Art of Darkness!

「人を呪わば穴二つ」

 

"Curses return upon the heads of those that curse"

(Proverb) 

Huh, I have done more audio drama reviews than I thought... Though it's been a while!

Kitayama Takekuni is a writer strongly associated with the locked room murder mystery and other impossible crimes, and as his nickname of "Kitayama of the physical tricks" implies, he specializes in impossible murder mysteries that rely on a physical trick. And with that, I don't mean a string and needle, but like (hypothethically) houses that rotate or fly around, corpses being shot across a field with a cannon, that kind of thing. Most of the mysteries I have read written by him will feature visual aids like diagrams and floorplans to help the reader visualize the scene, as you often have to think in two, or three dimensions to figure out how the murderer managed to set the scene in such a way. When the murder is being explained at the end of  the story, you can often expect an updated diagram with arrows and other additions to explain how a corpse disappeared from scene A and appeared at scene B, or how a Rube Goldberg contraption helped lock the door from the inside.

In that sense, Kitayama Takekuni is basically the last author I'd expected to write an audio drama, precisely because his mysteries often rely on the visual aspect. Of course, he does not exclusively write such mysteries, but it's definitely his trademark style and his strength, and it is hard to imagine how a genuine Kitayama Takekuni mystery would work within the framework of an audio drama.

Which is why I was pretty surprised when I learned that Kitayama Takekuni has indeed written the scenario of a mystery audio drama: Shiromajutsu Tantei Mashiro Mami ("White Mage Detective Mashiro Mami") was released in 2020 by Mausu Promotion (a voice acting school) in their "Two Actor Theater" line: these audio dramas only feature two voice actors, each having a fixed role, so the stories play out via the conversations of these characters. Shiromajutsu Tantei Mashiro Mami features the talents of Kuwahara Yuuki and Takada Yuuki and starts off with Rina, a high school student, on her way to visit a venue with fortune tellers: the place is hugely popular, with a three month waiting list and a consultation session is far from cheap! But when Rina arrives the venue, she's spoken to by a girl with an eyepatch and a crutch, who tells Rina she really shouldn't go to that place, as the fortune tellers there are just money-grabbing charlatans. The girl then introduces herself as "the white mage detective" Mashiro Mami, and explains she too is a fortune teller, specializing in undoing curses (She choose the title 'white mage detective' to sound cooler). Because Mami looks as suspicious as her self-chosen name sounds, Rina is at first hesitant to listen to her any longer, but when Mami manages to accurately point out something that relates to the problem Rina has, she decides to visit Mami at her office for a consultation.

For Rina has an occult problem. Her family owns a painting which is said to be cursed: the painting depicts a woman, with wet hair and a haze covering the painting, like it's raining or there's mist. A rope-like line can be seen extending upwards from behind her neck, which is why the painting is known online as the hanged woman. The painting belonged to Rina's uncle, but he and his family died three years ago: he and his wife were hanging from a tree in the garden, while their son had been drowned in a puddle just outside the garden, having been hit on the head first. The circumstances seemed to suggest Rina's uncle had decided to commit suicide with the whole family (killing the son first). While the fact Rina's cousin had recently quit his job and was becoming more and more socially isolated had been weighing on her uncle's mind, it seems a weak motive for a forced suicide. The fact her uncle and aunt died in the same way as the painting doesn't help Rina's worries, especially as soon after their death, an image of the painting started to make its rounds on the internet, accompanied by the story it is cursed. Murder however seems ruled out: it had been raining earlier that night, and no foot tracks of outsiders were found in the grounds surrounding the house. Rina hopes Mami can investigate the painting and lift the curse, if there's one. But surprisingly, Mami's method of 'lifting a curse' depends a lot on meticulous investigation and deducing what really happened at the house...

As a mystery story, this is pretty short and while nothing mind-blowing happens here, it's pretty decent. You can tell Kitayama does know he's writing for an audio production with only two actors: the list of characters is fairly limited and there are little "tricks" to make some conversations feel natural, like Mami being too frightened to look at a photograph of the cursed painting, so Rina is forced to explain it verbally to Mami (and to the listener). Which is why it's funny how one of the most important twists in the story is actually visually based, but if this were actually a visual medium, the twist might have been a bit too obvious: while it may have been more fair, the twist does work better having the relevant object being described to the listener, who will then imagine the object as they listen to the drama, and then having the twist sprung upon them. As a mystery, Shiromajutsu Tantei Mashiro Mami is a fairly lite tale, with Mami solving not only the mysterious deaths of Rina's uncle, aunt and cousin, but also the mystery of why there's an urban legend surrounding the painting, but don't come in expecting some of Kitayama's best work here, but it's decent enough. Though I guess, a lot of it does implicitly includes the disclaimer of "within the confines of an audio drama". For at the same time, I can't deny the framework of the audio drama really doesn't allow Takeyama to do what he's best at (impossible crimes based on almost ridiculously grand physical tricks) and the drama isn't very long either (less than a hour). I would have loved to see more of this series, as this feels more like a nice prologue/first story, and you can are left wanting for the "main body".

I also like the two characters a lot: Rina's a lot sharper than she appears at first and certainly not just a gullible high school student, while Mami on the other hand is obviously a clever detective, but can also be very clumsy and she's a bit of a scaredy cat and these two have some really funny interactions. Which is another reason why I'd want to see more of this series: they are set-up as a really entertaining detecting duo and the epilogue of the story also shows the two having becoming close, so you feel more should come.

Shiromajutsu Tantei Mashiro Mami is in no way really a work that allowed Kitayama Takekuni to do what he's best at in terms of mystery writing, but nonetheless, it's an entertaining short mystery that shows potential for more. Though I guess since this originally came out in 2020 and nothing has followed, neither as audio drama nor in any format, I guess this will be all we'll hear from Mami and Rina.

Original Japanese title(s): マウスプロモーション、北山猛邦 (シナリオ）『マウス二人芝居     白魔術探偵・真白真実』

The Treasure in the Royal Tower

自宅のソファーに腰掛けて、一冊の小説を開いた。表紙には『桜野美海子の最期』というタイトルが記されている。

"I sat down in my sofa at home and opened a book. The title on the cover said The End of Sakurano Mimiko.

"The End of the Great Detective Sakurano Mimiko"

Earlier this year, I reviewed two novels which were originally published on websites where (amateur) writers can post their stories for everyone to read, but which were later picked up by major publishers. Robber Rabbit Gets Dead was originally published on Kakuyomu, while Isekai no Meitantei 1 originated from Shousetsuka ni Narou. Rinno Mei's Meitantei Sakurano Mimiko no Saigo ("The End of the Great Detective Sakurano Mimiko", 2015) is also published on Shousetsuka ni Narou and can be read for free there (see the link), but has not been picked up by a major publisher yet.

While she's still fairly young, Sakurano Mimiko is already a well-known detective, not in the least thanks to the literary efforts of her childhood friend, occasional assistant and chronicler Tsukaba Souta, who has turned all of their adventures into best-selling novels. Mimiko is also a great fan of mystery fiction, so she was very happy when she received an invitation by the famous mystery writer Shishitani Keizou. Many knew about the curious tower Shishitani had built in the mountains, as it was like one of the odd buildings from his novels: a gigantic cylindrical tower stood in the middle of nowhere, and oddly enough, the building featured no windows whatsoever. An elevator and spiral staircase at the exact center of the tower connected all the floors, but there was no way to even take a look at the outside world except for the front entrance. Mimiko and Tsukaba weren't the only ones to be invited to this tower, as four other detectives (and their "plus one") were also invited. The detectives are quite a colorful lot, ranging from a girl who seems barely in her teens to a bombastic man who might or might not be a relative of Napoleon Bonaparte. Everyone expects Shishitani to have a surprise for them, and he doesn't disappoint his guests. He declares he has a mystery for them to solve, and soon after, Shishitani disappears from his locked study at the top floor, even though only he and one of the maids have the key to the room. At first, everybody thinks this is just a game by Shishitani, a challenge to see whether these real detectives can figure out how he disappeared from a locked room, but the following morning, one of the maids is found dead in the main hall, and strangely enough, she seems to have fallen from a great height, even though there's no such place to fall from in this tower. When one of the detectives is later found decapitated, the group starts to suspect that the serial killer Jack the Head Cutter has found his way to the tower, but with the single entrance locked from the outside, can the detectives survive long enough to solve the mystery?

Oh, and to be precise: I haven't actually read the story. For Meitantei Sakurano Mimiko no Saigo was adapted by the group Seien Bunko as an audio drama in 2018, which you can find on their Youtube channel. It's quite lengthy, clocking in at several hours, but it's quite nice to listen to, and a perfectly fine way to experience this story.

Anyway, the story starts off in a very familiar, And Then There Were None-like manner with people who don't know each other gathered at an isolated location (the curious tower). Shishitani first speaks with his guests during dinner over a video connection, which again invokes the early chapters of Christie's masterpiece. Soon after the chaos starts, and man, a lot happens. A mysterious murder (the maid who fell from an impossible height), decapitated bodies, the people being locked up in the tower from the outside in a closed circle situation, a disappearance from a locked room, a dying message and the list goes on. All the popular tropes of mystery fiction can be found within this tale, and considering we have multiple detectives on scene, you can also expect a few deduction battles between the detectives, as each of them tries to solve the case before the others can. It's an incredibly dense story, perhaps to a fault, as you are barely given any time for consideration, with events following each other in a very rapid way.

It's therefore slightly disappointing that most of the murders in this tale don't leave any impression on their own. A fair number of the murders are 'oh, multiple suspects had the opportunity to commit them' and 'we don't have enough data to point at one single person for sure.' Elements like the locked room disappearance, the decapitations and the dying message feature very familiar tropes as their solutions, so it's difficult to feel truly impressed. A lot of the happenings also seem very dependent on luck, with people acting like they do in the novel more to make the mystery more complex, rather than because it makes any sense to do so at that moment. That said, I liked the one major idea of this novel. It's a neatly hidden, but also fairly audacious trick, and Rinno smartly used this idea not only once, but multiple times with very different results. It's by realizing that two seemingly seperate events are actually connected by the one and same underlying concept that you can arrive at the solution, and this part was quite smartly planned. This idea alone would've made for a really interesting mystery story, if it had focused solely on it.

I think most people will agree that Meitantei Sakurano Mimiko no Saigo is far more memorable as a mystery story about detecive fiction, as it actively addresses detective fiction as a genre from a post-modern point of view. Mimiko discusses her views on detective fiction and their limitations throughout the story, and these themes come back in a haunting way at the conclusion of the story. One literary-philosophical problem in mystery fiction in particular is of essence, one which I have mentioned a few times in other reviews but won't explicitly name here. If you're looking for a sincere/honest/pure mystery story, this one is not for you, as it really tries to show the meta-limitations of the literary detective and can leave a very nasty aftertaste. I think that the execution is not completely fair to the reader, and especially the epilogue tries to hard to throw one plot twist after another at the reader, but I think that Rinno did an interesting job writing a full mystery novel based on what is actually a philosophical approach to the detective story.

In the end, I don't think Meitantei Sakurano Mimiko no Saigo is a mystery story for everyone. If you expect a Christie or Carr homage, you're at the wrong place. Queen.... you're a bit closer. Most of the individual murders won't leave much of an impression, though it definitely has a memorable main trick. What Meitantei Sakurano Mimiko no Saigo makes an interesting experience, even if not perfect, is the way in which it addresses fundamental, philosophical approaches to the mystery fiction genre, and uses those ideas as the basis of a mystery plot itself. It's not completely convicing as a whole, but definitely a story that gives you food for thought.

Original Japanese title(s): 凛野冥（原）セイエン文庫『名探偵・桜野美海子の最期』

Captive Witness

"Wax on, wax off"

"The Karate Kid"

The problem with listening to audio dramas before sleeping is that I always fall asleep halfway through.

The murder on Josiah Perceval, assistant at a photograph studio, was quickly solved when Miriam Cromer, wife of the society photographer Howard Cromer, confessed fully to the crime. The woman was being blackmailed over some indecent photographs taken from her past, and eventually, she thought it would wiser to poison the decanter of wine with potassium cyanide than to keep on paying. Miriam is now on death row, with just a few weeks until her execution, when a photograph is sent to the Home Office, which cast doubt upon Miriam's story: the new facts revealed by this photograph suggest that Miriam couldn't have obtained the potassium cyanide to commit the murder. Sergeant Cribb of London's Criminal Investigation Department and his assistant Constable Thackery are ordered to figure out what the real deal is behind Miriam's confession in the radio drama Waxwork (1987), based on the same-titled 1978 novel.

A few months ago, I reviewed Peter Lovesey's A Case of Spirits, a novel in the Sergeant Cribb series. While I hadn't given the Victorian mystery series much attention or thought until then, it's been quite well received in general: the novel series has been adapted as a television series (Cribb), and six of the eight novels have also adapted for the radio by the BBC. I decided to try out the radio drama adaptation of Waxwork, because I really like audio dramas, and I had heard good things about this particular story. The original novel is at the moment the last of the Sergeant Cribb novels by the way, but no prior knowledge is necessary to enjoy this story.

I think that Waxwork is a good example of a good story, that manages to be quite entertaining general even if the core mystery plot is rather limited in range and originality. If you look solely at the mystery parts of Waxwork, you'll have to look really closely before you come across truly original elements, as so many bits and pieces of the story feel so familiar. The method by which the true murderer managed to snatch the potassium cyanide as explained by Cribb for example is an extremely common concept, and it's not like it's been repackaged into something more surprising. The true goal of Miriam's confession ultimately builds on a trope that is often seen in mystery fiction. So looking purely at the mystery plot, I'm afraid that Waxwork has little originality to offer. With a rather limited cast of characters and a fairly small problem (the poisoning), Waxwork is not a mystery story to really delve into for a mental challenge.

That said though, Waxwork works as a yarn. As in A Case of Spirits, the Victorian background is always nothing but the background: unlike some stories that like to remind you you're reading a Victorian story every single sentence, Lovesey is far better at letting his background speak for itself. Concepts like society photographs, class society, Newgate Prison and the hangman do date the story and mix well with the mystery plot, but it's not like you're reading a Wikipedia entry about Victorian Britain which some historical novels sometimes tend to turn into. The result is a pleasant experience, that combined with the light comedy that especially derives from Constable Thackery's scenes is fun to listen to.

I have not read the original Waxwork by the way, so I can't comment on how faithful (or not) this radio adaptation is. I'm just going to guess/assume that the story here is mostly the same as the novel, and not that we have a completely different culprit or type of murderer.

Waxwork is on the whole an okay mystery story, with the emphasis on story. As a mystery, there's just too little that is truly original, and much of the core plot will feel familiar one way or another. Combined with the Victorian setting and the story though, Waxwork is enjoyable enough. I enjoyed A Case of Spirits much better as a mystery story, but I think I'll keep on trying this series in the future too, be it in novel, audio or television drama form.

Indigo Ashtray

"Yes, you are right, Madame; the sky is blue, the sun is shining, and yet you forget that everywhere there is evil under the sun."

"Evil Under The Sun"

Man, I had been sitting on this audio drama for ages, I noticed now. Oh well, that's not a rare thing to happen here, I said as I glanced at some unread books which have been lying here for some years.

Akagawa Jirou is an incredibly prolific best known for his lighthearted, comedic mystery novels like the Calico Cat Holmes series. He also has many series starring young women, most notably his long-running Three Sisters Investigate series (of which the first novel is also available in English, by the way). Female teenagers are also the focus in the audio drama Hai no Naka no Akuma ("The Devil In The Ashes", 1993). Several students of the Hanazono Academy for girls are being harrassed and blackmailed with mistakes made in the past, from cheating at tests to shoplifting. As amateur detectives, the trio of Yuriko (tomboy), Akiko (aspiring actress) and Kyouko (heir of former nobility) naturally have an interest in this case, especially as Kyouko was already once attacked by a neurotic victim who was convinced Kyouko was the blackmailer (Kyouko practices aikido luckily). While they're investigating the case though, Yuriko's classmate Fumiyo is outed as a former shoplifter, but she loses her memory after a traffic incident. Strange men however appear to be after her. Can our trio find out who is behind the blackmailing and save Fumiyo?

Hai no Naka no Akuma (1989) was the first full-length novel in Akagawa's juvenile Devil series, though the trio of high school students originally made their debut almost a decade earlier in the novelette Kagami no Naka no Akuma ("The Devil in the Mirror", 1980~1981). Considering the long period between the publishign years, it's understandable that most people consider Hai no Naka no Akuma the true start of the Devil series, and it would turn into a reasonable success, as it ran for about ten volumes long. The title Devil might sound a bit scary, but the actual contents are actually fairly light-hearted and presented in a comedic manner, like through girls' banter. No demons appearing in this series, at least, not actual demons, as the "Devil" that appears in the title of each of the stories refers to the devil residing in human beings.

I have not read any of the books in this series by the way, but I decided to listen to the audio drama based on Hai no Naka no Akuma, which was released in 1993. I have no idea how fateful an adaptation this drama is, though a quick look at the Wikipedia page for the book makes me suspect that it is at least not a grand departure of the original tale. The voice actors featured include some very well-known names like Kanai Mika and Orikasa Ai. The drama is not long (a bit over an hour), but as most of Akagawa's novels are fairly light, I guess that's about what I had expected.

As a tale of mystery, Hai no Naka no Akuma is really, really light material. Considering the subject matter (blackmail at school, juvenile crime and there's also kidnapping of minors), things could've been portrayed a lot darker, but it remains fairly light on the whole. Even at the times when some of the girls are kidnapped, you never have a sense of real threat, as you already know they'll escape somehow as you listen to the banter of the girls calling each other names and all during their predicament. The whole presentation is a bit cartoony, which is not a bad thing per se, but there's certainly a discrepency between the 'scary' title The Devil In the Ashes and the actual tone of the story. This is best shown by the character Kyouko, who comes from such a ridiculously rich and powerful family she at one time even conjures a helicopter out of nowhere for use during her investigation of an incident happening at a high school. Kyouko is without a doubt the MVP by the way, as she uses not only money, but also her brains and occasionally even her fists to get all the girls unscathed to the end of the story.

The mystery of the blackmailer and Fumiyo's assailants is as expected nothing particularly engaging. The story is sorta enjoyable as a girls' adventure story, but nothing more than that, as the underlying plot is rather ridiculous: the Big Bad's plan is rather convoluted, in a Scooby-Doo way, and all the "deductions" the girls make are more fantasy than something based on a logical conclusion based on the facts presented (which still turn out to be correct, of course).

All in all, Hai no Naka no Akuma was a rather mediocre juvenile mystery audio drama. The story is really written for a certain audience, in a certain time (early 90s) and one can't really fault a work for doing exactly what it's supposed to do in an okay manner, I guess, but I also don't think this is a story that has something really interesting to offer besides the character interaction (which I did enjoy by the way). Adaptations of Akagawa's works for TV are certainly not rare, but the Devil series never had that much exposure I think besides these audio dramas. I wonder how an animated TV series aimed at a younger public would fare?

Original Japanese title(s): 赤川次郎（原）　『灰の中の悪魔』

Lovely But Lethal

ラストダンスに間に合うように

いつまでも待つわ あなたに送るメッセージ

「ラブレターはそのままで」（如月ミキ）

To be in time for the last dance

I'll always wait. My message for you

"My Love Letter Still There" (Kisaragi Miki)

It's been a while since the last audio drama review!

Kisaragi Miki was a not very succesful, nor talented idol (singer/actress/model), but even she had her share of fans. Five of her fans have gathered together in a penthouse exactly one year after Miki's unfortunate death to commemorate their idol. The five men got to know each other through online message boards, and that's why the people gathered have the oddest names: Boss, Ono Daisuke, Snake, Yasuo and Strawberry Girl. As they talk with each other about memories of Miki and show off their fan goods, they slowly come to realize that Miki's death, who was thought to have burned to death in a fire in her apartment building, might not have been just an accident. As their discussion evolves, a horrible truth starts to take shape in their minds, one which shows that perhaps one of the five men present at this meeting, might be responsible for Miki's death. A trip into memories unfolds in the 2009 audio drama Kisaragi - Voice Actors Version.

Kisaragi was originally a 2007 film penned by Kosawa Ryouta, featuring the same story. I haven't seen the film, but from what I understand the 2009 Voice Actors Version (by Momogre, who also did the Arisugawa Alice audio dramas) is mostly a very faithful adaptation of the original story. I emphasize mostly, becausse it appears the Voice Actors Version does feature a slightly different ending (more on that later). One more difference is the name of one of the characters. In the original film, one of the characters used the nickname Oda Yuuji, a popular actor/singer. This was pretty funny, because "Oda Yuuji" was actually played by Santamaria Yuusuke, an actor who has played with Oda in several TV series/films before. In Kisaragi ~ Voice Actors Version, "Oda Yuuji" is switched with "Ono Daisuke", who is a famous voice actor. The funny thing here is that Sugita Tomokazu is playing "Ono Daisuke", while the real Ono Daisuke is also acting in this drama as "Boss".

Overall, I'd say Kisaragi ~ Voice Actors Version is a fun story, which might not be very deep, but manages to entertain from start to finish. The story is built completely around conversations between the characters and each of the characters is distinct enough in behavior to keep the listener's attention throughout (the voice actors also do a good job at playing very distinct roles, allowing the listener to keep them apart without any trouble). As for how the mystery unfolds: after one of the men makes a daring accusation, each of them start to remember little episodes surrounding Miki that sheds a different light on the situation. Because of that, the situation keeps on changing and occassionally little remarks made earlier in the story come back in surprising ways. While it's not a completely fair mystery story because of the way the men keep remembering things at crucial points, it does keep the story exciting and it is a very accessible, but interesting example of how quickly deductions can change just by the addition of one new element, like often featured in the mystery stories by Ellery Queen and Anthony Berkeley.

Much of the story's comedy is derived from its (admittedly stereotypical) presentation of idol (w)otaku. Both the film and the audio drama even end with a song by Miki, interspersed with wotagei (dancing gestures and utterances that are done by fans during the performance of a song). Yet it is not mean-spirited and the depiction of wotaku here is even heartwarming. The image of Miki portrayed through their memories is also surprisingly vivid, even though it's a character who's been dead for a year by the time the story starts.

The Voice Actors Version features an ending that... is pretty much the most horrible thing they could've done to 'spice up' the story. Like I mentioned earlier, I haven't seen the film myself, so I can only go by some write-ups, but apparently the Voice Actors Version is the same as the film all the way to the end. What I think is new, is a very short segment (not even a minute long) added to the very end, that is supposed to turn things around, but it makes absolutely no sense. It is basically having a complete detective story which ends with the words "Everything is solved!", followed by the credits and then the words "Or is it?!". It is a cheap way to 'add a new ending' and it basically renders everything that happened until then useless.

Save for the very short original "ending" though, I thought Kisaragi - Voice Actors Version was a pretty entertaining, if light mystery story featuring some really good voice acting. I recommend not listening to the last minute of the drama, then you'll have a good 80 minutes worth listening though.

Original Japanese title(s): モモグレ　『キサラギ　声優ver.』

The Queen Is In The Counting House

君の愛の揺りかごで

もう一度安らかに眠れたら 

「The Real Folk Blues」（山根麻以）

If only I could sleep once more

In the cradle of your love

"The Real Folk Blues" (Yamane Mai)

I have only just noticed how many Writer Alice reviews I've already written. I just didn't notice it as half of the reviews are about books, the other half about audio dramas.

Writer Alice series (audio drama)
46 Banme no Misshitsu ("The 46th Locked Room")
Swiss Dokei no Nazo ("The Swiss Clock Mystery")
Yaneura no Sanposha ("The Stroller in the Attic")
Zekkyoujou Satsujin Jiken ("-The Castle of Screams- Murder Case")
Nagai Rouka ga Aru Ie ("The House With the Long Hallway")
Saru no Hidarite ("The Monkey's Left Paw")  
Zankoku na Yurikago ("A Cruel Cradle")

An earthquake hitting the Kansai area results in heavy damage and some victims getting trapped in their houses or even getting knocked out by debris, but the most surprising result of the earthquake is the discovery of a man being shot in the annex building of the victim's acquaintance. While the victim had been at excellent terms with this friend and her husband, the home owners are naturally quite surprised to learn that the man had been in their house during the earthquake without their knowledge, and are of course shocked by the fact the man had been shot to death. The wife of the manor, before her marriage often surrounded by young men who considered her their 'queen', turns out to be an old acquaintance of criminologist Himura Hideo and mystery writer Arisugawa Alice, as they met in an earlier case two years earlier. Shocked at their reunion as they are, the crime-fighting duo set their mind to the solving the murder in the audio drama Zankoku na Yurikago ("A Cruel Cradle").

Zankoku na Yurikago is the seventh audio drama produced by Momogre based on Arisugawa Alice's Writer Alice series, which stars the criminologist Himura and mystery writer Alice. It is also the direct sequel to Saru no Hidarite, the audio drama I discussed two weeks ago. I wrote in that review that Saru no Hidarite was based on the book Kisaki wa Fune wo Shizumeru ("The Queen Sinks the Boat"), a book I hadn't read. I also noted that I thought the story might have been rewritten, because the summary of the book was kinda different from what happened in the audio drama. But now I know what was going on: the book Kisaki wa Fune wo Shizumeru actually consists of two novellettes that make up one narrative. For the audio drama, they split it up in two different productions: Saru no Hidarite and Zankoku na Yurikago. Both audio dramas can be listened to seperatedly, but do form one narrative centering around one woman.

I was quite enthusiastic about Saru no Hidarite, but I think that as a detective story, Zankoku na Yurikago surpasses that story. At the core, this is a very Queen-esque plot, which is something I always appreciate. Figuring out what characteristics the murderer must have based on the crime scene and the circumstances under which it was committed, deducing how all of the suspects fit in the big picture, it is done all very nice in this story and is something Arisugawa Alice (the actual writer) is actually quite competent in (Kotou Puzzle for example beats Ellery Queen at his own game!). The earthquake factor also adds something highly original to the mystery plot, as it is an element seldom seen in detective stories. Yet it does not feel as unreal as the volcano eruption in Arisugawa's own Gekkou Game. Earthquakes are actually quite common in Japan, so you'd think you'd come across them more often in fiction too.
 
The one note I want to make is that one part of the mystery was a bit vague because it was done as an audio drama. When things like architecture, positioning and angles are mentioned, an oral presentation often just doesn't work very well. Figures or being able to slowly read the description are far more effective in conveying things like that to the reader/listener. As I discuss mystery fiction in different media, I often pay attention to the question if the story fits the type of media. Some plots simply work better as a book, some better as an audio drama (or other medium). Zankoku na Yurikago still works as an audio drama, but I think I would have rated it higher if I had seen in on the screen or read it. Momogre's selection of the stories has been mostly well, but I'd say that Zankoku na Yurikago and 46 Banme no Misshitsu are the one where you kinda feel the medium fails slightly in keeping up with the story.

As said, Zankoku na Yurikago and Saru no Hidarite together form one narrative and listening to them after another, I'd say that as a standalone story, Saru no Hidarite perhaps works better. The detective plot, while still okay, is not as strong as that of Zankoku na Yurikago, but the themes there work better on their own. In return, Zankoku na Yurikago does more with the one character connecting both stories, and builds further on themes first introduced in Saru no Hidarite and forms a nice ending to this short story arc within the Writer Alice series. I recommend listening to them both and in order, as both stories are good mystery stories, but leave more of an impression taken together. I think it was an excellent idea of taking the novel and splitting it across these two productions. Length-wise, they were perfect for the complexity of the story, and together they are a lot more satisfying than the adaptation of 46 Banme no Misshitsu, the only other full novel Momogre has adapted as an audio drama.

Like with the previous release, the store Mandarake also offered a bonus audio drama together with Zankoku na Yurikago. Yuki to Kinkonshiki ("Snow and the Golden Wedding") is based on a short story originally included in the short story collection Nagai Rouka ga Aru Ie (the two other stories in the collection, title story Nagai Rouka ga Aru Ie and Tenkuu no Me are also available as audio drama). Unbeknown to an old couple celebrating their golden wedding anniversary on a snowy night, their brother-in-law was murdered in their annex building. The police manages to bring the number of suspects down to two, but miss the crucial evidence to find the guilty one. The husband of the old couple then appears to hold the key that can crack the case, but an unfortunate fall leads to temporary amnesia. Himura and Alice are asked by the police to help. The solution is a fairly simple one. It's hardly satisfying, but then again, this was a bonus audio drama. It's a cute story though.

Zankoku na Yurukago is a good, solid detective story that might work better as book than as audio drama, but still quite enjoyable, especially if taken together wth Saru no Hidarite. I don't think I need to comment on the acting, because that has been consistenly excellent throughout the series.

And for your convenience, the reviews of Writer Alice novels on this blog:
46 Banme no Misshitsu ("The 46th Locked Room") (1992)
Dali no Mayu ("Dali's Cocoon") (1993)
Russia Koucha no Nazo ("The Russian Tea Mystery") (1994)
Sweden Kan no Nazo ("The Swedish Mansion Mystery") (1995)
Brazil Chou no Nazo ("The Brazilian Butterfly Mystery") (1996)
Eikoku Teien no Nazo ("The English Garden Mystery") (1997)
Malay Tetsudou no Nazo ("The Malay Railroad Mystery") (2002)

Original Japanese title(s): 有栖川有栖（原）　『残酷な揺り籠』

The Apeman's Secret

「我が左の手は正しき者を蘇えらせる神の左手、我が右の手は悪しき者を滅ぼす悪魔の右手、滅びろ！」

『神の左手悪魔の右手』

"My left hand which resurrects the just is the left hand of god, my right hand which destroys the evil is the right hand of the devil. Be gone!"

"The Left Hand of God, The Right Hand of the Devil"

It's been a while since I last discussed an audio drama!

Writer Alice series (audio drama)
46 Banme no Misshitsu ("The 46th Locked Room")
Swiss Dokei no Nazo ("The Swiss Clock Mystery")
Yaneura no Sanposha ("The Stroller in the Attic")
Zekkyoujou Satsujin Jiken ("-The Castle of Screams- Murder Case")
Nagai Rouka ga Aru Ie ("The House With the Long Hallway")
Saru no Hidarite ("The Monkey's Left Paw") 

What at first appeared to be just a deadly accident of a man crashing into the sea with his car, soon turns into suspected murder, when the police discovers a fair amount of sleeping medicine in the victim's body. Criminologist Himura Hideo and his friend (and mystery writer) Arisugawa Alice once again join the police investigation as part of Himura's "fieldwork". The police finds out that the victim had debts and soon decides on three suspects: his wife (who has financial gains through the life insurance), a friend of his wife from whom he had borrowed a lot of money (the life insurance money would mean she would be paid back) and that woman's adopted son (who is living off his mother). Yet none of them appeared to have been able to commit the spectacular murder of driving off a car into the sea and swimming back for several reasons, including alibi and being handicapped. Other elements like hypnosis and a mystical mummified monkey's paw which can fulfill wishes also turn the case into at least a two-pipe problem in the audio drama Saru no Hidarite ("The Monkey's Left Paw").

Saru no Hidarite is the sixth entry in Momogre's adaptations of Arisugawa Alice's Writer Alice series and is based on the novel Kisaki wa Fune wo Shizumeru ("The Queen Sinks the Boat", 2010). I think it's the first time since the very first audio drama (46 Banme no Misshitsu) that they did an adaptation of a full-fledged novel (subsequent adaptations were based on short stories and novelettes). I haven't read the original novel though, but a quick look at a summary makes me suspect the structure of the original story was changed a bit to fit the audio drama format and length.

As a detective story, I quite liked Saru no Hidarite. Unlike the always excellent Student Alice series, the Writer Alice series isn't always as complex or amusing as I want it to be, but I thought this was a very entertaining story (see this post for the link between the Writer Alice and Student Alice series). While the actual murder and all is quite boring, I loved that even though you're presented an obvious one-of-the-three-suspects plot, it keeps moving your attention from one suspect to another in a not-too-forced manner. Also, the story has very strongly links to W.W. Jacobs' short story The Monkey's Paw (1902): the way the story serves as a hint to the conundrum Himura and Alice are struggling with is brilliant, as is Himura's interpretation of the classic. Definitely one of the best detective stories I've read (heard) that reference other stories both in theme and in contents.

Like I said before, I suspect the story was slightly rearranged to fit the audio drama format (because the cover text of the book is hardly the way you'd describe the way it goes in the audio drama), and it works fairly well as it is now. Once again though, the story isn't really one that particularly gains from being presented as an audio drama: the story has no particular links to voice or sounds. I really wonder how they decide on which story they adapt.

Then again, I do have to say that this is definitely a story that works well as an audio drama. Locked rooms don't always work as well if it's all just audio, unless you can shift the focus from solving a mechnical locked room to something else (which is why I prefer the audio drama of Nagai Rouka ga Aru Ie to 46 Banme no Misshitsu). And while the story has nothing to do with voice and sounds, I do have to say that it does manage to do something quite well because it's an audio drama, but I will not go in details because of I might spoil the fun.

Retailer Mandarake also offered an extra audio drama together with Saru no Hidarite. Tenkuu no Me is based on the same-titled short story in the short story collection Nagai Rouka ga Aru Ie (of which the title story was also adapted as an audio drama). It is a short story about Alice, who is asked by his neighbour for some advice. His neigbour is a teacher and one of her students has apparently taken a spirit photograph (with a ghost on it). One of her fellow students who took a look at the photo recently turned up dead due to a freak accident, falling of an old abandoned house. The solution is a bit disappointing, as it one of those stories where Arisugawa Alice (the writer, not the character) relies on random trivia and vague clueing. The one interesting point though is that Himura doesn't appear in the story; it's Alice who does all the sleuthing.

Saru no Hidarite was a good audio drama of a good detective story. The audio dramas of the Writer Alice series are always of high quality and this one is no different, but the story itself is also one of the better ones they've done now. The bonus track is a bit disappointing, but the main course is definitely worth a listen.

And for your convenience, the reviews of Writer Alice novels on this blog:
46 Banme no Misshitsu ("The 46th Locked Room") (1992)
Dali no Mayu ("Dali's Cocoon") (1993)
Russia Koucha no Nazo ("The Russian Tea Mystery") (1994)
Sweden Kan no Nazo ("The Swedish Mansion Mystery") (1995)
Brazil Chou no Nazo ("The Brazilian Butterfly Mystery") (1996)
Eikoku Teien no Nazo ("The English Garden Mystery") (1997)
Malay Tetsudou no Nazo ("The Malay Railroad Mystery") (2002)

Original Japanese title(s):  モモグレ、有栖川有栖（原）『猿の左手』

Maze

もう二度と迷わないように

その腕を離さないで

『Mysterious Eyes』 （Garnet Crow)

Don't let go of my hand

So we won't get lost again

"Mysterious Eyes" (Garnet Crow)

I write about detective fiction in any type of medium, so I have also quite a number of reviews posted under games and audio drama for example. The most surprising (to me) is still the fact I have a musical tag. Not sure whether I'll ever be able to use that again... Anyway, an audio drama today. And it's not even in Japanese!

Dutch Sinologist Robert van Gulik's Judge Dee stories are quite famous around the world. An important factor explaining its popularity is probably the fact that van Gulik's managed to combine his expert knowledge on ancient China and its law practices with stories that are also fun to read. The character of the wise magistrate Dee was based on the actual magistrate Di (Dee) Renjie and his (slightly fictionalized) appearance in the detective novel Dee Gong An (see for a more detailed introduction to the series, this older post).

Robert van Gulik's first original book has an interesting publication history: it was actually first published in 1951 in Japan, under the title Meiro no Satsujin ("The Maze Murders"). A Chinese version followed in 1953, but the book wouldn't be published in English (the language the book was originally written in) or Dutch (van Gulik's mothertongue) until 1956: it was known as The Chinese Maze Murders in English, while it was released one year later in the Netherlands with the name of Labyrinth in Lan-Fang (which means the same in English, of course). I am not familiar with the reception history of the book, but I gather it must have been fairly popular, for a radio drama was produced for the Dutch radio waves somewhere between 1957 and 1959: Labyrinth in Lan-Fang was a play in nine half-hour parts, probably broadcast by radiostation VARA.

Labyrinth in Lan-Fang starts with judge Dee being appointed as the new magistrate of the border town of Lan-Fang, one of the strategic points of the empire in their fight against the Uyghur people. Yet not all is well in this town: the population has lost all its trust in the central govenment because of a local usurper, who managed to corrupt all previous magistrates, an Uyghur attack seems imminent and there is also 'normal' work for the magistrate: a case of a widow being cheated out of her legacy by her stepson, a secret hidden inside a painting and a large garden-maze just outside of town, a missing girl and the mysterious murder of a retired governor inside a locked room will also keep the judge busy these first few days of his appointment.

I have read my share of Judge Dee novels, but this was my first encounter with The Chinese Maze Murders / Labyrinth in Lan-Fang. And I liked it! As always, a lot of the enjoyment comes from the way Robert van Gulik manages to bring ancient China alive: from 'big' settings like how the administrative and legal system worked, to little details like daily habits, the food and objects people use, all the Judge Dee novels offer a great look in ancient China, but it never feels 'too heavy': it is perfectly possible, and fine to 'just' read these novels as is.

One of the best elements Robert van Gulik borrowed from Dee Gong An is the story-structure: the judge is always working on multiple cases at the same time (usually three), which is actually quite logically considering he's the highest authority in the district: it wouldn't make sense for him to work on one case at a time. This results in overlapping storylines, which feels quite natural: the findings of one case might be useful to the solving of another, while sometimes he has to prioritize one over another. In most of the Judge Dee novels, these seperate storylines overlap at several points, which is also the case here. In a way, these storylines crossing over make up a Chinese Maze on their own.

And a little bit of sidetracking here, but I recently found out that there are Judge Dee videogames. Well, find-the-object games. But what about a Machi/Detective Conan Marionette Symphony-esque sound novel game, where multiple, seperate storylines intersect and where the outcome of one story, is connected to another? Wouldn't that be an awesome, and fitting Judge Dee game? Just imagine, a game system like that of Marionette Symphony, with the judge, Sergeant Hoong, brawlers Ma Joong and Chiao Tai and trickster Tao Gan each contributing a little in their own way to the investigations!

But back to Labyrinth in Lan-Fang. I usually enjoy Judge Dee stories more as well-structured puzzles, rather than stories with memorable tricks or things like that and I feel the same about this story. Sure, there is a locked room murder, but I felt the solution came kinda out of nowhere. Though I have to note, I think that the storylines of the early Judge Dee novels were all based on actual court records from ancient China (again, this was van Gulik's expertise), so it seems that the trick behind the locked room in this novel was one that was actually used. Kinda creepy if you think about it (and to enter another sidetrack: I remember that a few years ago, there really was a stroller in the attic case in Japan、who was discovered in the end because someone noticed toilet paper was disappearing).

And how was Labyrinth in Lan-Fang an audio drama? The only complaint I have is the length; nine times thirty minutes is a bit too long in my opinion for one story, but besides that, I quite liked it. The combined efforts of Van Gulik's original story, the voice actors and the radio script also did a great job at keeping characters distinct from each other, something that can be quite different when your story is set in a different culture and with so many unfamiliar names. The multiple storyline structure of the Judge Dee stories can be a bit confusing, because it involves of jumping from one storyline to another, but no problems in this adaptation. Oh and I was very happy with the fact that the recording I listened was quite clean, because that isn't always the case with recordings of old radio dramas.

This month featured reviews of Japanese novels based on Chinese novels, Japanese translations of English novels, Japanese novels set in the United States and a too eager Japanese take on two American detective novels, so what better way to finish month than with a review of a Dutch audio drama based on a book originally written in English by a Dutchman, but first published in Japanese?

Original Dutch title(s): Robert van Gulik (original story), "Labyrinth in Lan-Fang"

Halfway House

「 あの翼があるから鳥だといい、牙があるから獣だといった、どっちつかずの話に出てくるあの蝙蝠ですか？」

『女王蜂』

"Do you mean the bat, that animal nobody can decide what it is, as some people call a bird because it has wings, while some people call it a beast because it has fangs?"

"Queen Bee"

I aim at a minimum of four posts a month, but maybe I should also work on spreading the posts a bit, so it at least seems this blog has a regular schedule. Anyway, number four on the last day of the month, so just safe. November should be a bit more active.

Today, Nagai Rouka ga Aru Ie ("The House with the Long Hallway"), another audio drama based on a short story in Arisugawa Alice's Writer Alice series. When criminologist Himura Hideo and writer Arisugawa Alice aren't somewhere (like in Malaysia) solving crimes, they actually have work. Himura teaches as Kyoto's Eito University and it is one of his students, Hibino Hiromitsu, who stumbles into trouble. Wandering in the mountains of Kyoto, examining genkai shuuraku (highly depopulated towns; near ghost towns) for his thesis, Hibino gets lost. As the sun starts to fall, he finally finds a little house with the lights on. Inside, he finds three people from the occult magazine Black & White, who are working on an article about a ghost that appears in the house. Hibino is invited to stay with them for the night and offer to give him a lift back tomorrow. He accepts, and takes an interest in the work of the reporters. The ghost is said to appear in a long, underground hallway which connects the house to another house a bit further away. The hallway is cut in half by a door which can be locked from either side.

No ghost appears that night though, and Miyamatsu Takeyuki, an expert in the occult, who should have come, also fails to appear. Anyway, the reporters, and Hibino, spend the night drinking and talking and when dawn breaks, they take one more look at the hallway. But for some reason, the door in the middle is locked from the other side, and when they enter the hallway from the other house, they discover Miyamatsu, dead, leaning against the door. According to the police, the man must have been killed around the time Hibino and the others had been drinking, but Hibino swears no-one left the small party long enough to have been able to go to the other house, into the hallway, kill and lock the door, and go back all the way over the mountain. But on the other hand, the door was locked from the other side, and it seems there is no way possible of tampering with it from this side. The problem that Himura and Alice has to solve is thus whether this was an alibi trick, or a locked room trick.

Like I mentioned in the review of the audio drama of 46 Banme no Misshitsu, some types of stories are better suited for an audio adaptation than others. Locked rooms, especially those that rely on some mechanical trick, are a hard one to pull off effectively in an audio drama for example (which is why the audio drama of Carr's The Hollow Man doesn't really work...). And I still have to have the pleasure of hearing one, but I would love to hear an audio drama with an audible clue. But taking this thought of locked rooms back to Nagai Rouka ga Aru Ie, do I think the story works?

Yes, oh, yes! Because the main problem of Nagai Rouka ga Aru Ie isn't about solving a locked room. it's about figuring out what kind of trick was used in the first place. Was it an alibi trick, or a locked room trick? Figuring out what happened in the first place is actually something I enjoy very much, and while the set-up was different, a highly popular novel by Higashino Keigo basically also plays with this kind of trope expectation. I think I mentioned in the review of Higashigawa Tokuya's Koukan Satsujin ni Mukanai Yoru that knowing the type of trick in advance can ruin a story, but Nagai Rouka ga Aru Ie is more like a meta-story, since it plays one level above where most detective stories are. The double layered story ( 1. What is the problem? 2. How to solve the problem?) works pretty good as an audio drama, and is a solid story (regardless of medium) overall.

Nagai Rouka ga Aru Ie also has a distinct yakata-mono flavor, something I hadn't seen in Arisugawa's works since 46 Banme no Misshitsu (though that may be because of my choice of reading). The two houses connected by a creepy hallway, somewhere deep in the mountains, a ghost haunting the place (the majority of ghosts in Japan are actually female, by the way). You'd almost think you'd walked into one of Ayatsuji Yukuto's novels. Which is seldom a bad thing.

In short, a fun story which works quite well as an audio drama. It's actually a pretty deep story because it is basically playing around with genre tropes, making you guess (deduce) what kind of story it is, making it a good, slightly meta-mystery.

Arisugawa Alice's audio dramas:
46 Banme no Misshitsu
Swissdokei no Nazo
Yaneura no Sanposha
Zekkyoujou Satsujin Jiken 
Nagai Rouka ga Aru Ie
 
Original Japanese title(s): 有栖川有栖 『長い廊下がある家』

『ゲームの館殺人事件』

渇いた叫びがくじけそうな胸を突き刺す

君を誘って世界を見たいな

「渇いた叫び」（Field of View)

This yell of thirst stabs through my dispirited heart

I want to invite you to see the world with me

A Yell of Thirst (Field of View)

Am I writing about the wrong topic? The post on Kyoto ramen got more hits in just a week than...well, practically all other posts on this blog. Anyway, I am not in Japan anymore (though my sleeping rhythm still is), so it's back to business for this blog. A lot of my Japanese reading material is still somewhere on sea somewhere between Japan and here, but I'll fill in the time somehow until those boxes arrive.

And because this month has been weird anyway with a post on a game, a book and ramen, I figure I might as well finish off March with an audio drama. Zekkyoujou Satsujin Jiken ("The 'Castle of Screams' Murder Case") is the fourth adaption of Arisugawa Alice's Writer Alice series by Kikka Mystery, following 46 Banme no Misshitsu, Swiss Dokei no Nazo and Yaneura no Sanposha. Like the latter two stories, Zekkyoujou Satsujin Jiken was originally a short story featuring the detective duo of the mystery writer Alice and his criminologist friend Himura. This time, they're after the so-called Night Prowler, a serial murderer operating in Osaka who has been killing women at night. What makes the case 'special' is that the Night Prowler is actually a fictional murderer from the horror video game Castle of Screams. The real-life murderer seems to be copying the game, from using the same name to operating with the same modus operandi and targeting the same kind of victims. Can our duo avoid a game over and catch the Night Prowler?

I only read the earlier material in the Writer Alice series, with one reason being that the series' quality dropped quite quickly. I loved the first novel, but the stories become very simple afterwards and the interaction between Alice and Himura make it seem like Arisugawa is just aiming at a certain public with this series (the same public a company as Momogre/Kikka Mystery would aim at). Which also makes Arisugawa a marketing genius, making money with the easy and carefree Writer Alice series and just once in a while releasing a Student Alice novel to keep his more orthodox fans happy.

But I haven't read the original Zekkyoujou Satsujin Jiken, so I am not quite sure whether my thoughts about the audio drama also hold for the original story, but to start with the conclusion, it's an OK story, nothing more, nothing less. The first thing that one should note is that this is a hunt for a serial killer, which brings a different dynamic to a detective novel than you'd usually see. Sure, even in good old safe Country House Murders (TM), the main dynamic is one of the detective hunting for the murderer, but the change from a (semi) closed circle environment to an open one, from the Country House to the Anonymous City brings so much uncertainty to the game that it feels different. The change from a search among a group of known variables to a unspecified group of unknown variables, the invisibility of it all makes such novels much more thrilling.

At least, in theory. In Zekkyoujou Satsujin Jiken, the story is narrated by Alice, but this takes the listener away from much of the excitement. In the first half of the story, Alice isn't even involved with the investigation into the Night Prowler, because he's being held captured by his publisher (to finish a book). Most of the killings are already over when Alice finally joins the police and Himura, but that's just too late. Compare to The ABC Murders, Cat of Many Tails! Narration from the point of view of the people close to the victims, from the start of the investigation, from the reaction of the common people to the murders, that is what makes these kind of novels fun to read. And none of it here.

This is an orthodox mystery, so you know that Himura will deduce who the Night Prowler is and stuff, but I don't know whether this was something they did in the audio drama or whether it was like this in the original too, but the hints pointing to the murderer come 1) late, and 2) too obvious, meaning you can't really solve it until the end, but you will solve it. Which makes me think about the meaning and usefulness of all the story up until that point.

As a gamer, I did think the premise of the story was interesting. Every time people get killed videogames get blamed for everything and nothing, so why not a story about someone who might be copying a videogame? The story naturally features a bit of discussion on that, but it is nice to see that a large part of that is also done from the point of view of developers. The themes between Castle of Screams as described in the story actually also sound very interesting and I wonder whether it's based on an actual horror videogame.

Zekkyoujou Satsujin Jiken has an interesting premise and it is easy to listen to as a mystery, but it does miss the finesse some of the more famous serial killer hunt stories have.It might be because the story was originally a short story, but it does seem like a missed chance.

Original Japanese title(s): モモグレ、有栖川有栖 （原）　『絶叫城殺人事件』

Perchance to Dream

「ミチルの街に、神はいないのですか？

いません

では、誰を頼りにいきるのですか

自分自身です。

自分たちが神なのですか」

『女王の百年密室』

"Is there no god in your town, Michiru?

- No.

Who do you rely on in life?

- We rely on ourselves.

Are you yourselves gods then?"

"God Save the Queen"

It's creepy how fast time goes by if you're playing Animal Crossing. If you think about it, it's not that much different from a social game, well, except for the fact that you can perfectly play it on your own and it might make you actually less social in real life, but... so... addicting...

Earlier this year I reviewed the audio drama of Labyrinth in Arm of Morpheus, the second entry in Mori Hiroshi's 100 Years series; earlier this week I finally found the audio drama of Joou no Hyakunen Misshitsu (English title: God Save the Queen), the first adventure of journalist Saeba Michiru and Walkalone (android) partner Roidy. It is 100 years in the future (literally, as the books are set in 2113), technology had significant advancements resulting in androids, flying cars and the works. But cars still break down (especially when you are are heading somewhere to research an article), which leaves Michiru and Roidy wandering around on foot in the middle of nowhere, until they arrive in the walled city of Lunatic City. City-scale self-governing states can be found anywhere in the future, but Lunatic City is, as its name implies, a bit strange. According to its inhabitants, the city, ruled by Queen Debou Suho, is controlled by the god, leading to a for Michiru incomprehensible attitude towards death. In fact, nobody ever 'dies' in Lunatic City, they just fall in a long sleep. Which is what happens to prince Jura. He falls "asleep" in the royal quarters on top of the palace. And gained imprints of some hands on his neck in the process too. But witnesses (including the Queen, who was also present in the royal quarters), swear that nobody entered or left the palace. And what makes this case all the more hard on Michiru: it's not even considered a murder case because death, and therefore murder, doesn't exist in Lunatic City.

I just noticed something in my review of the previous book which is either an enormous coincidence, or I actually used to pay attention when writing my reviews. Anyway, I liked Labyrinth in Arm of Morpheus in general, so I was really looking forward to God Save the Queen and as people might know, whenever someone starts a review like this, chances are it ended up being disappointing. And yes, it was.

Let's just start with the bad: this is not really a fair locked room murder mystery. Not really, in the sense that Mori plays with the rules a bit, that definitely makes sense in-universe (Lunatic City), but not from the perspective of the reader. The problem of the vanishing murderer is solved instantly the moment the hint appears in the story and while I admit that thematically, it is a bit like the impossible crime situation in Labyrinth in Arm of Morpheus (and while I haven't read/listened to that much of Mori, I suspect it's a theme he likes a lot), the decapitation murder in Labyrinth was much more interesting than the murder in this story.

The story is also quite 'heavy' on the reader, who has not only have to cope with the eccentric world of Lunatic City, but also with Michiru, who has a shady past which is revealed as the story progresses. Which is not a bad thing per se, but if you have to deal with a(n unfair) murder mystery, a strange world and a protagonist whom the reader can only see as another mystery, well, it makes it hard for the reader to connect to the world.

Like I mentioned in the Labyrinth review, I quite like these travel-to-new-lands-with-its-own-culture-and-rules stories and I liked the concept of Lunatic City, but I have to say that a world where death is not recognized as such, thus resulting in a world where murder doesn't exist, would really drive a detective-character insane. Michiru wants to find the murderer of the prince, but nobody in Lunatic City seems to be helpful, only looking at Michiru and Roidy as outsiders who don't understand the world (but they are friendly enough to hold banquets in honor of the two).  I've read mysteries before that played with the archetypical roles of detectives, assistents and murderers, but one that actually messes with death, and therefore murder?

God Save the Queen is a fun adventure story with a mystery twist on it, but you shouldn't expect a real fair locked room murder mystery. The radio drama is made extra fun (at least for Detective Conan-fans!), because Takayama Minami, the voice actress of Conan, is doing Saeba Michiru. And yes, everything Michiru says sounds just like Conan.

Original Japanese title(s): 森博嗣　『女王の百年密室　GOD SAVE THE QUEEN』

「愛せなくていいから、ここから見守ってる」

"He would never have had such a thought if he had been kneeling with other men upon a floor. But he saw all men walking about like insects"

"The Hammer of God"

Backlog is reduced to two book reviews. And I don't think the booklog will grow that much the following days, as I have trouble getting through the two books I really have finish before next week as is, so the beast is almost slain!

Besides the usual books, I've already discussed games and movies this month, so now it's time for an audio drama! (I think it's unlikely I will ever use the musical tag again. Unless I go to the Gyakuten Kenji musical by the Takarazuka Revue next year...)

Yaneura no Sanposha ("The Stroller in the Attic") is the third audio drama by Momogre/Kikka based on Arisugawa Alice's Writer Alice / Criminologist Himura series after 48 Banme no Misshitsu and Swiss Dokei no Nazo. I already reviewed the original short story in the past: a night prowler is active in the city of Osaka. His victims are all women and he has the weird tendency of cuttig his victims' hair and taking it with him (No idea why I am seeing this fetish so often lately...). The police has no idea who the maniac is, until they find a connection between this case and the murder of an old landlord. Two points of interest are found in the old man's diary: one is that the man had taken up the same habit like Gouda Saburou in Edogawa Rampo's famous short story The Stroller in the Attic: the landlord used to climb up the attic to peek at his tenants rooms! The second point of interest in the diary is that the landlord also claimed that during one of his attic strolls, he had seen evidence that one of his tenants was the infamous night prowler. The police suspects the man was killed for finding out too much and sees this as a chance to catch the night prowler. The problem: the landlord identified all of his tenants through some kind of code and the police has no idea which of the tenants is the maniac. Criminologist Himura drags along detective writer Arisugawa Alice, as an 'expert' in solving codes.

This was originally a short story, so I was kinda surprised this story was selected for an audio adaptation. In fact, the only reason I can think of is that this story touches very briefly on how Himura and Alice met. And I do mean very briefly. Besides that point, I actually don't think this story was a very wise choice, actually.

At one hand, I did enjoy the original story and it has been made into a faithful audio drama. As a big fan of Edogawa Rampo and the original The Stroller in the Attic, I loved how this story played with similar themes and actually turned it around: in the original story, the titular stroller eventually tries his hand at murder, while in this story, the stroller becomes the victim of one of his viewing objects. It's a surprising subversion of the original story and the code used in the landlord's diary is also strongly connected with Rampo's story, which makes it the much fun. Also, the original story was fairly short, so I was quite surprised to see that the full length of the drama, around fifty minutes, was filled perfectly, without feeling too dragged out, nor too fast-paced.

One thing I thought was a missed chance in the original story, was the fact that there were no alternative solutions proposed. In Ellery Queen's dying message stories, you are often presented several wrong interpretations until the final, right answer is given. I think it would also have been better for this story if multiple interpretations had been explored more thoroughly.

This is a point I had addressed already in my reviews of the earlier Arisugawa Alice audio dramas: some types of stories are just better suited for a purely audio adaptation than other types. And I don't code-cracking stories are particularly fit to solve with just your ears and head. Or at least: I can't decipher a code just listening to the coded items. I really need to see them before my head starts to process them. And I think that the visual plays a large part in this story anyway, as it deals strongly with voyeurism. It is a story that deals with what the reader sees, with the feeling people get from secretly looking at other people, from peeping. It's this subject matter that makes this story feel much more suitable for a visual medium (and I count a novel as a visual medium, to an extent). Or that might be me just nitpicking. Though I really do have to say that I had the same feeling too when I listened to an audio adaptation of Rampo's The Stroller in the Attic.

There are stories where misunderstanding (mis-hearing something) plays a large part, and then I think an audio-drama would be perfect. There are probably codes cracking stories that probably work better if you actually hear them, but few mysteries nowadays are actually written to be heard, so that explains why a lot of codes are in fact more visually-focused, I think.

It seems that Momogre/Kikka has already a new Arisugawa Alice audio adaptation (alliteration, engage!) scheduled for next month of a story I haven't read yet, so kinda looking forward to that!

Original Japanese title(s): モモグレ　（原：有栖川有栖）　『屋根裏の散歩者』

「殺しの際は帽子をお忘れなく」

Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?

- That depends a good deal on where you want to get to

I don't much care where.

- Then it doesn't much matter which way you go.

…so long as I get somewhere.

- Oh, you're sure to do that, if only you walk long enough.

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"

Those who can read Japanese (or those who are adept at using translation websites), might have seen it in the comments already. Or you might have deduced it from the fact I kept mentioning I don't have any unread books left, yet didn't went out to purchase them. Anyway, I will be leaving late next week for Japan to study there for a year. Yes, again. In fact, this blog started in 2009 just as a personal blog to keep the home front up to date when I went to study in Tokyo and Fukuoka, but somewhere along the way it transformed into the.... thing that it is now. So the reason I didn't buy new (Japanese) books was because it would be cheaper to buy them there.

I have to admit though that I am not sure what I will do with this blog. I will keep updating with reviews and stuff (I think), but experience has taught me that my post-amount will drop (significantly!), because life tends to get a bit busier as an international student (which is why I made sure that I at least have more posts this year than in 2010!). The other thing is that I am not sure whether I will post non-detective/personal posts here. At one hand, this blog did start out as such, so I might just return to the origins. On the other hand, it might not be very interesting if you're mainly here to read about (Japanese) detectives (I guess that most people only know about the reviews) and you're suddenly reading about ramen. There is a big chance I will write about food.

Anyway, I will keep posting about detective fiction, just not as regularly as now I think.

And now that we have gone over that: short shorts! Where I write short pieces about detective fiction because I couldn't come up with longer texts. Today's victims: the 1946 movie Green for Danger, the 2011 movie Joseon Myungtamjung : Gakshituku Ggotui Bimil and once again an audio drama of Houkago wa Mystery to tomo ni!

Green For Danger (1946) is based on Christianna Brand's novel of the same name and widely regarded as one of the best, if not the best movie based on a Golden Age detective novel. And I have little to add to that. I haven't read the original book, but this is really a neat movie that oh, I don't know, deserves a Criterion Collection release. Oh, wait, that exists already? Great, great! Anyway, the story is set in England, 1944. The country is suffering under the V-1 bomber attacks and the people at Heron's Park Emergency Hospital, a rural war hospital, have quite busy days taking care of their patients. One day, their local postman is brought in having been injured by a flying bomb and has to undergo surgery. The postman never survived the operation, because he died on the operating table before the operation could actually start. Later, one of nurses claims that this was not just an accident or natural death, but she gets killed off before she is able to say more about it. Inspector Cockrill is brought in to investigate the case.

Like I said, I am not familiar with the original novel, but this movie really brought a nice puzzler, combined with captivating characters and especially the setting of the hospital is very memorable. Furthermore, Alastair Sim as the inspector Cockrill is just a delight to look at and he alone is enough of a reason to recommend this movie (though it is a great movie overall). The mystery behind the postman's death is somewhat easy to solve though, but this is just a splendid production.

It reminds me a lot of Team Batista no Eikou ("The Glory of Team Batista"), a popular Japanese mystery novel that has been turned into a movie and TV show amongst others. The main mystery there is also a series of death on the operating table of the elite Team Batista, experts in a very complex procedure. They pride themselves on a perfect record, but then more and more patiens of them die on the operating table, leading to the suspicion that one of doctors might be sabotaging the operations. It relies quite a bit on medial knowledge, but the movie is pretty awesome, starring Abe Hiroshi as the official in charge of investigating whether the deaths were accidents or deaths. Abe's usually stoic, yet at times very playful (almost mean), detective also reminds of Sim's inspector Cockrill.

From England to Korea. I finally got a chance to 2011's Joseon Myungtamjung : Gakshituku Ggotui Bimil ("Joseon Great Detective: Secret of the Wolfsbane Flower"), which has the international title of Detective K: Secret of the Virtuous Widow. The movie is based on a novel by Kim Tak-Hwan and is set in 1782, 16 years after king Jeongjo took the throne. A series of murders on magistrates and other officials, combined with rumors of large-scale embezzling force the king to appoint a secret agent to investigate the case. The unnamed detective (though apparently called "detective K" outside of South-Korea) starts off his investigation rather roughly (resulting in being accused of murder himself and leading to assault on soldiers and such) and the king is forced to 'punish' his detective by sending him off on another, less important investigation (which luckily is strongly related with the serial murders). Helped by a dog thief, the detective start to uncover an intrige of unbelievable scale. And he finds a lot of hidden Christians. Hmmm.

This movie was pretty fun to look at, but it really needed polishing. The overall plot seems too complex at times, but not for the right reasons. Some scenes show some interesting detective work by the protagonist, or Conan-esque emergency escape plans, but it never feels like one coherent story. The plot seem little more than a easy way to glue the scenes to each other, instead of the plot dictating the way the movie progresses. The plot also gets unneccesary complex at the end with plot-twists and reveals that add little to the story, but for the fact that they are so totally surprising and unexpected. Oh, and they could have made the subplot of the Christians suffering under the Confucian rule a bit less... obvious. Yes, I know that a large part of the South-Korean population is Christian, but this was waaaaay too obvious a religous agenda.

Overall, this movie seems highly influenced by Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes movies, providing a lot of comedy and action, but it is just less polished. Like those Holmes movies, it is possible to set your mind at cruise control and enjoy the scenery. A special mention for Kim Myung-min, who plays a wonderful unnamed protagonist though. At times sharp and brave, but mostly a coward: which means he is similar to Houshin Engi's Taikoubou. Which is never a bad thing (seriously, any protagonist who loudly proclaims that 'I need to find more friends. To have them do the fighting for me', is genius). The international title of this movie by the way seems highly influenced by Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame.

And finally, once again Higashigawa Tokuya's Houkago wa Mystery to Tomo ni. First of all, a drama series based on the book (and I suspect some of the uncollected stories) will start late next month! Yeah! And secondly, I finally listened to Momogre's audio adaptation of Houkago wa Mystery to Tomo ni. Yes, I have already reviewed NHK's adaption of the book, but I was also interested in hearing how Momogre did their version, as their adaptations of Swiss Dokei no Nazo, 46 Banme no Misshitsu and ABC Satsujin Jiken were fun. And I am just a big fan of protagonist Kirigamine Ryou, the vice-president of Koigakubo Academy's detective club (who never seems to be able to solve a case herself).

Momogre's version is based on the first two stories, Kirigamine Ryou no Kutsujoku ("Kirigamine Ryou's Humiliation") and Kirigamine Ryou no Gyakushuu ("Kirigamine Ryou's Counterattack") (translation available for the latter). For a review on the stories themselves, I refer to the NHK version review, as the stories are identical and even the scripts are very similar (even though Momogre's version of Kirigamine Ryou no Kutsujoku is a bit unfair because of something important is mentioned at a later moment). So if they are so similar, why discuss Momogre version? Well, I wanted to convey the feeling of surprise when I, halfway through the drama, finally noticed that this was a Men Only version, i.e. there were no female voice actresses here. Ad yes, Ryou is a girl, but she has a speech pattern similar to a boy anyway, so I wasn't really bothered by the voice. It gets a bit distracting when women who talk like... women are voiced by a man. Momogre's Ryou was also quite different from NHK's Ryou: the latter was an energetic, almost hyperactive girl who wanted to be a detective. Momogre's Ryou.... was a man trying to speak like a girl, resulting in a nagging voice who never seemed as powerful as NHK's Ryou. Which is a big part of Ryou's charm. So in short, NHK's version is superior. In all aspects.

So, I think that this will be the last post of this month and next month... might bring food. Or detective fiction. Maybe detective fiction and food.

Original Japanese title(s): 東川篤哉 (原)　『放課後はミステリのあとで』
Original Korean title(s): 조선명탐정 : 각시투구꽃의 비밀