Murder in F Sharp

"How do you go about writing a detective story?"

- ""Well, you forget detection and concentrate on crime. Crime's the thing. And then you imagine you're going to steal something or murder somebody."

"Dial M for Murder"

When it comes down to it, I do really like reading series though, not because of recurring characters per se, but because it gives me a framework (settings/themes) of what I can reasonably expect. Which is why I often stick with series and seldom seem to try "new" things.

The Box of Genesis is a coffin-like box created in medieval times, of which it is believed it can make objects appear out of nowhere. While most believe it is an urban legend, its powers were proven to be true in 1982, when a German scientist who managed to obtain the Box of Genesis held a reception to show the Box off. Early in the party, a reporter asked to take a look inside, and everyone saw the Box was empty. The Box was left in the middle of the room, with the party going on around it, until near the end of the reception the reporter asked to have have another look inside. To the shock of everyone present however, they found a cut-up corpse inside the Box of Genesis, even though the Box had been right in the middle of the reception all that time and nobody could've just walked up to the box to put a bloody body inside without anyone noticing. While for some time, the police suspected its new owner of foul play, they never managed to figure out how where the body had come from, cementing the legend of the Box of Genesis. 

Eventually, the Box of Genesis found a new owner in Japan. The art collector Iwakura is also the owner of the Alphabet House, a mansion in the mountains that used to house missionaries. Long ago, these missionaries placed sculptures of some letters of the alphabet in the courtyard, and subsequent owners all added similar sculptures, and by now, all 26 letters of the alphabet are found in the mansion's main building, its annex and the courtyard that connects the two buildings. Iwakura often has house parties, and it's in 1998 that he invites a rather curious bunch, from a private detective to a doctor to Mikutsuki Miyuki, an actress in the theatre troupe Polka, who is accompanied by felllow actress/roommate Miiko and "De", a friend with a mysterious past. "De" has lost all memories of his past, but is a brilliant detective specializing in impossible crimes, hence his name "De" (from "Detective"). Once they arrive at the Alphabet House, the guests learn that their host isn't present yet, though the two part-time servants he has hired have all the instructions they need to entertain his guests. But Miiko hears from one of the guests that their host Iwakura might actually have been murdered some months ago already, leading to the question who actually invited them here. The guests also find the Box of Genesis in the large hall in the annex, and one of the people present happens to know about this out-of-place artifact (OOPart), telling them about the legend and the 1982 murder. The following morning, one of the guests staying in the annex can't be found anywhere there, despite the lack of footsteps in the snow in the courtyard, meaning they must still be in the annex. The Box of Genesis is missing. When the guests move to the main building, they find the Box of Genesis in the large hall on the second floor of the main building... with the murdered missing guest inside! But how did the victim, and the Box of Genesis go to the main building without leaving any footprints in the snow in the courtyard? The people are still wondering about what has really happened when another murder happens and a decapitated head appears inside a locked Box of Genesis. Can De figure these murders out in Kitayama Takekuni's Alphabet-sou Jiken (2002), which also has the English title The Case of Alphabet? 

I have read more than a few mysteries by Kitayama, but in a way, my reading of him is also very limited, as everything I have read of him fall into just two series: either it's his own four-novel Castle series, or it's the work he has provided for the Danganronpa franchise, like the Danganronpa: Kirigiri novels. Kitayama's best known for his technically-constructed locked room mysteries, with ingenious (and slightly over-the-top, ridiculous) mechanisms that create these impossible situations, and this aspect of his work is very clearly visible in the above-mentioned two series. Alphabet-sou Jiken was originally published in 2002, being a revised version of a novel he had written before his professional debut. The book had been published in a label of publisher Hakusensha, which was surprising to me, as it was not a publisher I immediately associate with mystery novels, even though they have mystery manga (like the classic Puzzle Game ☆ High Schooi). The book had been out of print for a long time, but saw a re-release by a different publisher in 2021 with a brand-new cover, and I figured it'd be an interesting way to read something beyond the two series I already knew.

Which is why it surprised me that thematically, Alphabet-sou Jiken is basically a side-story to the Castle series. There's a brief mention of a legend of the "Six Daggers of the Headless Knights" in this book, which is a recurring motif in the four books in the Castle series: while the settings/characters of those books are all completely unrelated, they do all refer to legends concerning cursed daggers and headless knights. But besides the cheeky reference, I'd say Alphabet-sou Jiken also feels very close to the Castle books in terms of atmosphere, with somewhat stange, almost cartooney characters and a distinct, fantasy-like vibe that delves into themes of fate and destiny, as well as a focus on legends. Had this been touted as a "full" spin-off of the Castle series, I would have believed it, and as this book was written before Kitayama's professional debut, I can't help wonder whether this book served as a prototype in terms of characterization and world-building for the Castle books, or whether he added these elements later when he revised it for the publication. One of the more obvious parts is early in the story, when one of the characters remarks the setting they are in is basically a detective story, and the character proceeds to destroy/damage the landline phone and the mobiles of the people present to intentoinally create a closed circle situation, to intentionally tempt fate so a murder will happen. This is also why, together with the harsh weather conditions the following day, the people inside the Alphabet House are not able to send for help immediately after the discovery of the murder. This is the type of meta-action we've seen in the Castle series before (especially 'Alice Mirror Jou' Satsujin Jiken), which have a distinct, fantasy-mystery-like atmosphere, but the first time you come across it in Alphabet-sou Jiken, it is rather surprising. Some may not like these kind of characters/actions, but it's another reason why I thought this book was basically a stealth entry in the Castle series.

As for the mysteries in this book, I felt the book does feel less refined than other works by Kitayama, probably because it was based on an older story. Most importantly, the two plot elements of the Box of Genesis and the alphabet structures in the Alphabet House feel completely unrelated, and you keep wondering why the book is about these two things: a box which can conjure objects out of nowhere, and a house with letters of the alphabet spread across the two wings and the courtyard. These are two completely different themes, so it just feels weird this book is about these two curious themes. I would've liked it if there was some kind of stronger backstory linking the two parts, rather than just "the current owner of the Box of Genesis also happens to be living in the Alphabet House." This book is fairly short, but I think it would have benefitted from more pages, allowing to build a stronger link between these elements and flesh out some of the events more.

As for the mysteries, I think the solutions are a bit simply, and perhaps undeveloped at times. For example, eventually, De also decides to tackle the 1982 case and he proves the cut-up body appearing in the Box of Genesis during a reception wasn't magic, but foul play, but the trick used there is in concept perfectly fine, even if simple, but doesn't quite practical, as it'd be easy for anything to go wrong with that method, (especially timing!), resulting in a botched plan rather easily. I do like how the fundamental concept of this trick is used in a very different, but related way in one of the 1998 murders, even if the method used there also seemed rather risky and prone to early discovery. The biggest mystery in this novel is of course the first 1998 murder, where the Box of Genesis and the first victim manage to disappear from the annex and reappear in the main building in one night, without anyone leaving any footprints in the snow in the courtyard. This part of the mystery is probably fairly easy to solve if you've already read a few Kitayama novels: it's the kind of trick he likes to use, and especially once a certain prop is introduced in the story, it's rather easy to guess how the murderer managed to pull the thing off. I think the misdirection that's pullled off here is interesting though: while I do honestly think it's easy to guess what happened even now, I think it is hidden in a way that can works best in its current form, in prose, in the letters on the page. If you'd visualize everything, I think the trick would have been even more obvious, so I did like that, because I only realized how really easy it'd be to guess the trick if you actually saw everuthing. That happens quite often with Kitayama's work I suppose, because of his love for more mechanical tricks, utilizing space and making use of moving object in general.

The ending has a nice bitter-sweet taste to it, like we often have in the Castle series (another similarity!). I like how the ending, almost surprisingly, does address some of the lingering questions I still had, specifically why these people had been invited to this party, and the themes of romance, fate and destiny touched upon in this ending are also themes we see developed more further in the Castle books, cementing Alphabet-sou Jiken as a proto-entry in the series. If you like the tone of those books, you'll definitely like this book too.

So in the end, I did not manage to move away from my familiar corner of Kitayama Takekuni's work by reading Alphabet-sou Jiken. It fits perfectly in the model of the Castle novels I already knew, but I do think I enjoyed the book more exactly because of it. As a mystery novel, Alphabet-sou Jiken does feel a bit lacking compared to the other Kitayama novels I've read: the tricks used are a bit simple and practical problems are ignored a bit too easily. Had it been a longer novel, some of these problems could've been helped I think, though I guess that ultimately, the four Castle novels are exactly that: more developed versions of the story found within the pages of this book. I wouldn't consider this book a must-read, but definitely interesting for those who have already read a few Kitayama works, to see what they can recognize in this work.

Original Japanese title(s): 北山猛邦『アルファベット荘事件』

The Girl Who Couldn't Remember

Memento mori

The last few years, all my encounters with Kitayama Takekuni were through Danganronpa, whether it being through his spin-off novel series Danganronpa Kirigiri or through his advisory role for New Danganronpa V3. Today, I go back to his Castle series, which is how I was first introduced to him in 2011.

Castle series
'Clock Castle' Murder Case (2002)
'Lapis Lazuli Castle' Murder Case (2002)
'Castle Alice Mirror' Murder Case (2003)
'Guillotine Castle' Murder Case (2005)

Rurijou Satsujin Jiken ("'Lapis Lazuli Castle' Murder Case", 2002) starts in 1989, inside the so-called The Library At The End of the World, a small private library situated outside town on the northern-most tip of the northern Japanese island Hokkaido. One of the few frequent visitors of the library is the eighteen year old Kimiyo, who unfortunately due to a brain tumor only has about a half year of life left. She spends her days here in the library, accompanied by her friends: the two librarians Kirisame and Utamika, and the student Miki. One day, Kimiyo is suddenly spoken to by a new visitor, a man calling himself Kito. He has a rather odd story: he claims Kimiyo and he have already met in a previous life. In fact, he says that they have come across each other countless of times, destined to find each other with each new reincarnation. He claims this is the Curse of the Six Daggers, which each time will attract them to one of the daggers (and indeed, the library has one of those daggers in the storage). Kito says that each new life, Kimiyo and he become lovers, but in the end, one of them always ends up killing the other with one of the cursed daggers. The curse is supposed to originate from the thirteenth century, with their "original" souls being a French lady and her knight. Kimiyo obviously doesn't believe much of the story initially, neither do her friends, but the whole thing escalates in the worst possible manner, when one morning, Kirisame arrives in the library to find Kimiyo lying in a pentagram made out of books, with the decapitated heads of Utamika and Miki hanging in the room. But not only was the room completely locked from the inside, what makes this really baffling is that Kirisame swears Kimiyo wasn't stabbed yet when he saw her lying from outside the room, but she was stabbed by the cursed dagger when he finally made her way to her. Kirisame has no idea what's going on here, until a mysterious androgenous person calling themselves Snowy appears on the scene and declares they will solve this mystery.

Meanwhile, the reader is also introduced to two other time periods visited by this Snowy. In 1916's Germany, a French Second Lieutenant is fighting in the trenches, when one day, he hears of a story of German soldiers suddenly losing their head. He later finds an underground room in the trenches where four decapitated soldiers lie, but after a short fight, he finds all four bodies have disappeared completely from that room, even though there were soldiers on guard in all the passages leading away from that room. Snowy is also a visitor in 1243's France, home of the Lapis Lazuli Castle, inhabitated by Geoffroy on the orders of the House of Toulouse. Geoffroy's daughter, Marie is in love with Rayne, one of the "Six Knights for Marie", a special unit Geoffroy appointed to his daughter. Her mother disappeared several years ago without any trace from the castle, and she has confided in Rayne to investigate it. However, Marie's knights have only started when one night, all six knights disappear mysteriously from the heavily guarded castle too. Eventually, the six decapitated bodies of the knights are found near an upstream lake. But what is odd is that the knights were discovered there the morning after their disappearance, but it takes several days to travel that far upstream. Marie is desperate when Snowy appears to explain how Rayne and the other knights managed to disappear.

Rurijou Satsujin Jiken is the second book in Kitayama's Castle series and the last one I hadn't read yet, but if you go through the other reviews, you might notice that the books do not form one narrative or even share the same world. They are all standalone stories, each set in rather unique worlds with some supernatural elements, with the main connecting tissue being that they all feature castles or manors as their main decor. So you can read them completely independently from each other, in any order. There are some small references shared between them, but nothing major. For example, there is mention of a tale of six decapitated knights too in Guillotine Jou Satsujin Jiken and the titular Clock Castle's official name is actually Geoffroy's Manor. The major similarities between the stories are the castle settings, the emphasis on impossible murders (often featuring some grand mechanical trick behind them) and fantasy/science-fiction elements playing a role in the background. For example, reincarnation in Rurijou Satsujin Jiken is actually real, and yes, Marie from thirteenth century France is really Kimiyo in twentieth century Japan. You have to roll with these ideas in this series, but more about this later.

First: the mysteries. We are presented with three different situations this time, all set in different time periods and quite different, even if they have some thematic similiarities (decapitated bodies). One problem all three situations have is that the set-up for each of them is rather short: Snowy basically appears immediately afer the mystery is presented, and they start deducing right away. The 1989 library murder for example has few good ideas about how the room was actually locked, but you barely get any time to think about it. What is important to note however is that this trick is... really hard to imagine just by reading the explanation. I had to read the text a few times and still didn't really get, but one look at the diagram that followed was enough for me to finally comprehend it, even without the textual explanation. Kitayama's pretty infamous for his rather technical, and mechanically sound construction of locked room mysteries, but I often do need a visual aid to really get it. The trick behind how Kimiyo was stabbed in an instant is a bit shakey, but it's nicely camouflaged and relatively easy to imagine. But still, everything feels a bit hasty.

The 1916's disappearance of the four soldiers from the trenches is the least interesting mystery presented in the novel. The solution itself is a bit mundane, and it doesn't really help that the prose didn't do much to really support the presentation of the mystery: some parts are rather vague, so when the whole thing is explained, you just shrug and think, 'Okay, that could happen if it was like that, but it wasn't really clear in the text.' The disappearance from the knights from the Lapis Lazuli Castle is likely the one to leave the most impression. The concept behind how the bodies actually ended up so far within half a day is basically one of those 'if you happen to know this piece of trivia, you're good and else you're out of luck' which don't do much for me. How the knights actually disappeared from the castle is incredibly obvious once a certain prop is introduced in the story, but it's so wonderfully silly and grand, reminiscent of those early Shimada Souji stories, that I can't help but have a weak spot for it. It's insane, in a good way, and that's actually when this series is at its best.

Back to the reincarnation topic though. While reincarnation is treated as real in this story, and it's also used to spring some surprises on the reader, one might be surprised that it's not really part of the mystery plot proper. Some of the reveals Snowy makes about how reincarnation works and how it influences the plot of this novel come almost out of nowhere, and while they make internally sense, you are never really expected to figure how things work for yourself. Kitayama does use the reincarnation theme for a small, but clever event late in the book, but it almost feels like an extra. For the most part, you just roll with the reincarnation thing, and accept that some events work out this or that way, because of how it is explained within the novel (mostly by Snowy), rather than working the thing out in advance yourself.

Like all the other books in the Castle series, I think I ultimately do like them, but they are also always rather hard to just recommend to people. The science-fiction/fantasy settings can be a bit disorientating for some readers, especially as each novel has a completely different setting and you often feel like you're only reading part of a story, as if you're missing context regarding the rest of the world. This is also true for Rurijou Satsujin Jiken, though I have to say it's perhaps the best at presenting a complete, standalone world compared to the other novels in series. The three impossible situations are a bit hit or miss though as each time, the process set-up-discovery-solution is rather short. Unique however, this book certainly is and overall, I am definitely glad I now read all of Kitayama's Castle books.

Original Japanese title(s):  北山猛邦『「瑠璃城」殺人事件』

Off With His Head

「けれど堂戸は、山根のように人形を気に入ることはできなかった。むしろ不気味にすら感じられた。人間とそっくり同じ形なのに、生きていないもの。それは屍体と共通している」『『アリス・ミラー城』殺人事件』

"But Douto didn't like puppets like Yamane did. In fact, she thought they were creepy. Even though puppets look like humans, they aren't alive. A fact they share with dead bodies"
"'Alice Mirror Castle' Murder Case"

Yes, this month's rule: all post titles in English. Just for fun. I don't think it has any actual influence on the visitor count though...

Confession to make: I finished reading Kitayama Takekuni's 'Guillotine Jou' Satsujin Jiken ("'Guillotine Castle' Murder Case") at the end of October. No idea why I postponed writing this review for so long, since I did like it. After finding a photo of a girl standing in front of a guillotine with the message "help" on the back, great detective Makube Naco (note: self-proclaimed) and his assistent Yorinashi Yuuki (note: according to Naco) head to the Guillotine Castle. The place gained this cute nickname because its recently deceased owner collected all kinds of execution tools. Which of course guillotines. And talking about guillotines, the castle owner was found decapitated one year earlier in a locked room. Together with a Russian doll that is rumored to be an executioner automaton. But that was one year ago.  But luckily for our great detective (?), new murders (of the locked room kind) await him in the Guillotine Castle.

As always, Kitayama Takekuni utilizes a closed circle situation in what can only be considered its own closed circle: Kitayama's novels seem always to be set in a somewhat different world, a world that is very alike, but not quite like 'our' world. These worlds feel quite artificial actually, though I am not sure whether that is what Kitayama is aiming for. But at any rate, these worlds, and the closed circle situations set inside them work very effectively in conveying a feeling of uneasiness, of something just being wrong on the reader, which really heightens the tension in his novels. Though it is a hard thing to do, as you don't want to estrange too much fom the reader (I for example, found it distracting in 'Clock Tower Jou' Satsujin Jiken).

Guillotine Jou Satsujin Jiken features two grand tricks, both involving a lot of cutting up bodies in a locked room (the main one being that of four girls being cut up and spread across several rooms in a locked space). Both tricks are quite impressive, but I am not sure whether I would consider them fairly clued. Also, I am normally not that big a fan of this type of trick in locked room mysteries, even though it is a characteristic of Kitayama. Nevertheless, the solution behind the two murders do impress when the truth is revealed to the reader and the way the two tricks are intertwined with each other is really fantastic. It's almost undetectable, but you can only nod when the link becomes clear.

And Kitayama wouldn't be Kitayama if he wasn't awfully meta in his novels. This time character identities and names within novels become a main theme in the novel, but what is impressive is that this isn't something Kitayama does just to flaunt with how smart he is, it is a vital part of the story and the way this theme is connected to the rest of the novel is really few authors can imitate.

This is where Kitayama excels in, but it forms one of Kitayama's weaker points. He manages to mix themes, tricks and setting by creating a complete artificial world where he is god, where he can change everything to suit what he wants to accomplish. Which is what most writers strive for, I guess, but the artificialness of Kitayama's stories can also feel to overwhelming, making it hard for the reader to get into.

Guillotine Jou Satsujin Jiken however is an excellent example of it simply working and what you get is an awesome murder mystery that is worth the time and effort to read.

Original Japanese title(s): 北山猛邦 『『ギロチン城殺』殺人事件』

「Ｗｅｌｃｏｍｅ Ｔｏ Ｔｈｅ Ｅｎｄ Ｏｆ Ｔｈｅ Ｗｏｒｌｄ」

「真ん中の時計は現在の時刻を、左の時計は十分遅れた過去の時刻を、右の時計は十分進んだ未来の自国を指していると云われます」

『『クロック城』殺人事件』

"They say that the clock in the middle shows the current time, the clock on the left ten minutes in the past and the clock on the right ten minutes in the future"

"Clock Castle Murder Case"

Sometimes, all the signs in your life come together and urge you to read certain books. It had been on my reading list for years now (and I had actually already the first part), but the planets aligned, the signs came together and I finally decided to actually read and finish Dazai Osamu's Ningen Shikkaku (No Longer Human) two days ago. Which was very impressive. And immensely heavy. Really heavy. But I'm glad I finally read this classic!

And afterwards, I read 'Clock Jou' Satsujin Jiken ("Clock Castle Murder Case"), which was luckily less heavy. 'Clock Jou' Satsujin Jiken is Kitayama Takekuni's debut work and winner of the Mephisto Prize in 2002. And as always, I discovered the book won a prize after I read it. Actually, I knew next to nothing about this book, which explains why the science-fiction theme the story starts out with was kinda confusing. It is the year 1999. Five years earlier, a sunspot thirty times the size of Earth appeared out of nowhere, messing up the magnetic fields on Earth. Machines started to stop working, communication became impossible. Slowly, human civilization as we know it came to a stop. In this world, it is said that September 1999 will be The End of the World. Minami Miki (assisted by childhood friend Shinomi Nami) is a private detective, even though there is little demand for his services, well, because the Earth is going to end pretty soon. A missing cat or a cheating husband just seems less important in such times. Miki has another talent though: he is able to see and exorcise 'fragments of gestalts', ghost-like appearances. It is because of this talent that Kurou Ruka hires Miki. She is an inhabitant of the Clock Castle and a couple of days ago faces started to appear on the walls in the cellar. Ruka thinks it is the work of Skipman, a ghost that is supposed to haunt the Clock Castle with the power to rip holes in time itself, and she want Miki to excorcise it.

The strange family of Ruka lives in the Clock Castle, far away from cities and (what is left of) society. Clock Castle is divided in three parts that each have their own corresponding clock on the front wall of the mansion. The clock in the middle of Clock Castle shows the current time and is connected to the "Present Mansion", the middle part of Clock Castle. The clock on the left is ten minutes slow and is connected to the "Past Mansion", while the one on the right is connected to the "Future Mansion". Miki starts his investigation in the wallfaces, but it doesn't take long before murders happen. Murders of the decapitating kind. Bodies are found in the Past Mansion and the Future Mansion, while the heads are found in the Present Mansion, but it seems impossible for anyone to have done all this, because the connecting hallway to the three mansions was under constant observation. Was it the work of Skipman?

There is a lot going on in this relatively short novel. Besides the bare-bones detective plot, there is the whole End of the World-thing that plays quite a big part in the story, with two organisations working in the background trying to find someone / something called the Midnight Key, which can either cause or prevent the end of the world. Throw in some more information about sleep illnesses and ghosts ('fragments of gestalts') and we have a lot that is usually interesting, but it at times distracts from the main plot. In my head, these themes also remind me very much of those late-time anime that quickly gather fandom with presumed adult and deep themes, but somehow don't really interest me.Well, at least it doesn't go the whole way to anime-esque themes and storytelling like NisiOisiN did with his Zaregoto series.

With ghosts and exorcisms and stuff, I also had trouble gauging how 'fair' this mystery was going to be. I had read Kitayama's 'Alice Mirror Jou' Satsujin Jiken earlier, and while there were certainly some science fiction / fantasy elements there, it was not as strongly present like in this book. With ghosts and exorcisms and other things, it was just hard to predict how 'Clock Jou' Satsujin Jiken was going to turn out. In the end, it is an orthodox mystery and perfectly solvable without resolving to witchcraft, but the fact that this book has a strong science-fiction / mystery setting will make you hesitate at times and you'll keep that feeling until you reach the end.

With the clocks and the three-in-one mansion and all, 'Clock Jou' Satsujin Jiken is of course a yakata-mono (mansion-story), but like I said, there is also so much going on besides that, that despite the weird architecture, the Clock Castle does not feel as impressive as a mansion as for example the Slanted Mansion or Werewolf Castle. It just gets overshadowed by all the other things. Anyway, a lot of the little plotlines are also left open at the end of 'Clock Jou' Satsujin Jiken and while this might not be a bad thing per se, it does feel like Kitayama might have tried too much in this book.

The main trick of the impossible murders, is sadly enough very easy to see through. While the idea is good, it is just way too obvious and actually the first idea that came in my head. It might have worked better in a shorter story / novelette form. However, I can't praise the reason Kitayama had for the decapitated bodies enough. It fits the theme of the book perfectly and I doubt anyone will think of that reason while reading it. I have seen many reasons for cutting heads of dead bodies in all these years of reading detective fiction, but never have I seen such an impressive and original one. This is really one that is hard to surpass.

I had fun with the book, certainly, but I have to admit that I thought the setting was kinda distracting. A lot of the fluff feels very anime-esque. Which is not something I dislike, except I... don't expect such things in novels.Well, light novels, maybe, but not in serious orthodox detective novels. It's just distracting. The bare-bones plot is quite too easy to see through and not as impressive as 'Alice Mirror Jou' Satsujin Jiken , but Kitayama Takekuni is certainly an author to keep an eye on.

And yes, 'Clock Jou' Satsujin Jiken has one of the most disturbing book covers I've ever seen.

Original Japanese title(s): 北山猛邦 『『クロック城』殺人事件』

『DRINK ME』

「ある金持ちが鏡をほしがっている。依頼が俺のところに回ってきた。それだけのことだ」

「結局あなたたち探偵の存在は、あなたの云 う『それだけ』のものなのでしょう？ シャーロック・ホームズもエラリー・クイーンももういない。彼らが探偵として勝ち得たはずの誇りは、現代において既に失われているのです。姿かたちばかり 彼らに似せた、まるで紙人形のような人たち！探偵たちの終わりを戦争のせいにしますか？時代の流れのせいにしますか？好きなように何かを責めるといいです ネ。でも、これだけは云えるのです。探偵は生きていてはいてかない。死ぬべきなのです。」

『『アリス・ミラー』殺人事件』

"Some rich guy wants the mirror. He came to my place. That's all."

"In the end, 'that's all' is all there is to you detectives, right? Sherlock Holmes and Ellery Queen are no more. The pride they fought for as detectives, has been lost in the modern age. You only look like them in appearence. Like paper dolls! Are you blaming the war for this ragnarok for the detectives? The change in trend? You can blame whatever you want. But I'll tell you this. Detectives shouldn't be alive. They should be dead.", 

"'Alice Mirror Castle' Murder Case"

I think that Alice in Wonderland is the non-detective novel referenced most often here, but I have to confess: I haven't read the book. Nor its sequel. Nor have I seen the Disney films. All I know of Lewis Carroll and Alice derives from writers like Queen and Arisugawa Alice. If you'd ask me about Alice in Wonderland, I could tell you about how it's an awesome source of inspiration for detective writers, but little more.

And of course, the Alice in 'Alice Mirror Jou' Satsujin Jiken ("'Castle Alice Mirror' Murder Case') refers to Alice in Wonderland. A group of detectives is gathered on the island of Erikajima, all with the same objective: to find an item called the Alice Mirror. They reside in the Alice Mirror Castle, a strange castle with mirror-rooms, doors that seem to appear and disappear and various references to Carroll's work. Their search for the Alice Mirror changes into a game of survival, as they start to get killed one after another. From locked room murders (how did the first victim get through the Alice Door, a very small door? Did he drink the shrinking potion?!) to a murder in a gigantic mirror-room and cut-up bodies, the murderer seems to be a connoisseur of classic murders. Which is also shown by a chessboard, with white chess pieces disappearing one after another every time a murder is commited, until there were none.

My first reading Kitayama Takekuni and it was a pleasant experience. As the main players in the novel are all (fairly genre savvy) detectives, the discussions they have on mechanical locked room tricks are very interesting, almost nearing the philosophical. Because all these chesspieces are so genre-savvy, the novel also clearly messes with the reader on a meta-level, and you always wonder how many levels you have to enter in the 'if Kitayma thinks I think that he thinks that I think...' game. The denouement shows that Kitayama manages to pull off hard to do things quite nicely. The locked room behind the small Alice Door is basically a rather gruesome variation on a very widely used locked room trick, but it was done so wonderfully with the Alice in Wonderland references that it manages to impress. What I liked most though was again how Kitayama (the murderer) makes uses of meta-level knowledge and justifies the locked room murder and the cut-up bodies in a way that works.

Thematically, this novel is very much like Ayatsuji's Jukkakukan no Satsujin, and it's certainly nice to read these two as a set. Discussions of the genre on a meta-level have of course been in detectives for ages, but it's nice to see how it develops as an actual field of study and how modern novels build on the knowledge to explore new realms. Once again, this is not a new practice, but it's a bit more rare to see in modern times. Well, it's a staple of New Orthodox novels, but a more global approach to it would be nice too, right?

The only thing I really, really didn't like was the characters' motivation for participating in the game. You'll probably never ever hear me talk about character motivation here again, but it's one thing to have characters that are brought to life to die (in most detective novels), but to have genre-savvy characters brought to life to die is something completely different. The characters know that they'll probably die if they go to the island to look for the Alice Mirror, but go nonetheless. For the money. I think I'd rather have a more nihilistic approach to accompany the dreamy atmosphere that's present anyway: a gathering of detectives who are destined to die, without all the 'we're in it for the money' justification, and without the utterly weird motive of the murderer.

One of these days I really have to read Alice in Wonderland though... 

Original Japanese title(s): 北山猛邦　『『アリス・ミラー城』殺人事件』