I don't actually have the edition with this particular cover, but I can't find any decent images of my version and I don't really feel like scanning it...
Ishizawa Eitarou was a mystery author who debuted in 1962 and remained active until his death in 1988. He was a very prolific writer in the short story form, and he even won the 1977 Mystery Writers of Japan Award for the short story. Many of his stories are set in the city of Fukuoka, which is how I first got to hear about him: I lived for a year in Fukuoka, so every year, I try to read at least one book set there, as there are obviously rarer than books set in Tokyo. Not all of his book are available digitally too, so I haven't really gotten started on him yet (read a few random short stories). 21-nin no Shiten is the first full book/novel I read by him and not coincidentally, it is set in Fukuoka.
The book's most unique feature is with no doubt the structure of following 21 different characters in as many chapters. Each chapter follows a different character, who are all involved in the story in different ways. Some characters are very much part of the plot of revenge, like one of the businessmen who actually profited from the illegal land-selling plot and who has now become one of the most prominent businessmen in the island of Kyushu: he's soon made aware someone is after him because of what he did in the past, and he tries to find out who is threatening his cushy life. Other characters we follow are less directly involved, like a ferry worker who happens to become witness to an event that will later become relevant to the plot. It is seeing all these characters interact in a giant web that makes 21-nin no Shiten interesting, as characters who are alluded in one chapter might make more prominent appearances later on or even be featured as a chapter's main character. As the book continues, what may be just a vague name mentioned off-man, will be slowly transformed in a true character with a fleshed-out backstory. The novel does start out very slow, as you don't really have an idea of what everyone is up too and you aren't really quite sure how everyone is connected to each other, the avenger's plot, or the attempts of the people involved in the corruption scandal to evade the avenger.
As a mystery novel however, I do have to admit it didn't quite manage to deliver in the way I had hoped it would. While the idea of making the reader follow 21 different characters in sequence, and making you guess whether and/orw which one of them is actually also the avenger who is first sending threatening messages to those involved in the death of the deputy director and eventually actually committing murder, the plot feels chaotic exactly because we are reading about so many characters who sometimes are just barely involved in the plot. You basically even have chapters who are about people who basically just happen to witness a single-second moment that in the grand scheme of things isn't really important. So after a while, things feel a bit muddled as you realize some chapters and scenes are just more about filling out the book, rather than having real relevance. The murderer's plot, as revealed in the end, is also a bit weird at times, with the overall plan seemingly being more about allowing the author Ishizawa to include enigmatic scenes throughout the book that puzzle the characters involved, than really about the murderer having a consistent, logical plan. There's also the added problem of not all characters are as rewarding to follow: for example we also follow an international couple with an open relationship that we see through different POVs, but you could really remove every single scene about their relationship and like a whole chapter of one guy who falls in love with the woman in the couple, and the mystery itself would not have changed, which might even have worked better as ultimately. There are more of these moments where characters only hint at something that might have been interesting, if it had actually been fleshed out more or at least become integrated in the mystery, but now you hear a little about them, but then the story drops it because we're moving away from their POV.
So ultimately, I think 21-nin no Shiten was more interesting for its concept, rather than the execution. I should confess that I also don't feel much for this book because it's less a puzzler and closer to a social school mystery (not surprisingly considering its release year), but I do think the book would've been much better had it been more focused, with a more relatable plan from the murderer. As the book is now, it feels too many scenes are just there to seem mysterious and have as many people as possible involved, and when you actually try to relate all these scenes to a consistent threatening/murder plan, it comes across as needlessly chaotic. I enjoyed seeing an older Fukuoka setting in the book though and the writing itself was fine, so I'll probably read more of Ishizawa Eitarou, though I doubt this was his best work.
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