Kitayama Takekuni is an author discussed on this blog and that is usually in his role as a writer who specializes in locked room murders with a mechanical trick behind them. If you look at his work in the Danganronpa Kirigiri novels, as well as the Danganronpa and Rain Code games, and of course his Castle series, and the adjecent novels Alphabet-sou Jiken/The Case of Alphabet (2002) and Gettoukan Satsujin Jiken ("The Moonlight Manor Murder Case" 2022), you'll quickly recognize his knack for inventing original and usually bombastic mechanical tricks to his locked room murder situations, almost like he's playing a round of The Incredible Machine. The first installment in the newest Castle book, which started its serialization in the summer, too promises to be another show his inventive mind.
The first story was originally published in 2004 and is titled 1941-nen no Mauser ("A 1941 Mauser") and starts in 1986, in an old bar in Leningrad. A hunter has ventured to visit this bar, named Heroes, because many old veterans who fought in the Second World War still visit this place: our hunter looks up to the military life and hopes he can become a sniper one day, so he hopes to chat a bit with the war veterans. One of the veterans, a former sniper, tells the man about a strange experience he had back in 1941, right in the middle of the war when the Nazis were entering the Soviet Union. The Nazis were also after treasures, and one of those targets was the Glass Room, a "sister" to the Amber Room in the Catherine Palace. As the name would suggest, the Glass Room consisted of beautiful glass and crystal ornaments and was worth a fortune. The Nazis were planning to move the valuables out of the room, but such an operation would take days due to the delicacy of the treasures inside. The Red Army therefore decides to install a two-man sniper unit at a place overlooking the manor faraway: they could easily take out any Nazis attempting to steal the Union's treasure, especially as the Nazis could only transport the treasures out during the day, meaning they don't even have to watch it overnight. The two men brought to an impromptu watchtower, which allows for a good sight on the manor. They spot a Nazi soldier on the rooftop, but don't take any action. When the sun sets, they move to their camp and return to the watchtower the following day, only to find the whole manor missing. Did the Nazis steal the whole building in one night, or something else going on.
This is a great opening story: like the other stories in this volume, it makes great use of the historical setting, both for the atmosphere, but also in terms of how it relates to the mystery, for example when it comes to clueing. While the story is fairly short, Kitayama manages to go over a lot of the "likely" theories that would explain the impossible disappearance and discard them for various reasons, from practicality problems to some "solutions" simply not making any sense to do in the first place. The way Kitayama manages to use a certain clue to both discard a likely theory, but also use it as a definite clue to point to the true solution is really great. The trick itself is grand, as you might expect from Kitayama. It's nuts in terms of how feasible it is in real-life, but it is thematically very fitting. You could easily imagine this trick being used for a "minor" disappearance, but it wouldn't be Kitayama if he didn't use it on something as grand as a whole building.
The title story Kami no Hikari ("The Light of God") goes one step further, and is about the disappearance of a whole city! A not-so-lucky gambler strikes up a conversation with someone at a bar who challenges our gambler, promising to pay out some money if our gambler can come up with a mystery our challenger can't solve. The gambler himself doesn't even need to know the answer himself, as long as it's a mystery that occured in real-life in relation to himself. The gambler recalls the mysterious experience his grandfather had in 1930: unlike his grandson, his grandfather George was a great gambler: a well-honed sense of memory allowed him to win often at cards and other games and while he had to be careful, he managed to slowly amass enough money to allow him to leave his hometown and try his luck in Las Vegas. He knew the casinos there were careful for people like him who could memorize cards, so his idea was just to make one single strike that could set himself up for life. As he explores the various games, he happens to overhear some high-rollers, who talk about an exclusive invitations-only bus leaving in the early morning for a secret location. George quickly deduces the bus will bring those guests to a special casino with higher stakes and payout rates. He sneaks in the luggage compartment of the bus the following morning and an hour later, he finds himself in a secret city built in a kind of basin. He manages to win some money and decides to steal a bike to get out of town quickly before they realize he's not an invited guest, but soon after he's out of town, his bike breaks down, forcing him to spend the night in a small cabin. When he wakes up the following morning however and looks back.... he finds the whole city missing, and a mysterious light shining down at him. The whole experience makes him feel dizzy. The next moment, he wakes up at the airport, with some pocket money and a ticket for the first flight out of town in his pocket. What happened here?
The title of the story is of course inspired by Ellery Queen's The Lamp of God (another impossible disappearing house story) and the divine light George sees is a vital clue in this story too, but otherwise, there's not much that ties these stories together.This is a story with a great atmosphere though and we also have a Kitayama who's great at snubbing out the solutions you're likely to think of first with both physical evidence and otherwise logical arguments against them. While these stories are all fairly short, usually consisting of 5 segments of which only the middle ones are dedicated to the mystery, and the first and last sections to the framing story, Kitayama always manages to discuss multiple theories, which is pretty impressive. I think the build-up and the atmosphere of this story is great, but depending on your background, the solution might be a bit easier to guess than for the average Japanese reader. I like the story a lot, but certain references did nudge my mind towards a certain theory early on, which proved to be right. Which is a bit of a shame, because it makes me feel like I solved it partially not based on the clues, but just on random knowledge. Which is perhaps a thing here, the solution is definitely better more memorable than the actual path to the solution/the clues.
The third story I already discussed last year, as it was included in the anthology Honkaku-Ou 2024 ("The King of Honkaku 2024"). I refer to that review for my thoughts on the Poe-inspired Mikansei Gekkou - Unfinished moonshine ("Unfinished Moonshine"), but it is cool to see how that story too is part of the "historical setting" theme of this collection.
Fujiiro no Tsuru ("Lavender Cranes") is a story set in three different ages, focusing on three impossible disappearances of buildings. All stories focus on a female member of the Fujiwara clan who possess enigmatic abilities and the young men they protect in their respective ages. In the Heian period, in 1055, while a young male heir of the Fujiwara clan is on the run, a shrine maiden manages to make a whole shrine standing on top of a mountain disappear. In 1999, a young man who lost the ability to play the violin visits the countryside, where a girl preparing for a local festival spirits a shrine on a hill away. And in 2055, a woman of Japanese descent who is a member of the clan running FUJIWARA Industries is suspected to be involved in making a whole military fortress disappear. What binds these three mysteries across the ages?
A mystery that is somewhat reminiscent of Rurijou Satsujin Jiken (The" Lapis Lazuli Castle” Murder Case): while they don't talk about reincarnation here, the fact we have similar characters appear across multiple ages in a kind of star-crossed destiny manner, and have them deal with similar mysteries of course rings some bells. This is a story, where the atmosphere wins it from the actual trick behind the disappearances: while the trick, which is basically the same across all ages, is one you can understand on a theoretical level, it becomes a bit fantastical when you have to imagine it being used for real. However, because there's a somewhat fantastical atmosphere in the first place, with the story jumping between the ages and presenting a similar disappearances in different contexts, it does work here.
Synchronicity Serenade is a story originally written for this collection and deals with a reporter who has a recurring dream of an ash-white house, which is then swallowed by the fog and disappears. He mentions it on social media, and is suddenly contacted by a professor, who says he's been having the same dream, and that there are others too who experience the same. He invites the reporter to join his workgroup, as the professor has been researching this phenomenom, but while the reporter initially thinks it has to be fake, he slowly starts to have doubts when the professor shows him a picture of the very house he had been dreaming off. The professor even has an address, so the reporter decides to investigate the house himself to learn why he's been having these dreams, but can he reach an answer?
This is a somewhat different story, as it's set in the modern time and we don't really have an impossible disappearance: it only disappears in the dreams, and the investigation is more focused on why they are having these recurring dreams, and whether the professor is really investigating these dreams or not. The whole story has a somewhat dreamy feeling to it because of that, and while I think the final solution presented is interesting on its own and fits the vibe of the tale, I think the false solution presented earlier feels more in-line with the other stories in this collection.
This story has been described as a hidden Kitayana masterpiece, and indeed, it's much better than one would expect as a playful farewell story to some magazine mascottes. The story is fairly short, but withi that limited amount of space, Kitayama manages to set-up the whole fictional world of the Bunny Gang, our narrating bunny and the two detective siblings, and also set-up two impossible crimes: one in the in media res opening scene and the main mystery of the disappearing building. The solution of the latter is as grand as Kitayama can get, but it's a bit easy to guess and I have seen another impossible building story that uses the same basic foundation (but with a very different outcome). The first one is the kind of impossible theft you could imagine Lupin the Third of Kaitou KID to pull off and is pretty fun. But I honestly don't understand why this story isn't included in the Kami no Hikari collection properly. While I get it's a bit different in terms of atmosphere, as this is cartoonier than the historical, realistic settings of the stories in the collection and perhaps the story works better with the context of them being Mysteries! mascottes, but still, it's a damn fun story that should be in a proper collected release.
At this point, you can guess what I am going to say here: yes, Kitayama Takekuni's Kami no Hikari is definitely worth a read. It's unique as a collection focusing on disappearing buildings and while some of the solutions to these mysteries feel a bit more fantastical than others, I think these stories are worth a read, as they are all really solid stories, with great set-ups and fantastic atmosphere. If possible, I'd also recommend you to purchase a copy via Kinokuniya in Japan to get the bonus story, though this might only be applicable for physical copies and bought at the physical stores themselves (as I got the code printed as an extension to my receipt).
