The Bloodstained Book

'I will now lecture,’ said Dr Fell, inexorably, ‘on the general mechanics and development of the situation which is known in detective fiction as the “hermetically sealed chamber.” 

"The Hollow Man"

I don't even remember the last time I did a review of a non-fictional work!

Among fans of classically-styled puzzle plot mysteries, the locked room murder is of course a very popular trope. The idea of an utterly impossible crime, like a murder occuring inside a room from which the murderer simply couldn't have escaped because all exits were locked from the inside or because all the exits were observed, is of course very alluring, and ever since we had the double murder in the Rue Morgue, we have seen countless of variations on this particular variation of the impossible crime. For over a century, the locked room mystery has entranced readers all across the globe, and writers have struggled with coming up with new versions of what often still boils down to a very similar problem: a crime happening at a specific sealed or observed space, with no sign of the culprit. There are of course other variations too, like someone disappearing from an observed spot, or for example the famous 'no-footprints-in-the-snow' example. While there are many variations, many people have tried to create categorizations for the broad types of solutions to these impossible crimes. The most famous one probably being the Locked Room Lecture in John Dickson Carr's The Hollow Man (The Three Coffins), where Dr. Fell, in a meta-moment, starts categorizing the types of solutions to the locked room murder and many, many authors since have come up with their categorizations of solutions.

People also love lists for some reason, so you'll probably find plenty of people listing their favorite, or even, if they are ambitious, the "best" locked room mysteries. I have no interest in lists in general, so you'll never see one here from me, but I have in the past discussed a book that came close: Arisugawa Arisu no Misshitsu Daizukan ("Arisugawa Alice's Great Illustrated Guide to Locked Rooms"), which is also known as An Illustrated Guide to the Locked Room 1891-1998 was a wonderful book written by Arisugawa Alice, where he selected 50 important locked room mysteries from both Japan and abroad. As the title suggests, one important aspect of the book was the visual aspect: each entry featured nicely drawn maps and illustrations of the crime scene in each story, helping the reader visualize the setting of each story. Many of the stories featured don't feature floorplans/diagrams themselves, so it was very cool to these stories properly visualized. While Arisugawa also discussed each story with an entry, introducing the story and setting of each locked room, he did not go into much detail for each story, as he avoided spoilers.

Iiki Yuusan is probably best known as the authority on Ellery Queen in Japan, so I have to admit, I was a bit surprised when I learned his latest book, released earlier this week, is titled Misshitsu Mystery Guide (2023). Misshitsu Mystery Guide offers an extensive overview of the locked room mystery by discussing fifty titles in total: 30 Japanese stories and 20 foreign ones. Like in An Illustrated Guide to the Locked Room 1891-1998, the entries also feature diagrams and floorplans drawn especially for this release, helping the reader visualize each crime scene. However, the introduction does make very clear this is not just "Iiki's version of Arisugawa's book" and that it has a completely different angle from which it approaches the theme of the locked room mystery. For Iiki wants to show the sheer variety within the locked room murder trope and in order to do so, he has decided to spoil the solutions of each entry. The book is divided in two halfs: all fifty stories are briefly introduced in their own entry, with explanations about the story, a more in-depth description/explanation of the locked room situation and a short write-up by Iiki about the merits of the story and why it was picked. 

However, the real brilliance of Misshitsu Mystery Guide comes in the second half, where Iiki can freely spoil the solutions of all 50 stories. Of course, this book would just be... a spoiler if all it did was explain how each locked room mystery was created, but Iiki goes beyond that, naturally. For that is what makes this book unique: because the guide is written with the premise of spoiling the solutions, Iiki managed to select 50 titles based on the solution. And that sounds very similiar to the trick behind a locked room mystery, but that would not be correct. What I mean is that Iiki, because he can freely spoil each story, manages to make a selection not simply based the merits of "the trick" behind a locked room mystery. It's not just about how original or impactful the trick of a locked room mystery is. I guess this is where Iiki being an Ellery Queen authority influences the book the most, because for example, there are some books Iiki picked not because the trick behind the locked room murder was so original (in fact, a lot of them he even calls obvious or simple), but because the line of reasoning to uncovering that trick was so brilliant. There are also stories he picked that aren't technically (impossible) locked room murders, but only become so when you get into spoiler territority, something he was only able to do because he's free to spoil the stories. The result is a book that has some really unique picks for a guide on locked room mysteries, but Iiki's entries do make clear each time why he selected each book.

The first entry for example, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, Iiki explains, is definitely not picked because of the merits of the trick itself, but because how it is a first example of showing the logical reasoning behind solving a locked room. He intentionally picks John Dickson Carr's The Problem of the Green Capsule over The Hollow Man, because he considers it a better work in terms of fair play, and the reasoning behind how the crime is solved. On the Japanese side, you have usual suspects like Honjin Satsujin Jiken (The Honjin Murders), but also a more experimental book like Ashibe Taku's Steam Opera, or Imamura Masahiro's Shijinsou no Satsujin (Death Among the Undead), where Iiki manages to show the versatility of the locked room problem in well-thought out analyses of the books and their place in the greater picture. The fifty books in Misshitsu Mystery Guide are definitely not all you'd immediately expect in a list of locked room mysteries, but Iiki always explains convincingly why he selected them for a book about the potential of the locked room mystery and how the trope is more than just a parlor trick and never "an all-purpose trope you can just use in any mystery story", but how the locked room murder can also always function as a device for other mystery tropes and how even a simple or re-hashed trick can faciliate a great mystery novel by properly focusing on the reasoning/solving element of a mystery.

The book also features three extra editorials. The last one is simply a list of another fifty books that didn't make the final cut (but probably interesting enough to read), but the other two are much more interesting. In the introduction, I already mentioned how John Dickson Carr used the Locked Room Lecture to present a categorization of solutions to the locked room mystery. In the first editorial, Iiki collects many more categorizations from various books and authors from both Japan and abroad (in English language books). It's really handy to see the various categorizations in one article, so not just Carr's, but also from Clayton Rawson, Edogawa Rampo, Abiko Takemaru, Yamaguchi Masaya and many more. I have to admit I was surprised by the news that a year before Carr's Locked Room Lecture, a Japanese author had already published a story with one too by the way! The second editorial similarly collects categorizations of motives/justifications for creating a locked room from various books.

I have read about two-thirds of the Japanese titles, and not even half of the foreign titles, so there are some entries I won't be able to read for a while, but based on the entries I have read, I'd say Misshitsu Mystery Guide is definitely worth a read if you're in any way interested in the locked room mystery trope.While the book does depend a lot on spoiling a lot of books, Iiki's selection does a good job at showing the potential of the locked room mystery, and by not focusing solely on the pure tricks of each entry, but looking at locked rooms from diverse mystery-related angles, like how good the logic is behind solving a locked room mystery, or how a locked room mystery can be used to hide a different mystery trope, Iiki has come up with a book that is also valuable to creators themselves. The diverse examples of how a locked room mystery can be used in a story, and the inclusion of the various categorizations should stimulate the creative minds of people wanting to write a locked room mystery themselves.

Original Japanese title(s): 飯域勇三『密室ミステリガイド』

"All the Queen's Men"

暗い霧のただ中

求め捜せ

真実（まこと）の道

神話の中で繰り返される戦い（バトル）

『女神の戦士　～PEGASUS FOREVER～』（Marina Del Ray)

In the middle of the dark mist

Look and search for

The road of truth 

The battles that have been repeated in legends

"The Warriors of the Goddess ~ PEGASUS FOREVER" (Marina Del Ray)

I like how I never seem to do what I say I'll do in my posts (like I mentioned here). So I might say that it is a bit silly to read English fiction in Japanese and that I should read more in English, but I'll still read English fiction in Japanese. Short story: I am not to be trusted.

Though I have a semi-excuse for today's review. For The Misadventures of Ellery Queen (or Ellery Queen no Sainan), an anthology featuring Ellery Queen pastiches, parodies and homages is actually not available in English! Sure, all but one of the stories collected here were originally written in English, but this is the first time they have been collected in a neat single release. In Japan! Been able to read Japanese, I've been able to get my hands on some (translated) English novels rather easily, but I had never expected that I would come across a Japanese-exclusive, English-based Queen volume! So I had actually been waiting for the release of this volume for quite some time now as a Queen fan. In fact, I had been waiting for so long, that I had actually forgotten about it! Which explains why I'm a month late with my purchase. And review.

Anyway, The Misadventures of Ellery Queen is a handsome (and also very expensive) hardcover release and is edited by Iiki Yuusan, chairman of the (Japanese) Ellery Queen Fanclub. Iiki wrote introductions to every story, explaining his reasons for selected the story in question and presenting all kinds of story regarding the original publication, the writer(s) and the relations to Queen-dom.  Iiki also added a probably fairly complete list of (English) Queen pastiches at the end of the volume, which might suggest a future volume? But back to the current volume. The Misadventures of Ellery Queen is divided in three sections: pastiches, parodies and homages, with the pastiches definitely the highlight of the volume. I wasn't too big a fan of the parodies, as they became a bit too silly at times and the homages were a hit or miss too for me, but I had quite some fun overall with this volume. Though I will admit this right now: there are just too many stories here, so I'll discuss most stories only briefly.

Part I: Pastiches

We all know about those undisclosed cases mentioned in Dr. Watson's stories. Queen himself addressed the disappearence of Mr. James Phillimore in his radio-play Mr. Short and Mr. Long. Francis M. Nevins Jr.'s Open Letter to Survivors [1975] in turn is based on a undisclosed case mentioned in Ten Days' Wonder regarding the will of Adelina Monquieux. Our unnamed detective visits the infamous Adelina, who has three sons, a triplet, who look exactly the same (and who are convieniently named Xavier, Yves and Zachary) and a niece. According to Adelina's will, they will all inherit a great sum of money if she is to die and another great sum of money is to go a hospital to treat the victims of the atomic bombings in Japan. But if her safe is opened within 24 years after her death, the money intended for the victims is to go the Flat-Earth society. 

And of course Adelina is killed. The story is distinctly Queen-ish, with several plot-devices often used by Queen utilized here (though I am not mentioned them by name for a reason) and a logical explanation of the events by the unnamed detective as if by Queen himself. Also funny is the way the suspects are named, as Queen, in his Puzzle Club stories, also often gave his suspects easy to understand names (initial letters ABC, or XYZ etc).

I have to admit that this is the first time I've ever read a story by Edward D. Hoch. Which seems like almost impossible, seeing his output. But still. The Circle of Ink [1999] concerns a series of seemingly indiscriminate murders, with the murderer leaving an ink circle on the hands of his victims. What connects these victims and will the police be able to stop this serial killer? The search for a missing link in a serial murder case. Yes, this should sound familiar. The result? A very entertaining short story that reminds of the latter period Queen. Those in the know, should be able to guess some of the plot twists coming, but that doesn't make this story less fun. A lot happens actually in this story, but it never feels too rushed and I really love the way the murders are connected (in a way).

I was less a fan of Hoch's Wrightsville Carnaval [2005]. Maybe because it was set in Wrightsville, maybe because the story was a bit too easy and not really... Queen-ish. Though in my mind, a lot of the Wrightsville stories don't feel Queen-ish, so that might be right. Anyway, Queen has not visited Wrightsville for years now and is surprised to see how much has changed (and to hear how many of his acquaintances have died). But one thing hasn't changed: people die when Queen visits Wrightsville. I would usually write more detailed about the story, but I have the feeling that the solution would become rather clear if I were to do that. At any rate, the story is set in a very modern world (everybody uses mobile phones), which might feel a bit strange at times, but if I allow Columbo to use one...

The Japanese Armor Mystery (日本木製鎧甲之謎) [2005] by Ma Tian is the only story here not originally written in English. Iiki notes that the story feels a bit like a Japanese New Orthodox story, which I sorta understand. And sorta don't understand. Anyway, the problem for Queen to solve: why was there a man dressed in a complete Japanese war armor in the garden? And why would one murder a elderly sick man who was going to die soon anyway? The somewhat weird murder scene of man in armor reminds a bit of the early Queen novels, but yes, there is something distinctly New Orthodox to this story. Which is actually not a bad thing, nor a strange thing as the New Orthodox school was originally a direct offspring of the Kyoto University Mystery Club's Guess the Criminal short stories, which in turn were often inspired by Queen-ish stories. The Japanese Armor Mystery is a bit easy to solve though and might have been better in a novelette form, I think.

The Book Case [2007] (Dale C. Andrews and Kurt Sercu) is the most recent story collected in The Misadventures of Ellery Queen and the most meta of the pastiches. An elderly Queen has to solve the death of Djuna's son and his colleague. The latter was found murdered in his room, with a pile of Ellery Queen novels on the floor keeping him company. Is this a dying message that means Queen himself did it? Of course not and there is an absolutely good reason why there's a pile of Queen novels besides the victim. Besides the meta-reason of course that the writers are clearly Queen-fans who wanted to mention all the Queen novels in their story. I am not too big a fan of the super-elderly Queen described here (the elderly Queen described in Nishimura Kyoutarou's Great Detectives series feels a bit less physically helpless), but this is a great story overall. It gets kinda modern near the end of the story though and the solution kinda asks for specialist knowledge, or expects you have read the Detective Conan volumes that were released a bit before the release of this story that surprisingly enough feature a similar plot point, but this is great meta-fun.

Part II: Parodies

Ten Month's Blunder [1961](J. N. Williamson) features detective Celery Keen in a dying message story. What does the word FAN written in blood indicate? The set-up is a classic, three suspect, elimination-style story, but as this story is filed in the parody section and not in the pastiche section, you can bet that this is not a straight serious story. It's actually reasonably entertaining, but as often is the case, the interpretation of a dying message can be troublesome, if it refers to somewhat specialist knowledge.

The strongest impression Arthur Porges' The English Village Mystery [1964] made on me was when it mentioned that twelve of the fourteen inhabitants of the titular village were murdered in a serial murder case. That doesn't leave many suspects for Celery Green to investigate! The solution is a playful take on a Queen staple trope, but one that really doesn't work in a Japanese translation, sadly enough.

Dying Message [1966] does not really feel like a Queen parody, in my mind, except for the fact that Norma Shier wrote this story under the name Leyne Requel (an anagram of Ellery Queen), who is also the detective in the story. Schier plays a lot with anagrams here and Ellery Queen (Dannay) himself added an editor's note at the time of this story's publication in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (EQMM) explaining all the anagrams Schier hid in the story. I don't really like this story as a meta-mystery, as it features the kind of meta-solution I don't like (not even in meta-fiction!), but it might be of interest to someone else.

Jon Breen's The Idea Man - C.I.A. Cune's Investigatory Archices Plagarism Department [1969] is a somewhat surreal dying message story starring E. Larry Cune, but the main attraction of this story is the way Breen manages to insert many, many references to Queen and (mystery) fiction in general in just a few pages. Once again, something that might be of interest to others.

Oh, I already used 'surreal' for Breen's story. Not sure what to use for David Peel's The Cataloging on the Wall [1971] then, as this story is even more bizarre. Grotesque maybe. It features Quellery Een, a librarian/drug addict/writer/editor/detective/and more who has to find a replacement for his dead secretary (whom he himself killed). The story was written for the April Fool's edition of Wilson Library Bulletin and despite having a Challenge to the Reader, probably unsolvable unless you're as crazy as Quellery here. Not my cup of tea, but I can understand why one would like this story though.

Whodunit? [1976] (J.P. Satire = Peter David and Myra Emjay Kasman) is my favorite of the parody section. Not because of the solution or something like that, because that wasn't that surprising or original (it might have been at the time though). No, this story is fun because it's a crossover between Star Trek (the original series) and Ellery Queen. The TV show of Ellery Queen, starring Jim Hutton. James T. Kirk is found murdered (burnt to death by a phaser and margarine!) in his quarters, leaving only the dying message Uhu and Ellery, inspector Queen and Velie have to find the murderer among the crew of the USS Enterprise! The setting is bizarre, but it is definitely written as an 'episode' of the Ellery Queen TV show, complete with the story beginning with several dialogue cuts featuring all the suspects and a Challenge to the 'Viewer' (?)! Near the end, the story becomes more relient on Star Trek-fandomania (and this is still a parody story, so don't expect it to be too serious), but this was still an entertaing story. But weird. Definitely weird.

Part III: Homages

The Case of the Stuttering Sextant [1974] is a parody on a true crime story by Baynard H. Kendrick, with Clayton Rawson having added an introduction and footnotes in the spirit of Ellery Queen (Dannay), the EQMM editor. The story itself was not that funny, but I loved Rawson's take on Queen, the editor, complete with very, very detailed footnotes questioning Kendrick's style of writing.

The African Fish Mystery [1961] (James Holding) takes it cues from Author, Author, the radio program where Dannay and Lee acted as Mr. Ellery and Mr. Queen. Guests were presented with an enigmatic situation, for which they were supposed to think of (deduce) an explanation for. Martin Leroy and King Danforth are our replacement Dannay and Lee here, who are on a world trip. In Africa, they are told by their driver that a previous customer became a wealthy man after being driven by him, as his customer was told that he inherited a fortune when they came back from their tour. Martin and King however think the story sounds too great to be true and they start to come up with their own explanations for the sudden increase of wealth of the man. Great fun if you're familar with Author, Author!

Dear Mr. Queen, Editor [1963] (Marge Jackson) is written in the form of a letter to Queen, the editor, like the title suggests. The author tells Queen about the murder of a husband and hints at a future murder, with the editor Queen not sure what to think about the letter. It's a short story and the conclusion is rather predictable, so it hardly leaves an impression, to be honest.

E.Q. Griffen's Second Case [1970] by Josh Pachter is a story in a series featuring the family Griffen, with all the children of the household being named after famous detectives. And like the name suggests, this story features the second case starring Ellery Queen Griffen. And as a Queen homage, we naturally have a dying message. What is the meaning of the message 123 the hippie-cum-children's book writer murder victim left behind? As a dying message story, it is pretty fun and fairly clued at, and the idea of having all these 'famous detectives' running around in one house is actually quite interesting, so I might want to read more stories of the Griffen series.

But the greatest story of the homage section has to be Drury [???] (Steven Queen), which is also a very effective Misery parody. One of the Queens cousins gets involved in a car accident and is found by Annie, who also happens to be Barnaby Ross's greatest fan (and she hates Ellery Queen). Having found the name card of Barnaby Ross among her patient's possessions (thus finding out that he is Ross), she tells 'Ross' that she is not happy with the conclusion of Drury Lane's Last Case and forces him to write a continuation that suits her taste.

This is really a funny story, because it plays perfectly with the confusion that arised from having the two cousins playing both Ellery Queen and Barnaby Ross in radio shows and the moment Annie begins to think that her patient Ross is actually Queen is both terrifying and hilarious at the same time! The continued stories of Drury Lane are also good for a great laugh, and while Drury does contain heavy spoilers for Drury Lane's Last Case, I can only recommend this story!

Like I said, not too much a fan of the parody section, but I loved the pastiche section and some of the homages stories were very good too. Overall though, this is a very nice release and a must-read for Queen fans. If they can read Japanese. That might prove tobe a small problem to some though. In the afterword, Iiki gives a bibliography of more (English) Queen pastiches and I really hope that the future will bring another volume!

Original Japanese title(s): 編訳： 飯域勇三 『エラリークイーンの災難』