Turnabout Memories - Part 15

 "I have to go over everything that's happened. I have to remember"  

Another Code R: Journey into Lost Memories

 

Another year has passed, so it's time for the annual recap post. It's been another hectic year, so while I have managed to keep posting my (at least) one post a week, I haven't really been able to do editorial posts, and don't get me started on game-related reviews... Fortunately, I never run out of mystery novels and short stories to discuss, so while some media may not have seen much attention on this blog, I think I've managed to highlight quite a few interesting books this year. I've also managed to have some great mystery-related experiences outside the blog this year, for example attending the Honkaku Mystery Award ceremony for the first time in my life. I have been a member for years, but never managed to actually attend the ceremony because of simply not being in Japan when the ceremony is held, but this year, I finally managed to have a look and I met a lot of authors I've been reading for so many years now like Ooyama Seiichirou, and I also managed to meet a few of the authors whose work I've translated like Imamura Masahiro and Norizuki Rintarou. I'm also happy to say the Honkaku Discord server has recently seen its third birthday, and thanks to the wonderful people there, it's grown to a place where everyone can discuss Japanese mystery fiction (and horror) and participate in community projects like book clubs and guess-the-culprit games. So come and take a look inside the server if you're interested in Japanese mystery fiction! Anyway, 2026 is coming up soon, but don't expect much to change on this blog: I'll just be writing about (mostly) Japanese detective stories here, both old and new, and with a bit of luck, sometimes also announce something about my translation work! Have a nice Christmas and a great new year!

The Best Project Outside The Blog! In 2025!

The Clock House Murders

Another year, and fortunately, I was able to translate another book! The Clock House Murders by Ayatsuji Yukito is the fourth book released in English in the successful series about murders happening in strange, creepy houses designed by the same architect and it's perhaps my favorite of the series. In a way, it feels a bit like a new take on The Decagon House Murders, but with a lot more slasher horror segments added as Ayatsuji had released a few horror novels in the meantime. The grand trick behind the murders is absolutely fantastic and one of my all-time favorites. Ayatsuji is particularly proud of this book and he had wanted to see it published in English for some time now: before the English release of The Labyrinth House Murders had been decided on, he had suggested perhaps going straight to The Clock House Murders in case The Labyrinth House Murders would prove troublesome in terms of translation. Ayatsuji would win the Mystery Writers of Japan Award with this book and next February, the live-action adaptation will release on Hulu in Japan. If you haven't read the book yet, please do! While the UK release was earlier this year, readers in the US have to wait until next year though.

And as it's already listed on some sites, it's not really a secret anymore, but you can expect the next book in the series too somewhere next year... 

Best Premise! Seen in 2025!

Momiji no Nishiki ("Breathtaking Red Leaves") 

A lot of the books I read, especially of authors I haven't read yet, are picked because of some alluring premise. From the premise of witches and time travel in Minami Asov's Eigoukan Chourenzoku Satsujn Jiken - Majo wa X to Shinu Koto ni Shita ("The Super Serial Murder Case at the House of Eternity - The Witch Chose To Die With X"), a murder mystery where both the victim and the suspects has been in a thousand-year cryogenic sleep in Sennen no Whodunnit ("A Millenial Whodunnit"), to murders commited on a space station, mystic murders in medieval China, or a hospital with detectives as doctors: they all have story set-ups that sound interesting on their own. So it might surprise I picked an otherwise very "plain" story as the tale with the best premise I read this year: Maya Yutaka's Momiji no Nishiki ("Breathtaking Red Leaves") is a short story that's just about a murder that occurs in a mountain town with hot springs, which is basically the description of every other mystery story, but Maya adds a brilliant twist at the end of the first part of the story, a twist that is both soooo simple and yet so ingenious: while the premise of the story, as a guess-the-culprit scenario, is to guess who the culprit is based on the hints provided, the first part of the story does not actually show who the victim is! So the reader not only has to deduce who the culprit is, they have to deduce who the victim is first! It's such a great premise for the puzzle and Maya ends up presenting a very elegantly constructed short story. 

Most Infuriating Timetable! In 2025!

Mokusei no Ouji ("The Wooden Prince")

 

And as I just explained above, Maya Yutaka is almost never a straight-forward author. He plays with the tropes of the genre, makes fun of them and takes them to their oddest extremes. In Mokusei no Ouji, he goes far with the classic alibi-deconstruction story, presenting the reader with a devilish puzzle with not only a house with an insanely complex layout, but also an extremely detailed timetable that denotes the movements of all the suspects down to the minute as they all wander through the maze-like house. The result is a timetable that is absolutely infuriating to behold, but in a good way, as you know Maya has something in store for you by presenting you with such an odd puzzle.

Silliest Cover! Seen in 2025!

Noto no Misshitsu - Kanazawa Hatsu 15ji 45pun no Shisha ("The Locked Room in Noto - The Dead Leaving Kanazawa at 15:45", 1992).

I mean, no contest, right? The thing is, I honestly don't see the connection between the cover and the actual contents of the book. Sure, there's a woman in the book, but I'm pretty sure there was no giant hand in the story, nor a thumb growing out of the woman's face. And it's not like the actual art is bad either. It's just that the actual topic of the picture is so... weird, and not related to the book. I mean, I would've understood it if the hand was made to look like a train, because trains play an important role in the story, but as it is now... Well, it's memorable, at least.

Best Porn Mystery! Read in 2025!

Marina Mystery File

In general, I aim to discuss the mystery genre on this blog, and I don't really have any rules regarding form (medium) or hybrid genres, as log as there's an interesting mystery plot at the core. However, it was a coincidence I happened to discuss two forms of porn mystery earlier this year. Chikan Densha: Seiko no Oshiri ("Molester Train: Seiko's Tush", 1985) was a softcore porn film in a long-running series, directed by someone who would go on to win an Oscar and I had known for years it also contained a locked room murder mystery which authors like Yamaguchi Masaya and Abiko Takemaru lauded. Marina Mystery File (1997-1999) was a manga that came under my attention thanks to manga artist and critic Nemoto Shou, about a teacher who manages to solve gruesome murder cases whenever she's thoroughly stimulated. While I think the locked room murder in Seiko no Oshiri is far more original and more complex than the plots we see in Marina Mystery File, I still think the latter is better as a porn mystery, in the sense the "sex" is integrated better in the mystery plots. Not always mind you, but in Seiko no Oshiri, the locked room murder feels completely unrelated to the sexy bits, while Marina Mystery File at least has some stories where the nudity and sex is actually connected meaningfully to the mystery plot.

Best Post I Accidentally Deleted And Had To Rewrite Completely! In 2025!

No winner.

Another year without casualties! Yay! *knocks on wood*

The Just-Ten-In-No-Particular-Order-No-Comments List

- Sekai de Ichiban Sukitootta Monogatari (The World's Clearest Story) (Sugii Hikaru)

- Kokumen no Kitsune ("The Black-Faced Kitsune")  Mitsuda Shinzou)

- Kami no Hikari ("The Light of God") (Kitayama Takekuni)

- Setsudantou no Satsuriku Riron (The Genocide Theories in the Mutilation Island) (Mori Akimaro)

- Hakushaku to Mittsu no Hitsugi ("The Count and the Three Coffins") (Shiotani Ken)

- Mokusei no Ouji ("The Wooden Prince") (Maya Yutaka)

- Yogen no Shima ("The Island of the Prophecy") (Sawamura Ichi) 

- Sennen no Whodunnit ("A Millenial Whodunnit") (Asane Juuji) 

- Momiji no Nishiki ("Breathtaking Red Leaves") (Maya Yutaka)

- Konrondo ("The Kunlun Slave") (Koizumi Kajuu) 

番外編：The Clock House Murders Released

It is finally October 2025 and that means it's finally here! My English translation of The Clock House Murders (Tokeikan no Satsujin) by Yukito AYATSUJI was released last week by Pushkin Press. Or at least, it was released in the United Kingdom on the ninth of October. Readers in the United States have to wait until... June 2026. Sorry about that.

(And yes, I'm late with this announcement post. I was actually hoping for my own copy to arrive first before I'd make the announcement so I could make a personal picture, but it's still on its way...) 

It's been exactly a decade since I first translated The Decagon House Murders for Locked Room International back in 2015. Since then Pushkin Press has taken over the license, starting first with a revised re-release in 2021. Fortunately, they were interested in releasing more of the series and both Ayatsuji himself and Pushkin wanted me on board again, so then followed the sequel The Mill House Murders in 2023 and a third book, The Labyrinth House Murders in 2024. And now in 2025, it is time for The Clock House Murders, one of the most-praised entries in the series and also a personal favorite of mine. The book won Ayatsuji the prestigious Mystery Writers of Japan Award and it is a work I know Ayatsuji is very proud of and even since I got started again on The Mill House Murders, he'd mention how he'd want to see The Clock House Murders in English rather sooner than later. The book was originally released in 1991 and is set in the titular Clock House, a house with a huge clock tower and a floorplan designed like a clock, where a priceless collection of antique clocks are kept. Ghosts have been spotted in the neighborhood and a crew for the magazine Chaos are going ghost-hunting in the Clock House with the help of a spirit medium. The participants are locked inside the old section of the house where the collection is kept and they'll attempt to communicate with the ghost over the course of three days. However, they start getting murdered one by one, without any means to call for help from the outside world...

As I mentioned, The Clock House Murders is one of the most well-beloved entries in the series and can be kind of considered the grand "season 1 finale" of the series, as the first few books were written in quick succession, but after The Clock House Murders, Ayatsuji would slow down a lot more and also be more experimental in the directions he'd go with the series, with some entries being very different from others. The Clock House Murders is a grand cumulnation of Ayatsuji growing as a mystery author, starting with his debut with The Decagon House Murders and reaching one of his highest point with this award-winning novel. The Clock House Murders is being adapted as a live-action show for Hulu in Japan right now as a direct sequel to their earlier The Decagon House Murders adaptation by the way, with a scheduled release date of early next year.  

I myself am a big fan of the book: in a way I feel it's a more refined version of The Decagon House Murders and I really enjoyed revisiting the house while working on the translation this time. Oh, just allow me a little of bragging here: a while back I met Ayatsuji, and we're actually having a drink served in Decagon House Murders cups and on the table stood a Clock House Murders table clock. Miraculously, we all survived this meeting.

So if you liked The Decagon House Murders, The Mill House Murders and/or The Labyrinth House Murders, please pick up The Clock House Murders too. It is without a doubt one of the best works Ayatsuji wrote, and I have no doubt a lot of readers will enjoy this one. And don't remember, positive sales and reception is the most likely to ensure more translations follow (hopefully by me of course...), so it'd be great if you could pick up a copy!

Turnabout Memories - Part 14

"I have to go over everything that's happened. I have to remember" 

Another Code R: Journey into Lost Memories

 

 

I always post a 'let's look back at the most interesting mystery fiction of this year' post around Christmas, but it turns out this year, Christmas falls on my usual update day of Wednesday, so... this week, the 'list' post will take the place of my usual review post! Anyway, while I have been updating each week as usual and have read some really cool books this year, it's also been a rather hectic year for me privately, so I have to admit I have been mostly been doing the bare minimum for the blog, which meant basically no editorial posts this year, and also barely any games discussed. I had been visiting Japan for a longer period earlier this year too, which resulted in some really cool experiences like going to the Detective Conan 30th Anniversary exhibition and also visiting some of the publishers behind the books I worked on and their editors (and also meeting some great people, some of those meetings being really surprising personally because I didn't *they* were working there...), but those were also not really things to be writing about extensively here because it was partially private, partially work... But as always, I always have a huge stock of reviews waiting to be published, so even a few months of barely reading/writing is hardly noticable on the blog itself. But no fears, I will continue writing about Japanese mysteries, both new and old, here *at least* once a week, so if you're interested in detective fiction from the land of the rising sun, I hope you'll be here next year too. Have a nice Christmas and a great new year!

The Best Project Outside The Blog! In 2024!

The Labyrinth House Murders

 

Better known as the self-promotion category! And because Ayatsuji's The Labyrinth House Murders is the only book I worked on that was released this year, it shouldn't surprise anyone this was my pick for this year. After the reprint of The Decagon House Murders by Pushkin Press, I was approached to work on The Mill House Murders, and fortunately, that also led to me working on the third book in Ayatsuji's seminal series. This third entry has always been a personal favorite, due to my own interests in Greek mythology, due to the crazy labyrinth-layout of the house and the incredibly tricky set-up of the story. Translation-wise, it also presented some challenges, which I addressed in this post here, so please read it after reading the book. There's already a listing for The Clock House Murders available and it's mentioned in The Labyrinth House Murders, so it's no secret anymore The Clock House Murders is now planned for a release next year, and that I am working on it too, and that is perhaps the best book in the whole series when it comes to the pure mystery, so look forward to it!

 

In less joyous news however, you may have heard John Pugmire of Locked Room International passed away. As Locked Room International was mostly run by him alone, it seems unlikely you'll see new translations by me published via Locked Room International. I got my first opportunity to work as a translator thanks to John and Locked Room International, so I will always be grateful to him. There was actually a book we were working on before he passed away, so I can only hope it will be released one way or another in the future.

Most Interesting Mystery Game Played in 2024 Category

No Winner 

 

Attentive people might have noticed it already, but I discussed awfully few games this year on the blog.  That's partially because I have played fewer games in general this year, but it's mostly due to me not actually finishing the games I have started this year. The recent re-releases of the original Hayarigami trilogy and Kamaitachi no Yoru X3 are cool, but I'm nowhere close to finishing them, and the few games I have discussed this year on the blog, even if not bad per se, are nowhere near the level I'd actually call them the 'best' in anyway. I'll try to be better next year and play more games like a good child!

 

Best Set-Up! Seen in 2024!

Deisui Hadagi Kirisaki Jiken ("The Case of the Torn Hangover Underwear")

 

Besides some conventional story set-ups for a mystery story, I have come across quite a few more original/surprising ones this year. The concept of murders occuring on a warship sounds like one you'd see more often, but I had not encountered one until Okamoto Yoshiki's debut novel Hansen Gunkan no Satsujin ("Murders on The Sailing Warship" 2023). A murder occuring inside a Gundam cockpit (Mobile Suit Gundam WEARWOLF) and murders happening inside a game dungeon (Sword Art Online Alternative: Mystery Labyrinth - Meikyuukan no Satsujin) were also concepts that drew me in immediately. But perhaps the one that surprised me the most genuinely, would be the mystery presented in Imamura Masahiro's short story Deisui Hadagi Kirisaki Jiken ("The Case of the Torn Hangover Underwear"), found in the prequel short story collection to Shijinsou no Satsujin (AKA Death Among the Undead). The mystery here revolves around... the detective waking up with a hangover, and realizing he's not wearing his underwear anymore. But he can't remember why. It's such a silly set-up, but it is used for a proper mystery, and it all... just works. For some reason. That is why I love the mystery genre, it can be about murders, but it can also be about underwear.

 

Best Title of 2024!

Combustible Substances

 

Sometimes, a title alone can draw you to a book. Some of the books I read this year had pretty cool titles. I love "Oedipus Syndrome" (Oedipus Shoukougun) for example because it sounds like something ominous. "Torture of the Fallen Angels" (Datenshi Goumonkei) sounds absolutely metal and Ten Commandments (Jikkai) is very simple, but it can really invoke so many images and ideas for a mystery plot. It's basically the reason why I ended up picking Combustible Substances as the winner for this year. It is a very basic and simple phrase, but it just... tickles the mystery-oriented mind, allowing you to imagine all kinds of scenarios. 

Best Cover

Tokushinkan Satsujin Jiken ("The Murder Case in the Blasphemy Mansion" 2023)?

 

This wasn't even a contest: I just wanted to make sure this cover appeared on this blog a second time! I mean, come on, just think of all the books you read this year. Does even one of those books have a cover that comes close to how amazing this cover is? It fits the title perfectly too, because of course you'll have a Baphomet idol in a place that's called the Blasphemy Mansion and the coloring really sells the atmosphere they are going for. I have to admit: my interest in this book was derived 99% from this cover alone: I only check a fraction of the books Seikaisha releases, and some of them are not the type of mystery I usually read, and if I had only gone by the summary of the book, it was likely I would have skipped it because of the cosmic horror implications, but I am glad the cover convinced me to buy it anyway!

 

Best Post I Accidentally Deleted And Had To Rewrite Completely! In 2024!

No Winner

 

Fortunately, last year was an exception...

 

Best Post I Had To Write With One Hand Because Of A Broken Elbow! In 2024!

Detective Conan volume 106

 

Hopefully, this year is an exception...

 

Best Adaptation Seen in 2024!

Jukkakan no Satsujin (The Decagon House Murders)

 

I haven't written a post about the Hulu adaptation of The Decagon House Murders yet, but I did actually watch all five episodes the very day they started streaming it on Japanese Hulu, and it was excellent. The book was long thought to be nearly impossible to adapt in a visual format, and while a few years back, a manga adaptation was released, that is still a very different thing from a live-action drama adaptation. The director, who in the past had worked with author Ayatsuji (and Arisugawa) on the show Anraku Isu Tantei, however pulled off the impossible and made a genuinely amazing adaptation of the book and I'd want to recommend everyone to watch it. Ellery is deliciously obnoxious in this adaptation, while I honestly can't imagine anyone else anymore as Shimada than the actor Aoki Munetaka. I believe the show is for now exclusive to Japanese Hulu, so I hope they'll release it internationally too...

What's also fun to mention is that the day after the show started streaming... I met with Ayatsuji himself. I had travelled to Japan and Ayatsuji was kind enough to meet with me, and it turned out the one day he'd be available, would be the day after the show started. Which was one reason why I binged the show, though I have to repeat the show was really well done, so I was hooked either way. But because of that, I had the luxury of actually discussing my thoughts on the show with Ayatsuji himself the day after...

 

Two days ago, they announced a follow-up adaptation for next year, though they haven't said what book yet. I have my suspicions though...

The Just-Ten-In-No-Particular-Order-No-Comments List

- Shoujo ni wa Mukanai Kanzen Hanzai ("An Unsuitable Perfect Crime for a Girl") (Houjou Kie) 

- Lindongzhiguan ("Coffins in the Cold Winter") (Sun Qinwen)

- Suiri no Jikan Desu ("It's Inference Time") (Norizuki Rintarou, Houjou Kie, Abiko Takemaru, Tanaka Hirofumi, Kitayama Takekuni and Ibuki Amon)

- Kitarou Tanjou GeGeGe no Nazo ("The Birth of Kitarou ~ The Mystery of GeGeGe") (film based on work of Mizuki Shigeru)

- Jirai Glico ("Glico with Landmines") (Aosaki Yuugo)

- Kiguu ("Coincidentialea") (Yamaguchi Masaya)

- Salome no Guillotine ("Salome's Guillotine") (Yuuki Haruo)

- Ina no Gotoki Nieru Mono ("Those Who Are Sacrified like the Shunned") (Mitsuda Shinzou) 

- Il noma della rosa ("The Name of the Rose") (Umberto Eco)

- Karasu ("The Crows") (Maya Yutaka)

番外編：The Labyrinth House Murders Released

I probably mentioned it earlier on this blog, but today's finally the day: this is the day Pushkin Press is releasing my English translation of The Labyrinth House Murders (Meirokan no Satsujin) by Yukito AYATSUJI. Or at least, in the United Kingdom, I believe the US release will follow in a few months.

While my English translation of The Decagon House Murders was released via Locked Room International back in 2015, Pushkin Press took over the license, starting first with a revised re-release in 2021, and then following up with the sequel The Mill House Murders in 2023. Fortunately, both Ayatsuji himself and Pushkin wanted me on board again for the sequel and I was glad to hear that they also had intentions of continuing the series, so that brings us to the third book in the series: The Labyrinth House Murders was originally released in 1988 and is set in a rather unique location: the titular house is a genuine underground maze inspired by the myth of the Minotaur and the home of Miyagaki Yotaro, a veteran mystery writer who has been active for decades not only as an author, but also in an editing position where he helps younger authors debut in his beloved genre. As of late however, he has decided to retire, but for his sixtieth birthday, he has decided to invite some of his closest comrades, like writers who debuted under his tutelage and an editor with whom he has worked for a long time. However, soon after everyone has arrived, a shocking death is sprung upon the guests, and they are locked inside the Labyrinth House and are asked to participate in a bizarre competition with deadly results...

The Decagon House Murders was not written as a 'series' book with obvious story hooks or anything like that, which explains why The Mill House Murders, as a sequel, could be read without any prior knowledge of the series. That also holds for The Labyrinth House Murders: while a few references are dropped about earlier cases, the tale itself can be read independently, so there's no real problem if you decide to start with this book.   

Personally, this has always been one of my favorite entries in the series, ever since I read it over a decade ago. This is in part due to the background setting: ever since I was a child, I have loved Greek mythology, so the setting of the labyrinth and rooms named after figures related to the myth of the Minotaur really appeal to me. The floorplan of the titular Labyrinth House is also much more complex than any of the maps we have seen so far: it's a genuine maze and each time you want to move from one room to another, you need to go through the maze. As you read, you'll be looking at the floorplan, and that adds a fun element, kinda like how you'd read The Lord of the Rings and check how everyone was moving while heading for Mordor. But the story itself is also fun: we have a group of genre-savvy characters gathered together, from mystery writers to a critic, an editor and a huge fan of the genre, and the plot plays a lot with that. As for the mystery, it's a really tricky one once again, that has hints hidden in more places than you'd expect.  

Translation-wise, there's something I do want to discuss in due time, but I might wait a little bit longer to get back to that, as it's not something to mention right away on release day! 

Anyway, if you liked The Decagon House Murders and/or The Mill House Murders, please read The Labyrinth House Murders too, and if not... try it anyway! In a way, it's the most "detectivey" book of the three books released until now, so I have no doubt a lot of readers will enjoy this one. And as for more translations of this series? As you can expect, positive reception is the most likely to ensure more translations follow (hopefully by me of course), so it'd be great if you'd pick the book!

Turnabout Memories - Part 13

"I have to go over everything that's happened. I have to remember" 

Another Code R: Journey into Lost Memories

Here on this blog, it's a tradition to look back at the reviews and other posts that were published ths year and highlight a few of them. I usually post this list around Christmas, but as my weekly update day is Wednesday, I figured it'd just post it on the usual day then as it's so close... I'm always months ahead with writing posts, but this particular post I always write in December, because sometimes I schedule in extra posts (like Detective Conan: Black Iron Submarine) and sometimes I end up shuffling the post schedule, so I usually am not sure about what posts I can refer to in this end-of-year post until.... it's the end of the year.  Of course, some of the eligible posts I wrote way back in 2022 already... This year, I managed to read a few out-of-print authors and works I had been eyeing for some time now, so that was fun. I usually don't really plan what to read in a specific year, so even to me, it's a surprise how a year will end for me, sometimes I basically only read books by authors I already now, sometimes I see a rather noticable influx of authors I had never read before. I'm already in the second half of 2024 when it comes to scheduled posts, and I can already tell you there's gold among some of the posts there! I hope you'll all have a fantastic new year and see you back in 2024!

 

The Best Project Outside The Blog! In 2023!

The Mill House Murders 

 

Yes, this is just the self-promotion category! The very first novel I translated was The Decagon House Murders back in 2015, and now, quite some few years later, I finally got the opportunity to work on its sequel, The Mill House Murders. While The Decagon House Murders was originally published by Locked Room International, it is now currently being published by Pushkin Press, so to be honest, I had no idea at first whether they were interested in continuing the series, and whether I'd be in the equation, but fortunately, Ayatsuji himself also wanted me back on board, and I of course loved to come back to the series, resulting in a release by Pushkin Press earlier this year. Last year, I worked on Imamura's Death Within the Evil Eye, which was the first time I got to work on a sequel to a book I also worked on, but The Mill House Murders still remains a bit special, due to its connection to my first translated novel! The translation of the third book in the series, The Labyrinth House Murders, has already been announced, and once again, I had the pleasure and honor of working on it, so I hope readers here will pick it up too next year!

I'd also of course like to point readers here to the Honkaku Discord Server. It's been running for just over a year now, and it's become a nice place to chat about mystery fiction (not just Japanese). Of course, that's not my accomplishment, but that of the members in the server. It's a pretty easy-going server too, so if that sounds like fun, come have a look: https://discord.gg/z3HMSmf8qd

 

Most Interesting Non-Fiction Book! Of 2023!

Misshitsu Mystery Guide

Okay, I haven't read any other non-fiction mystery-related books besides this one, so this isn't really fair, but still, Iiki Yuusan's guide on the locked room mystery is really a must-read for fans of the locked room and impossible crime sub-genre, I think. In the book, the Ellery Queen scholar presents 50 mystery stories (30 Japanese, 20 foreign) that in his mind showcase the diversity that exists within the sub-genre. The book includes very cool diagrams of the crime scenes for each of the stories (so even for stories that originally didn't feature any diagrams), but what is more interesting, is the fact the book consists of two parts. In the first part, Iiki only introoduces the broad outline of the story in question and explains briefly why he thinks the book should be highlighted, but in the second half, he also spoils the solution of each story, and that allows him to freedom to pick entries based on their solution (and not just the trick), and that allows for some really unique picks for this book, like stories that aren't really impossible crimes until you consider the solution, or going with very experimental locked room mysteries. It's a fantastic book that really deserves a read.

Most Interesting Mystery Game Played In 2023! But Probably Older!

The Case of the Golden Idol

 

I've played a fair amount of mystery games this year. Detective Pikachu Returns was highly anticipated by me because I played the original back in 2016(!) already and had been waiting all this time to get closure on the story. A game like Tantei Bokumetsu (AKA Process of Elimination) was a game I had been wanting to play for a long time, due to its unique premise of a mystery game in the format of a SRPG and I finally got around to it because I wanted to play it before the English version was released. Rain Code was of course a game I had been looking forward to, as it was created by the same people behind Danganronpa. These were all games I liked playing in general, but always had points I found frustrating, or at the very least, they had obvious points that could've been improved. In that regard, I'd have to say Unheard was a very nice surprise, as I had very little knowledge about the game when I started with it, but it was a short, but memorable experience. Ultimately, I do think the most interesting mystery game I played this year was The Case of the Golden Idol, which offers deduction-focused gameplay combined with a rather surprising epic story. And yes, I had to quickly write the review of the game last week so I could feature it in this post!

 

Silliest Clue! Seen in 2023!

Morikawa Goten no Inbou ("Intrigue at the Morikawa Manor") (Detective Conan episodes 1050-1051)

 

Sometimes, you just want something silly. Morikawa Goten no Inbou is a two-parter in the animated series of Detective Conan, penned by Yamatoya Akatsuki. Once you see his name, alarm bells should ring, for while he has written an excellent Tantei Gakuen Q anime original with a locked room set in a sunken ship, his output for Detective Conan has been nothing but insane. The dear man also writes for Gintama, which should give you an idea of how silly he can be. In 2020, I choose his Glamping Kaijiken ("The Curious Glamping Incident") as the silliest mystery I had seen that year, and while on the whole Morikawa Goten no Inbou is not nearly as silly, I would say the final clue Conan presents to the culprit when he explains how he figured out that person was the culprit, has to be one of the most insane, and also outright insulting clues ever. No sane person would ever think to use that as a clue in a mystery story, but Yamatoya does. It's something you'd never expect to come, and it's brilliant.

Best Locked Room Epic! Of 2023!

Misshitsu Kingdom (Kingdom of the Locked Room)

 

I am not specifically a fan of the locked room mystery, but this year, I did happen to read three books that all aimed to be an enormous locked room mystery epic. Of the three, Kamosaki Danro's Misshitsu Kyouran Jidai no Satsujin - Zekkai no Kotou to Nanatsu no Trick (The Murder in the Age of Frenzy of Locked Rooms: The Solitary Island in the Distant Sea and the Seven Tricks) has a unique premise, set in a world where murderers know that by using locked room murders, they can't be convicted in a court of law unless the police figure out how they did it (because unless the police can prove how the defendant did it, the impossibility of the crime itself becomes an alibi for every single person) and in this book, we have no less than seven different locked room murders. However, the book is also fairly short, so each room barely gets any time. Kagami Masayuki's second novel Kangokutou ("Prison Island") is a John Dickson Carr-inspired epic of about 1200 pages long, with a series of impossible crimes happening on a prison island isolated from the outside world due to a storm. The extended page count allows Kagami to come up with a very robust setting for most of the locked rooms, and it results in a very epic conclusion where series detective Bertrand explains all the mysteries in hundreds of pages! However, on the whole, I found Tsukatou Hajime's Misshitsu Kingdom the better party. In terms of page count, it's similar to Kangokutou at about 1200 pages, but while Kagami's epic was very closely modeled after John Dickson Carr, Tsukatou uses very Carr-esque impossible crime situations, but at the same time, utilizes Ellery Queen-esque chains of reasonings to drive the plot, and this fusion of these two schools is what really makes Misshitsu Kingdom special in my opinion.

Best Post I Accidentally Deleted And Had To Rewrite Completely!

Kangokutou ("Prison Island")

Kangokutou didn't win in the previous category, but it sure wins here. In over ten years of blogging, never had I accidentally deleted a post I had finished already. I originally read Kangokutou in March of this year, and wrote my rather lengthy review of it soon after that and had the post scheduled for August, but the week before the post would go up, I wanted to change something, and a few wrong keyboard shortcut inputs later, I had accidentally deleted the contents of the post, and allowed the empty post to be saved. Which mean I had to rewrite the whole post from scratch, months after I had read the book in question. And I still think the original version of the post was better, going into more detail into the various crimes that occur in that locked room epic, but alas, we all have to just to be content with the current version of the post.

Best Premise! Of 2023!

Hen na Ie ("A Curious House")

I've read a few books this year with memorable premises. Some were straightforward, but ambitious premises, like the epic locked room mysteries mentioned two categories ago. Some had just inspired settings for the book. Take for example Houjou Kie's Amulet Hotel, a book set at a hotel catering to criminals, allowing for rather unique stories as it's not the usual police doing detective work here, but a hotel detective working for an organization which rather prefers to "clean up" a hotel guest themselves if the guest has violated a house rule to keep things quiet. There are also more fantastical premises I found memorable: In Yonezawa Honobu's The Broken Keel, we have a small kingdom off the coast of Britain that deals with the murder on their king while under attack by immortal Danes, in Kinnikuman Yojigen Sappou Satsujin Jiken ("Kinnikuman: The Four-Dimensional Murder Art Murder Case"), the famous Kinnikuman franchise tackles on the mystery genre by having the superhuman wrestlers entangled in murder cases, and Nitadori Kei's Suiri Taisen ("The Great Deduction War") is basically The Avengers, with detectives with various superpowers gathering to tackle one case. Other memorable reads tackle form: Shirodaira Kyou's Spiral ~ The Bonds of Reasoning 2: The Locked Room of the Steel Gang Boss and its spiritual successor Kannagi Uromu Saigo no Jiken ("The Last Case of Kannagi Uromu") by Konno Tenryuu revolve around presenting multiple solutions based on a past murder (in the latter case, a mystery novel with no clear solution), something Komori Kentarou also does with his incredibly fun Comiket Satsujin Jiken, being about a series of murders happening at Comiket among membeers of a doujin circle, with their latest release being a collection of short stories with their intended solutions to a murder in the fictional series Lunatic Dreamers. But in the end, I think Uketsu's Hen na Ie is still the one that managed to surprise me the most with its premise. Floorplans and diagrams are often an important element in a mystery story (see the also aforementioned Misshitsu Mystery Guide), but never had I seen a mystery story that uses floorplans exclusively to tell its story. While the first chapter is by far the best of the whole book, the idea of making the floorplan the star of the story, instead of a supporting role, was inspired, and the result is a very unique book that despite some flaws is very, very entertaining and memorable.

The Just-Ten-In-No-Particular-Order-No-Comments List

- Amulet Hotel (Houjou Kie)

- Comiket Satsujin Jiken ("The Comiket Murder Case") (Komori Kentarou)

- Hakobune ("The Ark") (Yuuki Haruo)

- Semi-Otoko ("The Cicada-Man") (Nemoto Shou)

- Misshitsu Kingdom ("Kingdom of the Locked Room") (Tsukatou Hajime)

- Sougetsujou no Sangeki ("The Tragedy at the Twin Moon Castle") (Kagami Masayuki)

- Hen na Ie ("A Curious House") (Uketsu)

- Misshitsu Mystery Guide ("Locked Room Mystery Guide") (Iiki Yuusan)

- Meitantei no Ikenie - Jinminkyou Satsujin Jiken ("The Sacrifice of the Great Detective: The Peoples Church Murder Case" AKA The Detective Massacre) (Shirai Tomoyuki)

- Tinker-Bell Goroshi ("The Murder of Tinker-Bell") (Kobayashi Yasumi)

Door to Death

One year ago, I asked about whether anyone knew about any interesting honkaku-focused Discord servers, and as it appeared there wasn't one yet, I decided to open the Honkaku Discord server myself. And today it's been active for exactly one year! At the time, I hoped the server would attract about perhaps thirty members after some time, but to my great surprise, that number was reached much faster than what I had expected, and the Honkaku Server has been a fun place to talk about mystery fiction, from not only Japan, but across the world and in different mediums, from books to games. We've also been doing regular book clubs, even of stories and novels written by fellow members. I haven't really name-dropped the server lately here, so I guess it's about time I do it again, as you're sure to have a great time there if you like chatting about mystery fiction!

Invite link: https://discord.gg/z3HMSmf8qd

I can’t make bricks without clay

Minor service announcement.

I am not sure how many readers here make use of the master list of all the reviews/editorials found in the Library, but if you had looked at the list say the last two, three years, you may have noticed I hadn't really kept it up to date. To be very honest: that was because the list had become a complete mess backstage with bloated HTML and mark-up conventions that usually broke everything every time I wanted to add a new link. My only way out was basically redoing the whole list, or at least, cleaning up everything now to make things easier on myself going forward. And after a lot of time squinting my eyes at the screen cleaning code I have finally done that. I simplified the master list in terms of mark-up conventions so I don't have to play with font sizes and italicizing book titles etc. anymore (meaning there's less chance of me breaking things in terms of page lay-out). I have also simplified the list itself a bit: I have reduced the number of repeated entries as now, adaptations are generally only listed once with the original creator (instead of also being listed a second time in the seperate games/TV/film/theater categories). Authors who I have only read in anthologies also don't get seperate entries anymore, but are only listed in the anthology category. This should make the list less bloated, and easier for me to update because I don't have to enter some entries twice in different categories.

I hadn't updated the list in 3+ years, so there were quite a few notable absentees in the list until yesterday. Imagine, the old list had only one entry for recent favorite Houjou Kie and I had to add like 10 Kindaichi Case Files volumes... Anyway, the update should make things easier if you are looking for a certain book or reviews of a certain author. This blog has been running for 10+ years, so there are quite a number of posts, and hopefully the renewed master list makes it easier to find things. 

(Oh, and as this isn't really a deep post anyway, I might as well point to the Honkaku-themed Discord server again. Have a look around if you want to talk about mystery fiction with other honkaku fans!)

Turnabout Memories - Part 12

"I have to go over everything that's happened. I have to remember" 

Another Code R: Journey into Lost Memories

Another year passes, another holiday season comes, and as per tradition, this is also the time I look back at the reviews and other posts that stood out the most this year and highlight them in a 'not really a list' list post. As I read the reviews posted this year, I noticed a lot of my favorites were all posted in the first half of the year, making the second half seem a bit... boring, though because the posts on this blog aren't actually written and published real-time (sometimes, a post waits for months before it's published, while others I decide to publish the same week), it's more of a coincidence than a trend, I guess.  Anyway, the lists and categories in this post aren't really made after serious deliberation, and are just pointing to a few of the more memorable mystery media I consumed this year, so in case you happened to have missed them the first time, read them now! I'm already well into 2023 when it comes to scheduled posts, and I can already safely say some of those books will definitely end up in my lists of favorites of next year, so I hope readers will be back next year too. Until then, have a good holiday season!

Best Project Outside The Blog! 

Death Within the Evil Eye

 

Yes, this is just the the self-promotion category! Unlike 2020 and 2021, I have only one title to mention here. While the release of The Mill House Murders has already been announced, it won't be released until next year, meaning there's only one big, and I do mean big title to mention here: Locked Room International released IMAMURA Masahiro's Death Within The Evil Eye, the direct sequel to his hit novel Death Among the Undead. Death Among the Undead was a personal favorite, and its 2019 sequel was, almost surprisingly, also a real gem, weaving supernatural themes with a mystery story that still valued logical reasoning above else, resulting in the kind puzzle plot-oriented mystery story I love. This is the first time I got to work on a sequel novel too, so that makes it extra memorable. The release has been very recent, so I guess not many have read it yet, though I hope eventually people will pick it up, because it's really a great mystery novel. And I mean, we all have to read something during the holiday season, right?

 

Oh, and technically a project outside the blog, in the sense that it is not supposed to be directly connected to this blog: I opened a Honkaku-themed Discord server a few weeks ago, so you're welcome there to discuss mystery fiction, including (shin) honkaku stories, with other fans!

 

Most Interesting Non-Review Post! Of 2022!

Higurashi: When They Cry Playthrough Memo

 

Okay, I haven't really made any non-review posts this year... sorry! I'm always reading books, so there's always material for reviews, but I have to admit editorials etc. are the first type of posts to get forgotten whenever it's busy or I am just not in a writing mood. So in the end, the only posts that even fit in this category are my playthrough memos I kept while playing Higurashi: When They Cry. Last year, I did the same with Umineko: When They Cry, writing down my thoughts while playing through the eight episodes of that game and keeping track of how my theories changed with each new episode. Higurashi: When They Cry had a similar set-up with multiple episodes, so it was only natural I would do the same thing. I don't know how many people actually read my notes while I was playing the game, but I still think this is a fun experiment, writing down the theories I play with in my mind while tackling a mystery story of an enormous (and time-consuming) scale. Perhaps I should do this for The Sekimeiya and finally force myself to get past that first part because I know it's supposed to be really good, but it's also really slow...

 

Book I Didn't Really Want to Read But Wanted to Have Read!

Natsu to Fuyu no Sonata ("A Sonata for Summer and Winter") AKA "Parzival"

 

I mentioned the saying "The books you want to have read, but don't want to read" in my review of Maya Yutaka's 1993 novel Natsu to Fuyu no Sonata ("A Sonata for Summer and Winter" AKA "Parzival"), because it was exactly the type of novel it would be used on. This year, there were basically only two novels I read which this saying applied to: Natsu to Fuyu no Sonata and Nikaidou Reito's Majutsuou Jiken ("The Case of the Sorcery King" 2004).  And of course, this all sounds very negative, but these were books I really wanted to read, but of which I knew it was also likely it wouldn't be an easy experience: Natsu to Fuyu no Sonata was often referred to as a catastrophic deconstruction of the detective story in true Maya post-modernist fashion, while Majutsuou Jiken was a very, very long book and the last one I hadn't read in Labyrinth saga in the Nikaidou Ranko series, and in general, the tone and style of the Labyrinth books just weren't really what I liked about the earlier Ranko books. So why did I pick Natsu to Fuyu no Sonata? Easy: Majutsuou Jiken was actually pretty fun to read once I got started, and I ended up enjoying it the most out of the four Labrinth novels. Natsu to Fuyu no Sonata on the other hand was a tricky novel to read from start to finish, and while I am glad to have finished it to know what all the talk was about, I am also glad it's behind me now!

 

Most Interesting Mystery Game Played In 2022! But Probably Older!  

Haru Yukite, Retrotica ("As Spring Passes By, Retrotica") AKA The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story

 

2022 ended with a lot of Nintendo DS reviews, so you'd almost think you had gone back about 15 years. None of those games were really outstanding though, though that was something I already knew: most of these games I played because I have already played so many Nintendo DS mystery adventure games, so I kinda want to play, well, perhaps not all of them eventually, but most of them, so even the less impressive ones. Though I want to highlight Project Hacker and Unsolved Crimes as games with interesting points to them. Some other games that made an impression on me were Lucifer Within Us and the board game Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, but for me, the 'fight' was clearly between Haru Yukite, Retrotica ("As Spring Passes By,  Retrotica"), better known as The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story outside of Japan, and Higurashi: When They Cry, a game I poured a lot of time in. And even then, I knew right away The Centennial Case would win. Created by the director behind personal PSP favorite Trick X Logic, this game utilizes similar game mechanics with a FMV game, resulting in a game that feels like an atmospheric mystery drama, but which really succeeds on showing how a proper whodunnit should be plotted, and how readers (viewers) should combine clues to arrive at hypotheses, and use these hypotheses to solve a mystery. While the individual episodes might not be super complex, The Centennial Case is a great showcase of how to translate a shin honkaku mystery story to the video game medium.

 

This might actually be the first time a game ends up in this category that was actually released in said year...

Best Premise! Of 2022! 

Rouko Zanmu ("Dreams Are All That Remain To The Tiger Who Has Grown Old")

 

Always a difficult category. With premise, I mean the blurb on the back of the book or something similar being enough to really rope you in, regardless of the actual execution.We have Houjou Kie's excellent Meitantei ni Kanbi naru Shi wo ("Delicious Death for Detectives", 2022). of course, which is set both in the real world and in a VR-game similar to a murder mystery Mario Maker. On the other side of the spectrum there's Ashibe Taku's Oomarike Satsujin Jiken ("The Oomari Family Murder Case", 2021), a fantastic historical work that focuses on the fall of the Oomari family and the women of that family as they remain at home while World War II develops: the mystery is one that could only have occured in war-time Japan, war-time Osaka, and has a bit of a Trojan Women vibe. In a similar vein, Kokuroujou ("The Castle with the Dark Prison") AKA The Arioka Citadel Case deserves a special mention too, being a fantastic historical mystery story set during a year-long siege of a castle. An English translation is in the works by the way! Higurashi: When They Cry has a fantastic horror-vibe premise that really becomes creepier with each subsequent episode, and it uses the whole set-up of multiple episodes really good to flesh the whole mystery out, while other note-worthy titles are Haiyuuenchi no Sastsujin (2021) (set in an abandoned amusement park), Dorothy Goroshi (The Murder of Dorothy, 2018), set in the world of the Wizard of Oz and Cinderella-jou no Satsujin ("The Cinderella Castle Murder" 2021), which places Cinderella in the defendant's seat in the murder case of the prince. All premises that sound amazing right away. I ended up with Momono Zappa's Rouko Zanmu ("Dreams Are All That Remain To The Tiger Who Has Grown Old", 2021) however because I thought the wuxia theme was really original, and while it's very close to "conventional" fantasy (and I have read my share of fantasy mystery novels the last few years), I thought the martial arts aspect of wuxia was also very appealing and I was wondering how it'd be incorporated in the mystery, so as a premise, this one earns many points.

 

The Just-Ten-In-No-Particular-Order-No-Comments List

- Meitantei ni Kanbi naru Shi wo ("Delicious Death for Detectives") (Houjou Kie)

- Garasu no Tou no Satsujin ("The Glass Tower Murder") (Chinen Mikito)

- Squid-sou no Satsujin ("The Squid House Murders") (Higashigawa Tokuya)

- Oomarike Satsujin Jiken ("The Oomari Family Murder Case") (Ashibe Taku)

- Haedama no Gotoki Matsuru Mono ("Those Who Are Deified Like The Haedama") (Mitsuda Shinzou)

- Kokuroujou ("The Castle with the Dark Prison" AKA The Arioka Citadel Case) (Yonezawa Honobu)

- Higurashi no Naku Koro ni ("When the Cicades Cry") (Ryukishi07)

- Sekigan no Shoujo ("The Girl With One Eye") (Maya Yutaka)

- Aomikan no Satsujin ("The Murder in the Marine Azure Manor") (Atsukawa Tatsumi)

- Haru Yukite, Retrotica ("As Spring Passes By, Retrotica" AKA The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story)