Double Jeopardy

"Crime is terribly revealing. Try and vary your methods as you will, your tastes, your habits, your attitude of mind, and your soul is revealed by your actions."

"And Then There Were None" 

The first time I saw the cover of this book, it was a small thumbnail and I could barely make out the garbage truck on the cover, so I thought it'd be like some weird Drifting Classroom-esque Umezu Kazuo story. Things don't get that crazy. 

Hitou travels with six friends to a small private island off the coast in Kumamoto Prefecture. The island used to be inhabitated by a few people, but has now become the private property of the aunt of Urai, one of Hitou's friends. Urai's aunt had cottages built on the island so it can be opened as a resort island. There's no established means of transportation yet though, so the group is brought over to the island by a chartered fisherman's boat and the fisherman is to pick them up in about a week, while the caretaker hired by Urai's aunt also there to entertain the group during their stay. However, Hitou has other plans. He's planning to kill all other six people on the trip. For Hitou was never really their friend. Several years ago, while the six targets were still in high school, they tried out drugs and while under the influence, were about to start a fire. A boy from another school spotted them, but he was caught by them and assaulted, with the victim biting off the tip of his own tongue during an attempt to escape. One of the friends took all the blame. Hitou was a friend of the victim and he swore revenge: after graduating high school, he intentionally picked a university where the six were living and found a part-time job where one of them was working. He became friends with him and was thus slowly introduced in their circle. And now they were going on a trip together: the perfect chance to just kill all of them. Hitou's plan is simple and self-destructive: he's going to poison all of them and then commit suicide, because he realizes this would be a severe crime. He even has a full confession that will be posted online automatically in a few days, where he explains why he decided to kill these people. After they arrive on the island, where they also find the caretaker waiting for them, Hitou makes sure to sabotage the one public pay-phone on the island: the only way to communicate with the mainland.

And thus, imagine the surprise when late on the first evening, one of the friends won't respond to any calls at his cottage. They break the door down and inside find... no living friend, but a corpse,  whose face has been bashed in horribly and with the tip of his tongue cut off. Hitou however did not commit this murder. Realizing there's a murderer on the island and that they can't call for help, the would-be murderer acknowledges it'd be too dangerous to continue his plans and even tries to swim back to cancel his scheduled online confession, but the sea has become too wild for him, and he is barely saved from the raging water. The next morning, they find another corpse: this was the friend who first discovered the previous body and he too has the tip of his tongue removed. And the following day, the same thing happens again... While Hitou was planning to kill them anyway it's not like he's really sad they're gone, he knows he isn't committing all these murders, so he needs to find out who the real murderer is in order to escape the carnage.

Three years later, a young woman working at a garbage disposal facility in Osaka is out on her rounds collecting garbage, when she finds the body of an old lady among the garbage. She reports it to the police, but she is immediately put in their custody: there is a serial killer on the loose in Osaka, who each time, has been killing the person who discovered the previous body. The victims are connected by the fact they all have part of their tongues removed. This immediately reminds everyone of the horrible series of murders that occured three years ago on an island in Kumamoto, where a Hitou Kiyotsugu had killed everyone on the island and made a full confession online....

Chigereta Kusari to Hikari no Kirehashi ("Broken Chains and a Sliver of Light", 2023) is Araki Akane's second novel after making her debut the previous year by winning the Edogawa Rampo Award. The book's main feature is probably the fact it is divided in two distinct parts, the first half set in 2020 on an island, while the second half is set in 2023 and starts off in the bustling city of Osaka. The two narratives are also clearly inspired by two Agatha Christie novels, a thing that is made very apparent when the characters themselves make references to Christie in the second half.  

The first half is of course inspired by And Then There Were None, as we have a closed circle situation set on an island, where everybody is being killed one by one. In this book however, we have the added tension of knowing Hitou was planning to kill everyone himself too, only someone else managed to get to them first. But who? The murders are also all connected through two mysterious facts: the murderer cuts off the tip of the tongues of all his victims, and for some reason, the next victim is always the person who discovered the previous body. Even though this is only "half" of the book, Araki somehow manages to really pack it full to the brim. There's the locked room situation of the first body for example, but there are more mysteries like one victim having been cut, even though they threw away all the knives and other potentially dangerous objects in the sea after the first murders. Araki manages to craft a great mystery in this book: the many props allow the characters to come up with various theories, and the grand denouement scene in particular has some great Queenian theories being posed based on the evidence we've all seen and been exposed to, which are then debunked as easily again with other evidence we also saw, but simply overlooked. 

The second part is set three years later and we learn about a serial killer in Osaka who for some reason has been committing murders similar to what by now has become known as the Hitou murders: when the police arrived on the island, they found that everybody on the island was dead and Hitou missing, but he had conveniently posted a full confession online. Maria, the young woman who found the most recent victim, is put under police custody and she soon becomes friends with one of her guardians. Maria also happens to be living with a young man (not her boyfriend), who happens to have bitten off the tip of his tongue some years ago... This part of the book is more inspired by The ABC Murders, as the one of the characters comments, as they are not sure why the serial killer is linking these murders in this way, and of course, the whole connection to the Hitou murders is enigmatic. As you can guess, these events are very strongly connected to the first part of the book, and they work very well as a "continuation" of the first half, while also going in a completely different way. This is not just 'part 2 by doing the same things again", this is a "part 2 that tries different things, but by building on part 1". And it's all in one book!

While I will be the first to admit I don't care about characterization that much in my mystery novels, even I have to make a special note about how strong the characterizations are in this novel. Hitou is a great protagonist and anti-hero, who is so full of hatred towards his "friends" for what they did in the past, but at the same time, you see glimpses of him struggling with the aftermath of each murder because... perhaps he did really become friends with them while he had infiltrated their circle. Maria too has a chip on her shoulder and has finally been getting her life on rails and is enjoying her work as a garbagewoman, when the whole serial killer thing confuses things once more. The strong-minded Maria is very fun to follow, as she does struggle in life, but still tries to make the best out of everything and she isn't kind to people who look down on her for doing so (cue: the veteran policeman who will regret looking down on her just because she's a woman collecting garbage).

The strong characterization does elevate Chigereta Kusari to Hikari no Kirehashi a lot, as some of the actions taken by the characters in this book do demand for those characters to have a lot of motivation/determination to do so, so Araki's strong character writing is in fact an essential part of the mystery, much more than I had ever expected.

I had read two short stories by Araki before (here and here), but this is the first time I read a full novel by her and Chigereta Kusari to Hikari no Kirehashi. It's quite long and ambitious, providing two fully worked out narratives inspired by Christie's work all in one book, but Araki pulls it off, and does that with both competence in the mystery writing as well as characterization. Recommended material!

Original Japanese title(s):  荒木あかね『ちぎれた鎖と光の切れ端』

The Problem of the Ghost Woman

It is indeed, a fearful place. The torrent, swollen by the melting snow,plunges into a tremendous abyss, from which the spray rolls up like the smoke　from a burning house. The shaft into which the river hurls itself is an immense　chasm, lined by glistening coal-black rock, and narrowing into a creaming,　boiling pit of incalculable depth, which brims over and shoots the stream　onward over its jagged lip.

"The Final Problem" 

Now I think about it, having a waterfall right behind your school is probably not that safe. Sure, high school students aren't stupid, but still, something is bound to happen sooner or later...

Shiotani Ken's Meitantei Futabi (2025) also has the English title The Return of The Great Detective (well, technically it's The Return of Great Detective) and indeed, the book is about the legend of a great detective is given new life again. The Raihen Academy for Girls offers free schooling and accomodations for the family members of those who have contributed to the school's long history, and nobody has contributed more to the safety and reputation of Raihen than the legendary great detective Tokiya Yuu: she was a student at the school in the early 1990s, who solved many incidents that occured at Raihen. While they started out as minor incidents, things soon escalated to even murder. Yuu eventually figured out there was a mastermind behind all these crimes: Yuu confronted the mastermind at the waterfall behind the school and in the subsequent struggle, both fell down, with Yuu's remains never recovered. Tokiya Shou had never heard specific stories about her great-aunt, which is why she's surprised to learn she gets to study at the prestigious Raihen Academy for free. When she arrives at the school, she's welcomed as if she were a princess, as for Raihen, Yuu was indeed a queen. In fact, the dorm director was a student at Raihen herself in the early 1990s and assisted Yuu. Shou becomes classmates with Mima Shizuka, president of the newspaper club with a knack for making up stories. Shou is first shown around the school, which has memorial plates for Yuu all over the place, commemorating the various incidents she solved, like the mystery of the unconcious student in the communal bathroom or the murder of a student in the art room. 

The rumors of Shou, a relative of Yuu, soon spreads across the school, and it doesn't take long for a student to ask Shou for help. She recently got a polaroid camera, and while playing around with it, she and her friends took risqué pictures of each other in the bathroom while getting undressed. However, after they had their bath, they found the pictures missing, and now she got a blackmail letter with one of the stolen pictures, demanding for money. The victim rather not have the police involved, which is why she wants Shou to help. The problem: Shou isn't any good as a detective. Of course, just because your great-aunt happens to be a great detective, doesn't you are, but Shou can't say no, and ends up accepting the request. Out of her wits, Shou strolls to the waterfall where her great-aunt met her end and to her great surprise.... a ghost appears! The ghost agrees to help Shou and act as an armchair detective for her, if Shou helps gather her remains and properly bury her, so her spirit can finally pass on to the life beyond. The case is soon solved, earning Shou a reputation as a great detective herself, but then more incidents start to happen at Raihen, and another figure who saw Yuu's ghost, starts plotting against Shou...

It's of course no coincidence the school's called Raihen (Reichenbach) and that the great detective and her nemesis both died falling down a waterfall. The book's not designed as a Sherlock Holmes pastische though, nor are there really meaningful references to Holmes canon beyond these ones, so you don't need any knowledge of Holmes to enjoy this book. The book is structured as a connected short story collection, where Shou is confronted with ever-escalating cases during her time studying at Raihen, culminating in a grand finale involving both her great-aunt and her nemesis. One thing I have to mention first is how different this book is than Hakushaku to Mittsu no Hitsugi ("The Count and the Three Coffins"), the only other book by Shiotani Ken I have read at this point. That book was a historical epic with drama and tragedy like a Dumas novel, while this is a fairly light-hearted, comedic short story collection set at a girls' high school. Shiotani Ken does like using unusual settings/ideas though, and that's what we do have here too: Shou being helped by an armchair detective ghost each time, all just to maintain her reputation as a great detective herself (or as her excuse goes to keep the family name high). This device has some parallels to how Conan feeds Mouri his answers to maintain the Sleeping Kogorou's reputation high, only in this case, Shou herself wants to be fed all the answers, as she genuinely isn't smart enough to solve the crimes herself (though she does get "educated" as a great detective herself slowly but surely over the course of the book).

While I do describe this book as a short story collection, the individual mysteries are not titled as "stories", but as "chapters" in a novel, so I guess they do want to present this as a novel rather than a story collection. Anyway, the first story involves the stolen polaroids, with the mystery revolving around who could have stolen the polaroids and how: the only persons to know about the pictures are the group of four who took the pictures in the first place, but the pictures had been put in a locker while they were in the bathroom, and nobody had the pictures on them when they left, so the theft was impossible. This is a fairly short mystery, as it is also used to explain how Shou first went to the waterfall and stumbled upon the ghost, but it is a fairly well-constructed, if simple mystery, doing what you usually expect of an impossible heist story (offering multiple false solutions, offering a true solution that builds cleverly on the discarded false ones). The banter between Shou and all the other school girls is really fun though: not only with her roommate Shizuka (who's a bit insane when it comes to wanting to find a scoop and has no qualms about making things a bit more spicier in her articles), but also with her ghostly mentor, as she too is basically just a high school student who likes to chat about ordinary life (or at least, the ordinary life she saw pass by ever since she became a ghost). The second story is about an assault on an art student that occured in a classroom that could only be accessed via another classroom, that was occupied by the art club at the moment. Again, a seemingly impossible crime, and while I didn't like this mystery on its own that much, I loved how it really built on the previous story, as it showed the previous story had real consequences for the student life at Raihen Academy, making people act and think differently. 

The third story in turn has the first murder: members of the newspaper clubs of several school are invited to the house of an alumnus of one of the clubs. It's supposed to be a kind of training camp to hone the journalistic skills of the members, but Mima Shizuka, who had attended last year too, knows the organizer just uses this occassion to vent his frustrations on the current club members by completely roasting their writings. During the snowy evening, the girls sleep together in the storehouse of the manor, which can only be locked from the outside (as it's not meant to be lived in). During the night however, the organizer is found dead in the courtyard, his head bashed in. The only footprints left in the snow in the courtyard however belong to the victim, with no footprints of the murderer. The victim was furthermore found near the window of a room of the annex, where the guests were sleeping, but the windows on that side can't be opened, so the occupant of that room couldn't have hit the man either. Shou is asked to look into the case, not only because of her roommates involvement, but her uncle, a police inspector, is also on the case and has heard of the exploits of his niece. This is quite an elaborate story, that is great at using the various moving parts of the story (characters) to create a seemingly impossible mystery. The reason why the murderer ended up dead in the courtyard is a bit silly, but well-clewed and the way the culprit created the footprint mystery isn't per se that impressive method-wise, but very convincing motive-wise.

Up until this point, the stories also saw short intermezzos told from the POV of a character, who has also seen Tokiya Yuu's ghost herself, and has deduced that Shou is actually getting assistance from Yuu in solving the mysteries. This person however absolutely hates what Shou's doing, so they set a trap for Shou.

Shou, her uncle, the dorm director and some of Shou's allies have gathered, because they have realized the incidents Shou has been involved with, mirror those Tokiya Yuu solved during her time at Raihen. Yuu at the time deduced a mastermind "M" had been orchestrating all these crimes, and she died during her confrontation with M. It is now suspected a new mastermind has also been behind all the crimes Shou has been involved with. During their meeting however, Shizuka keels over after drinking her tea. A message is then delivered to the room: the tea cups have been poisoned and the door has been locked, with no way to call for help. The only way to open the door and get help for Shizuka, is if Shou drinks one of the cups: only one will not kill her. With no way to go to the waterfall to get help, can Shou manage to solve this mystery herself? The story feels a bit like a Liar Game game, where Shou has to deduce which of the cups is safe to drink (with a lot "if they think I think they think..." type of thoughts). The solution is simple yet elegant, and the story moves right to the finale, where Shou is confronted with the mastermind behind all the crimes and the truth behind the death of her great-aunt. This part of the mystery is elegantly clewed, with great foreshadowing planted throughout the various adventures to build up to this Reichenbach Falls-esque finale. Unfortunately, I already knew a bit how this finale would end up, because I happened to have met the editor of the book who kinda spoiled it to me, but despite my prior knowledge, I did think the mystery was constructed very neatly.

So while Meitantei Futatabi is not at all like the historical epic drama that was Hakushaku to Mittsu no Hitsugi, I did greatly enjoy the book: it's a fun, light-hearted school mystery (the sometimes venomous banter between Shou and her ghostly mentor is especially a highlight) with a clear, overarching story that manages to achieve exactly what it sets out to do. The individual mysteries are often fairly short, but competently constructed and the overall storyline, with Shou slowly growing into a detective herself, is satisfying. This is a great book to read between heavier stuff.

Original Japanese title(s): 塩谷験『名探偵再び』 

Picture of Death

But if this ever changing world in which we live in

Makes you give in and cry,

Say live and let die!

"Live and Let Die" (Paul McCartney & Wings) 

So I didn't know anything about the actual story of this book when I got it, so simply based on the title and the cover, I was expecting this to be something set in the Middle Ages/Renaissance exploring the theme of death. It was nothing like that.

Several months ago, I discussed Kenchiku Shizai (2001), a book which also carried the English title The Builded Dead and which is considered officially Monzen Noriyuki's debut work: it was the winner of the Ayukawa Tetsuya Award, which is aimed at writers who haven't made a professional debut yet. However, Kenchiku Shizai  was not really Monzen's first work. Several years earlier, Monzen had already sent it a different manuscript for the Ayukawa Tetsuya Award and it was in fact deemed the best entry of that year by Ayukawa Tetsuya himself, but the other people on the committee did not agree, and the work didn't win.Monzen therefore decided to self-publish the book in 1997, with the title Shi no Meidai ("A Proposition of Death"). After Monzen made his professional debut in 2001, he wrote a few other novels, and then publisher Harashobo decided to revisit Shi no Meidai again: Shi no Meidai ("A Proposition of Death") was re-edited and given a new title (the shi in the title in the 2010 differs from the 1997 version), giving the book a new opportunity to reach the audience.

The book starts with the arrival of Shinohara Tsunajirou, Monoda Yoshihara and Mashime Kyouka at the Mishima residence, located in the forest surrounding Lake Ensui in the mountains near Matsumoto City in Nagano Prefecture. The two-storey building belongs to Professor Mishima Souichirou, or to be exact, his widow: the professor had started construction on his home, but he died in an accident on the lake. His widow, Otono, however had the project continued, with a large part of the house dedicated to her husband's accomplishments and his hobbies. Some time has passed since the professor's funeral,  and Otono has invited a few old friends of her husband to stay a few nights at the lake, including the aforementioned trio, who were students of the professor. Tsunajirou and Kyouoka often visited the professor and his wife and knew them privately, so they are a bit surprised Yoshihara was also invited, and it's also a bit awkward: Yoshihara was never close to the professor nor his wife, and Yoshihara and Kyouka also used to date when in university. They broke up and now Tsunajirou and Kyouka are now an engaged couple. When they arrive at the house, they learn their host is not present. The physician Miyabi Daisuke, a Mishima family friend who knows Tsunajirou and Kyouka as well, arrived earlier, and explains he found a package hanging from the door knob, which included the keys to the house, as well as a letter signed by Otono, who explains she had an accident herself and can't freely move. Because it happened only a few days ago and she knew all her guests had already made arrangements, she asks their guests to entertain themselves despite her absence: food supplies have been prepared, so they can enjoy a few days off at the lake. Everybody finds this a bit weird, including Annosawa Ikuo, a budding mystery novelist who's a patient of the doctor (he was brought for some social contact).  A late arrival is Takao Hiroshi, a salesman for a medical company who was also invited. 

As they discuss their current situation, they note that the note doesn't actually sound like it was written by Otono, and Kyouka seems eager to leave, saying they should pay the widow a visit in the hospital, but they decide to stay for at least one night, especially as it starts to snow heavily. They explore the house a bit to admire not only the late professor's collection of insect specimens, but also his collection of torture devices, including the giant guillotine standing outside the entrance of the house. The following day however, a horrible discovery is made: Kyouka is found dead in the garden, with her face having been hit with immense force. It's obvious not an accident, as the object that inflicted the damage is nowhere to be found. Meanwhile,Monoda Yoshihara can also not be found, so the others start looking for him: they find his body floating in the lake, having first been strangled and then thrown into the lake for him to drown. The police is informed, but the road conditions due to the weather prevent them from coming at once. As the survivors await the police however, more deaths occur: a poisoning, a man being split in half with the guillotine... And when the police finally arrive... they find all six guests in the house have died, with the last one apparently having committed suicide.

 It's the sister of the last person to live who visits Kumode, who runs a construction consultancy agency which double-acts as a detective agency, after earlier success in detection by Kumode. The sister naturally can't stand her brother being painted as a cold-blooded killer who killed five people and then himself, so she wants Kumode to investigate the case, which is done by an investigation of the crime scene itself (the Mishima residence), as well as the inspection of two diaries: one by the mystery author Annosawa and the other by the supposed killer: these were the last two men surviving and both men claim they were not the horrible serial killer in their respective notes. Can Kumode figure out what really happened at the lake?

Kenchiku Shizai/The Builded Dead was an interesting book as it showcased author Monzen's knowledge of architecture (which he studied): it was a very realistic book when it came to the presentation of how a building is actually constructed, and at times, the realism did hurt the presentation of the mystery a bit, but it was still a memorable experience. Shi no Meidai is surprisingly enough not at all like Kenchiku Shizai, being a far more unrealistic book, as it embraces the familar tropes of mystery fiction. The premise of the book is a classic And Then There Were None set-up: all people in the isolated house end up murdered, but by whom? Like And Then There Were None, there's a second part that follows the initial closed circle narrative, focusing on the investigation conducted by an outside party after the murders (in this case, Kumode's investigation). 

Shi no Meidai follows the familiar tropes fairly faithfully, and some characters even point out how everything feels a bit fishy, from their host not appearing herself and the selection of guests being weird. Which is why it does feel a bit strange the characters don't decide to leave at once: they're apparently somewhat savvy enough to realize not all is right, but they still stay, and that's a thing that continues throughout this book: the characters really feeling like characters in a detective novel, doing the exact things needed to get the plot going, but not really fully explaining why those characters would ever want to do that. 

The same holds for the core mystery plot: there are some cool ideas that are at play here, some honestly really memorable (and gruesome!), but many of the ideas used here are quite forced, especially if you consider them having all happened in the same story! Like, the murder of Kyouka is actually pretty interesting as an idea: it's actually an impossible crime, as the garden was covered in snow and yet only Kyouka's own footprints could be found in the snow, despite being hit from nearby with an object. I can easily imagine this part being a short story on its own as it has a memorable trick, but then you also remember the murders on the doctor and Annosawa also happened in their specific manners, and you start rolling your eyes as that's a bit too much luck/coincidence that is happening in one sequence. The murders on the doctor and Annosawa again would have been great core ideas in their own story (it's actually really good while being incredibly silly at the same time, and I love it for that), but it loses its impact here because it just becomes one small cog in a much larger machine. A far more fantastical machine than the realistic mechanism we saw in Kenchiku Shizai too. The way the murderer planned for all of this is almost farcical, as it relies on one coincidence or lucky turn after another, so taking this story in as.... one story feels a bit difficult. There are really good individual ideas, but they didn't need to be taken all together, especially as it works towards a conclusion that only strengthens this sense of forced coindence. I think if the book had been written differently, this theme could easily have worked, but the book is still told in a fairly straightforward manner that doesn't really dwell on the thematic consequences of its events, so you are never sure whether the author actually realized his book borders on a parody.

The book actually opens with a Challenge to the Reader, containing 5 'pointers' that act as a kind of tease of things to come. I think the book's fair enough to warrant a Challenge, though I'm not sure whether it works best in this position of the book (why not just before the soluton?).

 Shi no Meidai is a book I think some of the parts are better than their sum, with some good mystery ideas and tricks, that however become a bit deluded when taken all together, because all of that happening in the span of like two days feels a bit too much, especially as part of a plan by the killer. It's also completely different in terms of atmosphere from Kenchiku Shizai, despite being the same series, which might be a good or bad thing depending on what your thoughts on that book was, or vice-versa. I think that the individual elements of Shi no Meidai are far more memorable to me than Kenchiku Shizai, but I found the latter a better novel overall.

 Original Japanese title(s):  門前典之『屍の命題』

The Chinese Gold Murders

"No Chinaman must figure in the story."
"Ten Commandments for Detective Fiction"

I mention this basically every time I do reviews of stories I read in Japanese but set in a Chinese-language setting, but I hate how much more time it takes for me to write these reviews, because I have to look up what the Chinese pronunciation is of all the names...

Pei Jing, a state examination candidate student living in the bustling city of Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty, is one day summoned by Mole, the Kunlun slave (= the dark-skinned slaves hailing from isolated parts of South-East Asia) of his friend Cui Jing. While the bright young lad knows it's quite impertinent for someone of his standing to request anything, he hopes Pei Jing can help him save his master: according to Mole, Cui Jing has barely been returning home lately, going to work, but asking not to be picked up after work, and he only returns very late, without providing for any explanation. Pei Jing learns from Mole that this all started after Cui Jing had been sent as a representative to the Palace Attendant Yaun Zai, one of the men closest to the emperor, and that since that night, Cui Jing has been acting suspiciously. Pei Jing, worried his friend might have gotten involved in something shady, starts asking questions, but as he follows the trail, he ends up stumbling upon the mutilated body of a merchant, whose stomach has been cut open and whose intestines have been removed: the latest victim in a series of gruesome murders with the exact same M.O. that have been happening in Chang'an. Dou, a friend and police detective in Chang'an, confides to Pei Jing that for some reason, the local district police forces have taken off this case, with the investigation being headed by a group of guards who are under the direct influence of Yuan Zai. The official investigation is focusing on Xu Long, a shady Taoist who has been gathering followers lately and is supposed to be well-versed in the mystic arts: he might have eaten the intestines as part of the rituals needed to attain immortality. Dou however feels something is not right, and suspects the murders might have to do with the reason why Cui Jing has been mostly absent from his home for the last few weeks, Pei Jing and Dou start investigating the case together, which brings them on the trail of a big corruption scandal, and an impossible crime where a group of assassins appeared out of nowhere and disappeared with a heap of gold in Koizumi Kajuu's 2024 novel Konrondo ("The Kunlun Slave").

Some years ago, I discussed Koizumi Kajuu's 2000 debut novel Higa ("The Moth"), which featured a highly original setting, being set in twelfth century Middle-East and focusing on the mystic side of Islam as its theme, while also presenting a locked room mystery. Interestingly, Koizumi basically disappeared after his debut novel, as he wouldn't write another novel until 2024's Konrondo, which again uses a rather unique setting, and being a 'modern' take on a wuxia romance with the exact same title, a tale revolving around the nearly supernatural Kunlun slave Mole who endeavours to help his master. Koizumi once again shows he does a lot of research into these settings, and he paints a very unique background for this sometimes fantastical tale of mystery. While a lot of mystery readers might be familiar with a classic China setting mystery through Robert van Gulik's Judge Dee stories, Konrondo definitely feels different enough in both its setting and style. For one, like in Higa, Koizumi focuses a lot of the mystic side of culture: Konrondo will teach the reader a lot about mystic Taoism and the search for life elixers and eternal life by these Taoist, whereas van Gulik's Judge Dee books usually focus more on the "official" sides of society like the upper class and state Confucianism. Koizumi also has an eye for the minorities in the community of the Chang'an metropolis. From the bright Kunlun slave Mole to informant proprietor's of brothels and Dou being of Turkish descent, it's quite interesting to see how many of the major characters are not ethnically Chinese or not from the higher social classes, again in contrast to a majority of the settings in Judge Dee stories.

As a mystery, Konrondo starts off a bit slow, as there's no clear mystery: things start off by Pei Jing looking for Cui Jing, but it's not like anything really mysterious is going, Cui Jing is just barely coming back home. And just when you think things become more "properly mysterious" when we learn about the series of murders on officials who have their guts taken out of their bodies, this investigation also seems to not move as quickly or deeply as you'd suspect, as Dou isn't officially on the case and can't be too overt in his operations with Pei Jing. In the end, a lot of this story is about characters talking, and some parts do feature a lot of exposition: when Dou first tells Mole about how the official investigation is suspecting the Toaist Xu Long, they have a whole historical and theological discussion about how Mole cannot believe Xu Long is actually a follower of the deity Lushanjun, the Lord of Mount Lu. Which is interesting and all, but it's a very slow way to tell you just that Xu Long might be a swindler and how the belief the murderer is just someone who's into eating intestines is probably wrong. 

The mystery becomes more interesting when Pei Jing and Dou learn about a corruption scandal involving Yuan Zai and a shady deal that went completely wrong: Men affiliated with Yuan Zai were supposed to make an illegal deal with merchants to by-pass taxation, with the men on both sides meeting in a small hut in a lonely field. The merchants and buyers went inside the hut, where heaps of gold and the imported items would trade owners. Guards under the influence of Yuan Zai were posted on the field to keep an eye on things, but something went wrong suddenly: a fire broke out in the hut and people started screaming, and suddenly three assassins appeared from inside the hut, having killed the people inside, and continuing their kill spree outside, taking out over a dozen of Yuan Zai's guards: the sole survivor had fleed the scene and laid low, keeping an eye on the hut. After the assassins had left the scene, the survivor went in the burnt-down hut, but to his great surprise he found the loot gone: while it was logical the imported items had been lost to the fire, where did the gold go to? It obviously couldn't have been burned, but he saw the assassins leave empty-handed, so where did the gold that was carried into the hut go to, and how had the three assassins appeared inside the hut in the first place? The solution to the impossible appearance of the assassins isn't really surprising nor impressive, and in theory, the impossible disappearance of the gold isn't that interesting either, but the latter mystery and solution however is really well-grounded in the world Koizumi has depicted in this novel: while it might not be really surprising if you are somewhat familiar with the themes and subjects Koizumi is talking about in this book, I'd say he made good use of the historical and cultural background to create this impossible situation.

The mystery behind the men being found with their stomachs cut open/intestines removed isn't always at the forefront of the investigation conducted by Dou and Pei Jing, but it does of course become very relevant in the conclusion, and I'd say that Konrondo is quite impressive in its themes regarding whodunnit and whydunnit: while the 'bare explanation' of why someone was killing all these people and ripping them open might sound a bit silly, Koizumi does a great job at themetically setting up this explanation, and once again it all feels very grounded in his depiction of the culture of Chang'an and its inhabitants' habits and beliefs. There are really clever hints and thematic mirrors throughout the tale and the ironic motive for cutting up the bodies is fantastic: it plays so well with a certain piece of misdirection that is thrown at the reader constantly, but when you realize how that piece of misdirection actually works as a hint too, you start to see that a lot of what makes Konrondo works as a mystery, is it's actually a very straightforward mystery, but set in a world that is not straightforward (seen from the POV of the modern reader). This is definitely one of those mysteries you can't judge based on an isolated look at the main mystery/trick, the core mystery plot only works because of all the talk around it that help set it up. It is a motive that only works in this world, and that is what makes this a very memorable read. The ending by the way adds a more fantastical, almost fairy-tale-like epilogue, a reminder of the direct inspiration of this novel.

Which does remind me, this book definitely takes the opposite position compared to van Gulik's Judge Dee stories when it comes to trying to be an easy read. Whereas van Gulik will always try to present his China in a very accessible manner, avoiding Chinese terms and using simple accessible translations/equivalent words instead, Koizumi constantly drops references to Chinese literature and culture, using the original Chinese terms. Van Gulik's writings might sometimes feel a bit anachronistic because he'll use very English (Dutch) terms to describe certain things, but Koizumi is on the other side of the spectrum, with every other page dropping a certain term, immediately followed by two paragraphs where he will explain that term, and then the very next sentence, he will drop another term, so then he has to explain it again and again... That is another reason why the book does feel rather slow, as Koizumi constantly stops to explain that term he just dropped. Some readers might be more bothered by this than others, so it can't hurt to keep this in mind.

So while a lot of the mystery when taken in isolation isn't really remarkable, Konrondo as a whole is a very memorable story, which uses its historical setting to its fullest to bring a tale of mystery that could only work in this specific time and culture. While at times, the book can feel very slow because it spends so much time just at... explaining things about the time/culture, it's ultimately necessary knowledge to solve the mystery of the serial killings and the disappearance of the gold, and on the whole, I think it's a really well-written novel that feels original due to its seldom-seen setting and the specific themes it touches upon.

Original Japanese title(s):  古泉迦十『崑崙奴』

Bite the Big Apple

I have a pen

I have a pineapple

Pineapple pen!

 「PPAP(ペンパイナッポーアッポーペン」(ピコ太郎)

 

I have a pen

I have a pineapple

Pineapple pen!

"PPAP (Pen Pineapple Pen Apple Pen)" (Pikatarou)

It's been a while since I discussed a television production... 

Pineapple Murder? was a two-part variety program broadcast on September 20 and 27, starring the idol group Chou Tokimeki Sendenbu. It would have never been appeared on my radar, if not for a tweet that appeared after the first episode was broadcast: it noted that in the credits Shirai Tomoyuki was credited for the mystery plot. I don't know if his announcement had been announced beforehand, due to the interesting set-up of the show. In the program, the six members of Chou Tokimeki Sendenbu are invited to a manor, where they will have a small party to eat a deliciously sweet pineapple, prepared especially by the owner of the manor, who loves the fruit. In fact, his house only has one knife: a pineapple knife, used solely to cut a pineapple. The girls are shown the pineapple, which is kept in a special case. But before they get started on the pineapple, the six get an assignment. At the start of the program, they each were given a special item, like a bluetooth speaker, cat ears and balloons. They now have to go each their own way for ten minutes, making cute selfies and short videos of themselves using those items. Ten minutes later, they all gather on the ground floor and move together to the upstairs sitting room, where the pineapple is waiting for them...

Only they only find the remains of the pineapple scattered on the table: someone has eaten it!

It is then revealed the program up until now was just a ruse to fool five of the six Chou Tokimeki Sendenbu members. One of the girls is the culprit, and while everybody was taking videos and selfies, this culprit ate the pineapple by herself. The television program staff members of course all vouch for each other's alibis, making the six Chou Tokimeki Sendenbu members the only suspects. The girls sit around a table and have to find out who the culprit is, but for some reason, the videos they all took seem to show they all have an alibi for the ten-minute period they were alone. How did the culprit manage to devour the pineapple in the sitting room, while securing an alibi?

 

I have to admit I was kinda surprised at the first episode, as the show started showing floorplans of the mansion and showing where everybody was according to their alibis/videos. It was really set-up as a classic mystery story. But after the second episode was broadcast, I noticed a BlueSky post by Abiko who noted how due to certain limitations like for example budget and the fact it's a variety program starring a idol group, the potential Shirai Tomoyuki holds never comes to fruition, and that is certainly true. The mystery plot we see in Pineapple Murder? is decent at best, following familiar tropes and has the culprit use a trick that is not surprisingly original, but it is properly hinted at with visual clues and things like that.

 Only, you wonder: did you really need Shirai Tomoyuki for that? There is basically nothing here that feels distinct to his work, and that's a shame, for Shirai in particular is an author you'd associate with certain ideas. Okay, I was not expecting anything gross from the solution (again, because we have actual idols as the "characters" here), but still, you do expect something grander from Shirai, and within the show's limitations, it must have been nearly impossible to accomplish something typical of his work.

It is a trick like you often see in the Kindaichi Shounen manga, with a crime having happened while everybody seemingly has an alibi, supported by visual evidence and with people moving around in a building and timestamps and everything, but in a Kindaichi Shounen story, it would only be one element in a larger mystery story. Here it is the main trick, and if you've read a few mystery novels, you'll probably get a pretty good idea of what happened early on. The deduction scene of the Chou Tokimeki Sendenbu members is also relatively short, with most of the second episode being dedicated to the initial examination of all the members' alibis (their videos/selfies), leaving little time for the girls to come up with theories about who the culprit truly is. What we have now feels more like a basis for a larger mystery, and therefore ultimately feels lacking in content.

So I don't think Shirai Tomoyuki fans are missing out on something important if they can't manage to see Pineapple Murder?: it's definitely more something fun for fans of Chou Tokimeki Sendenbu, watching cute girls do cute things. For the die-hard fans: I believe there are two (?) special episodes on Hulu that offer more footage/content beyond the television broadcast. One thing though: the way the girls wrap up their deduction is kinda hilarious and you kinda wonder how it could ever end like that in a real mystery novel. 

Original Japanese title(s): 『ぱいなっぷるまだ？』 

The Lamp of God

Rationality, that was it. No esoteric mumbo jumbo could fool that fellow. Lord, no! His two feet were planted solidly on God's good earth. 

"The Lamp of God"

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.

But before that, we have a different kind of impossible mystery to discuss in regards to Kitayama. Late September saw the release of his newest short story collection Kami no Hikari ("The Light of God", 2025), which collects five stories set in different times and about different people, but all connected through one theme: the impossible disappearance of houses. In each of these stories, Kitayama pulls off the magnificent feat of making a whole building, or in one case, a while city disappear without leaving a trace. This might be the very first mystery short story collection that is built completely around this trope in the genre, and in fact, on the obi the editor of the book mentions how the mere suggestion of Kitayama to write such a collection caused them to feel dizzy. But Kitayama certainly managed it, and the result is a fine example of short mystery fiction.

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.

These were the five stories included in this book, but if you buy your copy of Kami no Hikari via the stores of Kinokuniya within a certain period, you actually get another extra story. At least, your receipt is extended to include an original illustration by Kitayama himself celebrating the release of the book, and a QR-code that leads to another Kitayama story about an impossible disappearance. The story Sayounara, Usagi-dan ("Farewell, Bunny Gang") was originally published in 2011, in issue 49 of the magazine Mysteries! and it was meant to be a farewell to the black bunnies that had been featured on the cover of the magazine for quite some years. Kitayama had been a fan of the illustrations, so he wanted to give them a grand farewell, which involved him reimagining the bunnies as a gang of children without parents, who act as phantom thieves while wearing bunny masks. Hot on their trail are two other children, a sister and a brother, who are great detectives. The tale starts off with the Bunny Gang pulling off another heist succesfully and the narrating bunny gang member announcing their next heist will be his last, as he's too old to remain in the gang. Their next taget turns out to be an entire building, but can the detective siblings prevent such an audacious heist?

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). 

Original Japanese title(s):　北山猛邦『神の光』:「一九四一のモーゼル」 / 「神の光」 / 「未完成月光 Unfinished moonshine」 / 「藤色の鶴」 / 「シンクロニシティ・セレナーデ」/「さようなら、ウサギ団」

Mr Brain

"Thoroughly respectable and honest. Not, perhaps, remarkable for brains."

"Murder on the Orient Express"

Now I think about it, it's been easily over a decade since I first read about this book...

Magical Zunou Power!! ("Magical Brain Power!!") was a long-running primetime television quiz program presented by Bandou Eiji and featured a mostly fixed pool of participants of television personalities, some of which are nowadays so huge they have their own television programs like Tokoro George. The program consisted of several rounds of various quizzes with which you could earn 'Brain Power' and of course, the one who has accumulated the most BP at the end, wins that week's episode. The show itself ran from 1990 until 1999, but for the mystery fans, the period that is of interest, is the early days of the show, from 1990 until 1992. For it was during this period, the final round was the Magical Mystery Theater: a short 5-10 minute drama show where a mystery would be presented. While the Magical Mystery Theater segments are all very short, there is "continuity" between them: in the 'series', we follow the private detective Nakatani Shouichi and his niece Natsuko, a college student who acts as her uncle's assistant. The difficulty of each 'story' would be indicated with a Brain Power value, which was also the maximum of points you could earn if you got the answer right (you could be rewarded points for getting it partially correct). After watching the video, the participants would have to guess how it was done or who did it, with an explanation of course. Once everybody had presented their answers, a final, one minute video would follow with the solution. As it's just one round in a quiz program and participants need to be able to briefly explain their solutions, most of these stories are fairly simple in set-up and often revolve around just one single idea, but even so, some of the ideas seen in these segments are actually quite interesting. That is easily explained, when you learn that among those who provided the screenplay writers with the core mystery plots, there are mystery writers like Orihara Ichi, Abiko Takemaru and Shinpo Hirohisa. According to Abiko, Magical Mystery Theater was actually the highest-rated part of the program initially, but even after the overall show started to get higher ratings, this segment's ratings didn't really change accordingly, so it was eventually cancelled.

Shinpo Hirohisa, one of the 'mystery plot' writers, would later revisit some of the scenarios he wrote for the show in Satsujin Trick Gekijou - Nandai Mystery 11 Renpatsu ("Murder Trick Theater - 11 Difficult Mysteries", 1996). The concept of this book is quite interesting. On one hand, it is a book for fans of the original Magical Zunou Power!! corner: Shinpo gives us a glimpse behind the scenes of the Magical Mystery Theater segment, describing what they were going for, how ideas would be discarded and how the segment eventually was cancelled. The eleven stories featured in this pocket are also all followed by an essay on the specific story, noting when the corresponding Magical Mystery Theater segment was broadcast, reception on the quiz, the creative process behind the story/trick etc and what authors/works he drew inspiration from for the trick. This makes this book very informative also for mystery authors I think, as you get an idea of how a mystery writer might develop an idea seen in work X into a different idea, but with the same "foundation."

On the other hand, the eleven stories in this volume are also decidedly not Magical Mystery Theater stories... because obviously, Shinpo doesn't own the show and the characters created for that show. Because of that, he has rewritten all these scenarios with new characters, as well as sometimes changing the plot/trick/clues to accomodate for the book format. It's not the detective Nakatani nor his niece Natsuko who stars in these stories, but we mostly follow Yukiko and Fuyumi, two friends who after graduating haven't quite decided what to with their lives, and so Fuyumi suggest they become detectives, much to Yukiko's shock. They apply at the agency of the detective Mei, but while they don't get hired, they remain on friendly terms with him, occasionally getting him involved in the incidents they end up in, or vice-versa. One important thing to note is that this book also features many original illustrations by Noma Miyuki, the creator of the extremely long-running mystery manga Puzzle Game ☆ High School. They really add a lot of character to this book, especially as it's not 'just' character art, but also depictions of scenes from the stories etc.

Ultimately, these stories were created to be quizzes, so they are by design very straightforward and simple, usually only utilizing one single idea. The book acually retains the "Brain Power" concept of the original show, with each story being worth a number of points, and there's usually also a story section before the solution, that is considered optional: you can skip it to get a high score, or read it to be pushed in the right direction. Note that this optional section isn't just a list of hints, it's a proper part of the story with dialogue and sometimes even story developments.  But because many of them are really just single-idea concepts that you may have seen elsewhere already, I am not going to discuss each story this time.

The first story, Hito wo Kuu Heya ("The Room That Eats People") is the story that first made me aware of this book: it was mentioned in a mook on locked room murder mysteries edited by Arisugawa, being mentioned in a long list of recommended short locked room/impossible crime stories. In this story, we first see Fuyumi and Natsuko visit the detective agency of Mei, who decides to test the two girls with an excercise in a stake-out. He puts his assistant Dan in a room, and tells Yukiko and Fuyumi to keep an eye on the room, making sure his assistant doesn't escape. Fuyuko is told to watch the door from the corridor, while Yukiko is brought outside and told to watch the window from the street. After a hour, the two are to swap places, and after another hour, Yukiko is to enter the room and apprehend Dan. The two girls do as told, and two hours pass by without anything suspicious happening in the room. But when Yukiko enters the room, she finds the room empty. How did Dan escape? The trick behind Dan disappearing from a room under observation is pretty simple and it's likely you will have seen a variation of the same idea before, but Shinpo does a great job at planting the clues that point to that solution, and I would have loved to have seen the Magical Mystery Theater segment. In the essay, Shinpo mentions how Miyabe Miyuki told him how she really liked the tale, only for Shinpo to reveal he actually got the idea from a Miyabe story, transforming it in a way so even she herself didn't recognize it!

In Shide no Tabi ni mo Kinen Satsuei ("Taking Photographs Even When On Your Way to the Afterlife"), the comedian Hashiba Kenzou wants Mei to help him, because he received a letter from an unknown sender, saying "she wants to return her key, but also talk with him on the 7th, when he's filming at a cliff: Hashiba suspects it's one of his three exes with a key to his apartment, but he finds the letter very creepy, especially as she apparently knows his work schedule and wants to meet him at a cliff. Mei declines the job because he is not a bodyguard, nor does he like the playboy comedian, but then Hashiba is indeed murdered, having been pushed off the cliff.  Miraculously, someone managed to take a picture of Hashiba as he was falling, which provides a vital clue to finding out which of three women pushed him, but how? Once again, the solution is very simple, but I love how it does make very good use of the original visual format: while the illustration by Noma does wonders to support this story in the novel format, I imagine it would have felt more intuitive as an acted segment on Magical Mystery Theater.

In Totemo Kimyou na Yuukai ("A Very Curious Abduction"), Mei tells Fuyumi the tale of the abduction of Yuuka, the daughter of a client, with whom he often played shogi. Mei was present when the father received the call, instructing him to go to a coin locker at the station with a stash of money. Mei is sent instead, and in the coin locker, he receives further instructions to make a phone call to a certain number from the public payphone in a nearby park. The number given goes to Osaka, but the man answering the call says that while he does know Yuuka, he doesn't know anything about an abduction. Because of that, the money deal with the kidnapper seems to have failed, and Yuuka is soon found murdered in a nearby park. Police investigation show that the man answering the phone call in fact did have a perfect alibi for killing Yuuka, but how could have kidnapped Yuuka and killed her in Tokyo, if he answered a phone call in Osaka? The trick itself I find remarkable because it is so much a trick that only works in the period this story was created: it wouldn't fly at all now, because society has changed so much and we don't use certain things anymore. But that is why I really liked this story: it is a simple, but clever trick, but it would also be very understandable to people who don't have any interest in mystery fiction, because it used an object people would know in the nineties in an original manner, but also a manner which would make you go "Aha!" because it's actually so simple. There are a few other stories that have a similar vibe, using everyday life objects/customs of the early nineties which feel out-of-date/not obvious anymore, like in Satsujin yo, Kinou ni Kaere ("Murder, Go Back to Yesterday"), where an alibi is shot down by pointing out a certain object isn't where it should be, but which nobody in Japan nowadays would really think of.

Satsujin Trick Gekijou isn't really a must-read for mystery fans, though I would definitely recommend it to those who used to watch Magical Zunou Power!! as the behind-the-scenes essays are really interesting (and I say that as someone who hadn't even seen the show!). And of course, I do have an interest in mystery shows that are formally divided in problem and solution sections, so being able to experience the show in some manner, even if in a different format, is something I appreciate a lot. While most of the stories in this book are very simple, focusing on single-idea tricks that you likely have seen in other mystery-themed quizzes, or other mystery stories already, I find the presentation of this book very consistent: Noma Miyuki's illustrations do some of the lifting, but Shinpo's writing is easy, and while the main tricks are pretty simple overall, he does a very consistent job of properly clewing everything, making these stories a bit more involving than just single-concept mystery quizzes. 

Original Japanese title(s): 新保博久『殺人トリック劇場　難題ミステリー11連発』

Accident by Design

Firmitas, utilitas et venustas 

"De architectura"  

 

Firmness, commidity and delight 

"On Architecture"

I wanted to say it'd be cool to have a mystery set in an Escher building, but then I remembered I already read one....

Kenchiku Shizai (2001), which also carries the English title The Builded Dead on the cover, is the 11th winner of the Ayukawa Tetsuya Award and is the "professional" debut of author Monzen Noriyuki, though he had previously self-published a different novel (interestingly enough, that book got a professional release later on). Monzen studied architecture in university, which is all too clear in his debut novel, which originally was sent in to the Ayukawa Tetsuya Award committee under the title The Building That Eats People. The book is narrated by Miyamura Tatsuya, a man in his thirties who's having a long holiday in Nagoya: after attending to a friend's wedding there, he decided to stay at his uncle and aunt's place, which is also an udon restaurant. His cousin Yuuichi is still in high school and (should be) studying for his university entrance exams, which explains why he is still up late at night. One evening, Yuuichi spots a light source moving about on one of the floors of the construction site across the street: a large new building is being erected there, but work has been paused for a few days due to the obon holiday season. His childhood friend Momose, whose father is a subcontractor for the construction site and working in their own workshop to meet a deadline, also sees the light. The two keep an eye on the building, and eventually confide to Tatsuya about the intruder. They decide to sneak inside the construction site to see what's happening. Fortunately, all the foundational work is already done, with the load-bearing walls/support pillars and the stairs finished, allowing them to move about relatively safely. They spot a shadowy figure and chase them into a meeting room on the second floor, but the figure locks the door behind them. Momose is sent to watch the windows outside, while Tatsuya and Yuuichi try to get into the room, which they eventually do by breaking through one of the non-bearing walls. However, they find nobody inside, and the windows are locked from the inside. The trio are puzzled by the disappearance of the figure, and Yuuichi and Momose stay up all night to see if they can spot the figure escaping the site, but it appears the shadow has really just disappeared into thin air.

The following day, they contact Kumode, the on-site supervisor, as he's the only one in authority whom Yuuichi knows the address of, and who hasn't gone somewhere travelling during the holiday season. They have another look in the half-finished building together, while Yuuichi explains what happened the previous night, and suggesting the figure might have hidden themselves inside the walls, but Kumode explains the process of constructing the various walls in the building and how it'd be impossible to either hide into a load-bearing wall, or how they would've instantly spotted someone in one of the non-finished non-bearing walls. The mystery is left unsolved by these men, but then the police becomes involved in a rather surprising manner. The president of the contruction company has gone missing, and the previous day, a cut-off finger had been sent to his home. His secretary is missing too, and one of her body parts was also sent to her home. This also happened to a teacher, who seems to have no connection to the president or the secretary. It also turns out a day worker with no fixed address had sneaked into the construction site on the same night as Yuuichi, Momose and Tatsuya did, hoping to stay in the half-finished building during the holiday, knowing it would be empty. However, he claims he fled the scene when he found three bodies cut up in pieces there, The police suspects those are the bodies of the people they are looking for, but where are the bodies? It seems obvious to assume they are somewhere in the building, but the workers themselves, with their expertise of actually constructing the walls/ceilings/floors seem very sceptical of the possibility of that, as most of the construction involving concrete/mortar was already finished and you'd instantly know if something was 'added' later on. However, when more murders occur at the construction site, it seems clear the building is indeed the crux of this mystery and it is Kumode, with his knowledge of building a house, who tackles this challenge.

A challenge indeed, but not for the reason you might expect at first. The book immediately makes an impression when you open it, as you'll find the volume opens with very detailed floor plans of the five-storey building around which most of the mystery revolves. And while having each floor printed on its own page isn't that uncommon (especially not in Japanese mysteries), the fact each floor is in fact printed on tracing paper is highly unusual! It is here Monzen already shows his familiarity with building design and construction, as tracing paper is used extensively in those fields and it is used here in the book like it is used 'in real life', to show exactly how each of the floors overlap, making you aware of where walls on different floors overlap or not and how corridors/rooms are different between floors. This of course seems to suggest something incredibly clever will be done with this... but I'd say 90% of the justification of this insert, is simply to be authentic, and not per se to faciliate the mystery. Which is a shame, because I was genuinely surprised by these pages when I first opened the book.

In a way, this experience with the very first pages of the book perfectly symbolizes my experience with the whole work. Throughout the book, Monzen really shows he's an expert on the topic of designing and constructing a building and you can feel his enthusiasm throughout the book as he builds the mystery, but it's also his knowledge that really limits the possibilities behind the book. A lot of the mystery revolves around what the murderer did with the three bodies seen by the homeless worker that night: Yuuichi and Momose didn't see anyone carrying three people's worth of body parts out of the building and because the police didn't manage to find the bodies in open spots in the building under construction, the most "mystery-tropey" solution would of course be that the bodies are buried in the walls, but Kumode quickly rejects that possibility by giving lectures on how buildings like these are actually constructed, and with most of the supporting concrete 'parts' of the building set and finished long ago and the non-bearing walls/floors/ceilings simply not lending themselves for hiding spots. Via Kumode, we learn Monzen has obviously given a lot of thought about whether the body-in-the-wall trick could work realistically without anyone noticing, and he gives several detailed reasons why he thinks that's unlikely.

So that leaves the question, where did the bodies in fact go? And how did the dark figure Yuuichi, Momose and Takuya chased, disappear from the locked meeting room? And later in the book, we have another murder on the roof, and all the suspects seem to have a good alibi for this murder, as the time of the crime can be estimated by the fact the murderer left their footprints on a part of the flooring that hadn't set completely yet at that time. While this book thus has as few impossible mysteries (a locked room disappearance even).... I have to admit I basically found all the solutions a bit disappointing. Ironically, this was not because Monzen didn't do his homework on the topic: in fact, it is the exact opposite. He was so thorough in sticking to actual architectural details and realism, the tricks he ends up using just come over as too... plain? While Kenchiku Shizai is definitely a honkaku mystery novel where they talk about locked room mysteries and impossible disappearances and tropes like hiding bodies in the walls, Monzen ends up with far too few options for truly surprising solutions to his own mysteries, and you end up feeling a bit... indifferent to the reveals of what really happened. I can agree his takes would work in real-life at a real construction site, but that doesn't make those solutions really exciting or anything, they just seem like more... realistic and practical versions of tricks I have seen used in more unrealistic, but infinitely more amusing manners, or at least presented with more energy and surprise. I think if you're into architecture, this book can be quite interesting, especially after seeing the more fantastical ways in which buildings are used in Japanese mystery fiction, but for me, it just felt lacking because of the reality.

That said, there are also really brilliant points that help support the mystery. The motive behind the death of one of the victims is really the kind of ideas I love to see in mystery fiction: it strangely fits the realistic angle of Monzen in this book despite also being pretty crazy. The same regarding another late murder: there is a very specific reason for the victim to be found with a knife in his back, which is also brilliantly realistic and at the same time so out-of-there. It's moments like these that really make an impression especially because they make a perversion of the rather realistic look at the construction industry and they really did help elevate my experience with the book.

 On one hand, I can really appreciate the research Monzen poured into this book, and it results in a book that is really educative about how a building is built, knowledge which of course comes in handy in a genre with a lot of quirky buildings with weird gimmicks. But on the other hand, Kenchiku Shizai's main mysteries are all resolved with rather plain solutions because of Monzen is bound by this realism. It's when he dares to go a bit beyond those limits, when the book feels the most memorable. I wouldn't call this book a complete disappointment though. I am aware there are more books with Kumode as the detective (and architecture/building construction as the theme), and I am curious to see what else Monzen can do with his knowledge, so I will probably try more of his books, so I will likely return to him in the future.

Original Japanese title(s): 門前典之『建築屍材』