to the gang and parked at the hotel, and the three of them all have a key, so any of them could have committed the crime... if not for the fact the captain and the big boss have alibis, having been seen by others in the hotel. Because the 'kid' (and his girlfriend) swear he didn't do it, they decided to abduct Chiyokura (who had been playing his promotion game nearby), because Chiyokura is the cleverest man he knows. Can Chiyokura clear the name of his 'shogi disciple' based only on his testimony?
Okay, I have to admit I was first surprised by how this Shirai tale had nothing really gross, grotesque or off-putting in it. Guess that was because it was written for a shogi special. The problem itself is interesting, as we apparently have two suspects with a perfect alibi, and one without one. The solving of this conundrum is cleverly modelled not after physical evidence, but around reading the actions of each character: not in a psychological manner, but focusing on whether each character is taking the most logical action in their situation as we know it, and if not, can we therefore extrapolate something else might be going on? While the "main" trick used by the culprit might therefore not be incredibly surprising, the way they camouflaged it through their actions, and the way Chiyokura manages to unveil this, does make this a great story to read.
Overall, I'd say Honkaku-Ou 2025 may even been the best iteration of the anthology until now, providing variety, but also a very high level of quality. I basically like all the stories included this year, and they all have some clever original set-ups or techniques to use to show off how even within the confinements of the short story, you can do very clever mystery plots. If you have never read these anthologies, I would really recommend this one, not only because it's the most recent, but because it's honestly the one with the most bang for your buck.
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