Camping-Out Murder

「真実はいつも一つ！」

『名探偵コナン』

 

"There's always only one truth!"

"Detective Conan"

 

I should probably point to the Honkaku-themed Discord server more often. Take a look there if you want to chat with other fans about mystery fiction, including (shin) honkaku stories!

By the time this review is published, the second season of the anime adaptation of Kyokou Suiri, also known as Invented Inference or In/Spectre should have started airing. Iwanaga Kotoko, seemingly a small girl ("woman!") with a glass eye and one prosthetic leg is in fact the Deity of Wisdom for youkai (all kinds of supernatural beings, spirits, etc.). She helps these supernatural beings whenever they were in trouble involving the human world, acting as arbitrator and detective. Sometimes it's having to come up with a reasonable excuse for problems caused by a rampaging spirit, sometimes a youkai is actually a witness to a suspect's alibi, but obviously, the youkai can't go to the (human) police. So this often leads to Kotoko having to create fake, but believable (human-world) explanations for events that occured with actual supernatural causes. Hence the title Invented Inference, for in this series, the truth is often clear from the start and explainable through supernatural means, but it's a rational fake solution Kotoko is after, and of course the solution still has to be based on "clues" in order to sound convincing to humans. The fifth book in this series by Shirodaira Kyou is titled Kyokou Suiri - Gyakushuu to Haiboku no Hi (2021) and also bears the English title Invented Inference Short Stories - Day of Counterattack and Defeat. I am not really sure why it is called "short stories" though, as it's basically a novel, even if the opening chapter isn't about the main case of the book. Kotoko and her boyfriend Kurou are surprised when they are contacted by the police, who are asking about Kurou's cousin Rikka who had been evading them ever since the events of the first novel. Rikka had been roaming Japan without a fixed address, but got involved in an accident and because Rikka had lived in Kotoko's home for some time before she moved out, they were contacted as the persons closest to her to confirm her identity. When they visit her, they learn she was involved in much weirder accident than the police believes it is. As far as the police know, Rikka happened to be out camping on a mountain and on her way up, she also met a group of four men who were also planning to camp on the mountain. Later that night, three men fell from a cliff and died, while a fourth man barely managed to survive his fall. Rikka found him and carried him all the way down the mountain. The police is of course investigating the death of the three men, but they could never imagine that the direct cause of their fall is...the vengeful spirit of a giraffe whose remains were kept at a shrine on the mountain, but which has been left unattended for ages. The men were suddenly assaulted in their camp by the rampaging giraffe spirit, causing their fall, and Rikka even faced off against the spirit herself, surviving due to her own supernatural powers. But now Rikka has been placed in the custody of Kotoko and Kurou again, Kotoko has to come up with an explanation for the curious fall of the three men, and also device a way to tame the rampaging giraffe.

 (I really shouldn't read a book and then wait... *checks notes* ...eight months before writing the review...)

This is most definitely the fifth book in a series. Yep. I wouldn't recommend anyone to read this entry as their first step into the world of Invented Inference, for while I think the underlying theme of this book is interesting, it won't work without having seen Kotoko work and do her thing in the previous stories, and the fact that this story is the first we actually see Rikka real-time is also a reason why a lot of the pay-off is in the fact this is the fifth book. We first learn about Rikka in the first novel, where she has already been evading Kotoko and Kurou, and while she pops up now and then in flashbacks, this is the first time we have a direct confrontation between these characters. However, a lot of how she acts and what she actually wants from Kotoko becomes a lot clearer with the knowledge we have of her from the previous flashbacks, so yeah, read this one in order.

But how is the book as a mystery?  Well, for one thing, it's actually a pretty short book (oh, so that's what "short stories" in the English title means?), so the whole set-up is a bit limited. We have one short prologue where we hear about a short case Kotoko once handled, which becomes important at the end again, but most of the book is about the 'mysterious' fall of four men, of which three died. Obviously, this isn't a normal accident, so you have to come up with something pretty convincing to explain three deaths, but fortunately for Kotoko, Rikka is actually very sharp too, and while she only met the party of four men once and later briefly talked with the man who survived the fall, saving him from the giraffe spirit, she actually managed to learn a lot about the dynamics between the four men, and has caught on the fact that something fishy was going on between them. This of course allows for Kotoko to come up with a plausible explanation for why three men ended up dead because we now know they weren't there just to camp. The focus in this tale is more on motive than anything else, I think. While the false solution is of course also based on physical evidence found at the camp and also on actions taken by the men, a lot of the mystery revolves around Kotoko having to explain why everyone acted the way they did on their trip, and how that eventually led to their deaths. While that is of course a matter very open to interpretation, interpretation is exactly what this series has always been about and that coupled with the physical evidence found to serve as support for her proposed "truth", it still feels fairly solid. As said, the mystery as it is set-up is really limited and it's not like we get that many different fake solutions proposed to explain the three deaths, but I do like how the supernatural elements really do play a very important role in the mystery. It's not just Kotoko having to explain away the ghost giraffe: some events that help explain what was going on between the four man at their camp are directly influenced by the presence of the supernatural on the mountain that fateful night, influencing the actions of the men and thus leaving "possibilities" for Kotoko to pick up to come up with a non-supernatural explanation. This concept of the supernatural creating possibilities for a non-supernatural explanation is really neat, and it works well here, especially as the reader is tempted to not think of the supernatural at all in order to come with a human explanation and just consider them anomalies.

The ending shines more light on why this book is also called the Day of Defeat and coupled with the first chapter and perhaps more importantly, the events from the previous four books, we are shown a kind of shifting point in the series, where it appears Rikka will join the main cast of Kotoko and Kurou, but that this will put pressure on Kotoko in her activities as the Deity of Wisdom and her absolute role as god in a world with inabsolute truths. This is more a thematic matter than directly involved in the mystery plotting of this series, but it might mean Kotoko will come up with slightly different kind of invented inferences in the future.

But while I liked Kyokou Suiri - Gyakushuu to Haiboku no Hi generally as a new entry in the series, it is really awfully short and feels more like an extended short story than a full novel. It is not the high point in the series and a lot of it only works because it expects you to have read the previous four volumes and be familiar with the trio of Kotoko, Kurou and Rikka. So it's not a book I will recommend as is: if you liked the first four books, yes, go read this one too, but otherwise, start with the beginning and just see how far you want to go with this series, and perhaps you'll end up here too.

Original Japanese title(s): 城平京『虚構推理 逆襲と敗北の日』

Snow White, Blood Red

So when in tears

The love of years 

Is wasted like the snow,

"The Forest Reverie" (Edgar Allan Poe)

I did read this book in the winter, fitting the theme, but by the time this review is posted here, it's probably almost summer...

Iwanaga Kotoko returns once again as the Deity of Wisdom for youkai (all kinds of supernatural beings, spirits, etc.) in Shirodaira Kyou's 2021 short story collection Kyokou Suiri Tanpenshuu - Iwanaga Kotoko no Junshin which also has the English title Invented Inference Short Stories - Innocence of Iwanaga Kotoko! When she was a child, she was abducted by youkai and made their Deity of Wisdom, helping these supernatural beings whenever they were in trouble involving the human world, acting as arbitrator and detective. Because Kotoko's cases are always connected with humans, she has become quite capable at the act of inventing inferences: while the truth is simply that some supernatural being is involved with the problem, Kotoko always presents the humans with completely false, but convincing explanations that incorporate all the known facts, without having to reveal that in fact youkai were involved. The series is thus not about finding out a truth, but fabricating a truth that humans will believe. Innocence of Iwanaga Kotoko is the fourth book in the series, and the second short story collection following 2018's Invented Inference Short Stories - Appearance of Iwanaga Kotoko, and the two books are quite similar in structure. Innocence of Iwanaga Kotoko too features five stories, some of which are very short and closer in style to short intermezzos/character vignettes, but all of them present rather unique mystery stories because they involve the supernatural. Interestingly, some of these stories were first published in manga format: the manga based on the series runs simultaneously with the books nowadays, but due to different publication schedules, some stories will be featured in the manga before the books.

The very short stories however are once again the less memorable parts of the book. Yoku kangaeru to Kowakunai demo nai Hanashi ("A Story That Could Be Creepy If You Think About It") tells the story of Kotoko's boyfriend Kurou, who has a part-time job as a mover. This time, he's moving stuff out of a house which is said to be haunted, but to his co-workers' surprise, nothing happens at all that day. It's more a story that works towards a punchline about the supernatural, but it's easy to predict where this is going if you know who Kurou is (and his history was already explained in the first book). Similarly, Mato wo enaide Mato wo iyou ("Hit the target without hitting the target") is a very short story where Kotoko is asked to arbitrate between two monkey spirits who are arguing about a bow and arrow they stole. This leads to a Judge Ooka/Judgement of Solomon-esque situation, but the story is over before you know it. These stories are not bad per se, but just so short you'll barely remember them once you're done with the book.

Shisha no Futashika na Dengon ("An Unclear Dying Message") starts with the visit of Reina to her grandparents in the countryside. On her way back to the station, she runs into a mysterious woman, who reminds her of her old high school classmate Kotoko. It turns out this woman is Rikka, cousin of Kotoko's boyfriend Kurou. Reina tells Rikka about Kotoko's life at high school and how everyone thought she was so mysterious, with rumors flying around that she had ties with the supernatural, and that she'd sometimes help people out, though often not in the way most expected. For example, one day, a classmate wanted Kotoko's help due to a problem her uncle had. Her uncle had been rivals with a co-worker at the office, vying for the same positions, but one day, the man was hit on the head with a hammer and died. But before he died, he wrote down the name Takehiko, which was the uncle's name. He became a suspect of course, but soon after the police arrested another man, who had confessed to the death, caused by a freak accident, This seemed to clear the uncle's name at first, but nobody knows why he wrote the name "Takehiko" before dying, and that combined with rumors of a bloody ghost still appearing at the scene of the death, and rumors of the uncle being the real murderer who somehow got away, the man is more-or-less ostricized at the office, unable to get a promotion. Kotoko's classmate has to listen to her uncle's story every time the family meets, so she hopes Kotoko can clear things up so her uncle will finally shut up. While initially, you might be inclined to think this is a classic dying message story, it certainly isn't, and that's made clear rather early on through a discussion about the dying message trope in mystery fiction and how it's so unbelievable and unpracticable. And that fits this series perfectly, because of course Kotoko's answer to the dying message is probably made-up, but it's convincing enough, and what's more, Kotoko's clever enough to recognize the true problem her classmate has, and the solution she provides is just a whole pack of convincing conjecture, but which does allow her classmate to solve the underlying issue. It's a fun story because it turns the idea around of a detective needing to find the truth, instead of focusing on the idea of a detective who only needs to find a workable solution for everyone involved.

The first and final story in this book are the main dish, and form a set together. Yukionna no Dilemma ("The Dilemma of the Snow Woman") features an interesting problem that, at first sight, could only occur in this series. Kotoko is this time approached by Yuki Onna (a female snow spirit) who seeks help for a dear human friend. Masayuki had once been saved by this Yuki Onna in the past already, but he had retreated to the countryside once again his wife cheated on him: he left his company and went back to the place where long ago, Yuki Onna had saved him from an icy death. Sheer coincidence has the two meet once again, and they slowly develop a friendship, with the Yuki Onna often staying at his home to drink and eat. A year after his divorce however, he's visited by the police, as his ex-wife has been murdered, and there are clues, like a partial dying message that point to Masayuki as the killer, as well as a letter written by his ex-wife sent after her death, where she accuses Masayuki of the murder if she dies an unnatural death. When asked for his alibi for the night of the murder however, Masayuki finds himself in a bind: he technically has an alibi, as he was eating and drinking with the Yuki Onna at his home, but how are you going to explain to the police you were spending the night with a spirit!? Masayuki and the Yuki Onna therefore ask Kotoko for help to resolve this problem. The idea of someone having a perfectly fine alibi save for the fact it's a supernatural alibi is pretty fun, though most of the problem is solved by Kotoko in a surprisingly "conventional" manner: she doesn't really need to twist facts for the police to solve this case without revealing the existence of the supernatural, for at the core, the murder itself is a completely human affair, and it's only the problem of Masayuki's alibi that depends on the supernatural. In that respect the story might be a bit disappointing, because the existence of the Yuki Onna is used in this story more effectvely for dramatic effect rather than for the mystery, even if it's an enjoyable story on its own.

The final story, Yuki Onna wo Kiru ("Slaying the Snow Woman") involves the Yuki Onna once again, but for a different problem. Long ago, in the Edo Period, there was a swordfighter who managed to defeat a Yuki Onna who had been challenging swordfighters and killed many of them. This man, Shirakura Hanbei, perfected his swordstyle, opening his own dojo and while he had no child of his own, he adopted a mysterious child who was at least as talented. At age 40 however, the unbeatable swordfighter Hanbei was found with his neck slashed open in the garden of his dojo and with his dying breath, he seemed to accuse the Yuki Onna. Many generations later, and Shirakura Shizuya finds himself consulting Kotoko. He is a direct descendent of the adopted son of Shirakura Hanbei, and he wants Kotoko to find out what happened to Hanbei, because he fears he's actually the offspring of the Yuki Onna, and thus a terrible murdering beast himself. Kotoko consults with the Yuki Onna from the first story, who reveals that Shizuya is actually her nephew, and that the Yuki Onna from the old story was in fact her older sister. So Shizuya is indeed half-youkai and while she explains everything to Kotoko, Kotoko is burdened with a different task: she has to come up with an explanation that will give Shizuya hope, an answer that won't lead to him cursing his own blood forever or even worse, actually turn himself into an evil spirit. This is not a conventional mystery story, as once again a lot of the "truth" is explained by spirits, and Kotoko's main concern lies not with the truth, but focuses on an acceptable lie. Personally, I do think the historical setting of (large parts of) the story undermines the "power" of this series. Kotoko's elaborate lies work best in the context of her abusing existing hard evidence to dance around the supernatural explanation, and such evidence are more clear in modern-day, real-time cases. But here, we're talking about a murder case that happened centuries ago, with only hearsay as "evidence" so Kotoko's interpretations just feel less... convincing in general.

I'd say Kyokou Suiri Tanpenshuu - Iwanaga Kotoko no Junshin (Invented Inference Short Stories - Innocence of Iwanaga Kotoko) is on the whole a fairly entertaining volume, though I do feel the first short story collection was better, with the individual stories being more memorable. This book does offer something interesting with two very different cases involving a Yuki Onna and those two stories are definitely the better ones in this volume, but their best moments simply don't match the best moments from the first short story collection. I'd still say the first book in this series is the best, and if you like the concepts and characters found there, this volume is also worth reading, The next one is a full novel again, and I have already purchased it, so let's see how that one will turn out!

Original Japanese title(s): 城平京『虚構推理短編集 岩永琴子の純真』：「雪女のジレンマ」/「よく考えると怖くないでもない話」/「死者の不確かな伝言」/「的を得ないで的を射よう」/「雪女を斬る」

Pilgrim

"It really is very dangerous to believe people. I never have for years."

"Sleeping Murder"

 

Last one for this year!

When she was a child, Iwanaga Kotoko was chosen by youkai (all kinds of supernatural beings, spirits, etc.) to become their Deity of Wisdom in exchange for one eye and one leg. With her sharp mind, she would help these supernatural beings whenever they were in trouble they themselves couldn't solve, acting as arbitrator and detective. Ever since, Kotoko has become a feared figure in the supernatural world together with her reluctant boyfriend Kurou (who has supernatural powers himself), as they solve quietly solve problems that involve the supernatural. While few people in the 'normal' human world know anything definite about her link with supernatural, Kotoko, as the daughter of a family in good standing, has gained a reputation as an extraordinary problem solver among the people in a position to know. While anything on Kotoko is extremely hush-hush, those with connections know that if they find themselves involved with something that might be not be quite "normal", Kotoko can probably sort things out.

In Shirodaira Kyou's 2019 novel Kyokou Suiri - Sleeping Murder, which also sports the English title Invented Inference - Sleeping Murder on the cover, Kotoko is asked by the CEO of the Otonoshi Hotel Group, Otonashi Gouichi, to become the arbitrator in an odd family gathering. It was his wife Sumi's father Denjirou who first started the Otonoshi Hotel Group, but after his death, Sumi became the new CEO and succeeded in making the brand name big both in and outside Japan. Twenty-three years ago, Sumi was stabbed to death by a robber on the street. It turns out everyone around her had a motive to kill her: Sumi was a highly stubborn woman and husband Gouichi saw that Sumi tried to push the development of the hotel chain too hard too fast, and it would've led to disaster in just a few months. Sumi also didn't allow their three children to live their own lives, deciding for them where to work or whom to marry. But it turns out each and any of them had a solid alibi for the time of death of Sumi, and ultimately, everything went well after Sumi's death, as Gouichi as the new CEO managed to save the hotel group, while the three children all got to live their lives the way they wanted. Kotoko is therefore a bit surprised to learn that Gouichi was the murderer of Sumi. To be exact, Gouichi struck a deal with a kitsune youkai: if the kitsune would kill Sumi for him in a way so he and his family wouldn't be suspected, he'd buy a piece of land and have it developed to drive off a rivaling pack of kitsune. They both kept their part of the deal, but now the elderly Gouichi has not long to live and he regrets what he has done. He wants to show to his children that a murderer will be punished sooner or later by Heaven, but in order to make his children accept that he killed their mother, he must find a fake solution to convince his children, as they are sure not to believe in the kitsune story. Gouichi decides to confess to the murder on his wife, but then 'challenges' the children to explain how he killed Sumi. Obviously none of them will actually guess the truth, but Gouichi figures that if they can come up with a plausible solution themselves, they are more likely to actually believe it. Kotoko is asked to judge which of the three children will present the most believable solution.

Invented Inference - Sleeping Murder is the third book in the Kyokou Suiri series, which has both Invented Inference and In/Spectre as its official English titles. A few months ago, I reviewed the second book, a short story collection, but in a way, Sleeping Murder can also be considered a kind of short story collection. For the first half of the book consists of short vignettes that focus on Kotoko as a detective, before we dive into the main storyline of the Otonashi Sumi murder. The previous two volumes focused more on the supernatural mystery plots, as well as the notion of the 'invented inference': this series has never been about finding the truth, as it usually involves supernatural beings. Instead, this series has been about cooking up lies that people were willing to believe. Most stories revolve around Kotoko coming up with a rational, realistic-sounding solution based on the available clues that humans were likely to accept, even though the truth is that some supernatural being did something. Invented Inference focused on what people fundamentally like about mystery novels, being a story about logical reasoning, but also about solutions that were entertaining rather than truthful or realistic.

Sleeping Murder is interesting in the sense that the notion of the invented inference takes a backseat in the first half, as the chapters here function more like a character study of Kotoko. In the first chapter for example, we follow a young Kotoko, back when she had just entered high school. Because the school's mysery club hasn't seen many new members and is dangerously close to being shut down by the school, the two remaining members try to convince Kotoko to join them, figuring that the school would never dare to close the club of the daughter of the well-connected Iwanaga family. The scheme hatched by the club president explodes in his face when Kotoko instantly sees through the president's true intentions, but ultimately, she decides to become a member of the club anyway, becoming what you may almost call friends. Several years later, the club president would recount another episode about Kokoto to his uncle, who is looking for information on Kotoko. In another chapter, we follow Kurou's older niece Rikka, who is on the run for Kotoko and Kurou as explained in the first book. She becomes the newest tenant in a rather troublesome apartment: the previous three tenants all committed suicide there. Rikka doesn't seem to worried by that fact though and seems to live a peaceful life there, becoming friendly with all her neighbors. She quickly moves out of the apartment the moment Kotoko and Kurou find her trail though, but before she leaves, she tells her neighbor that Kotoko will likely explain why there were three suicides in that room, and why there won't be anymore. While short, this was a pretty interesting mystery: the second person in the room to commit suicide had been dumped horribly by her boyfriend, and it was the same boyfriend who later committed suicide there too. However, he did that after three months living there and he had a new girlfriend, so it wasn't like he suddenly felt remorse. The solution involves the supernatural in a very clever way, and an excellent example of how concepts like ghosts can be used fairly in a mystery story.

The Sleeping Murder storyline makes up for the bulk of the volume and the part most in line with the other volumes. Three people have gathered to come up with a theory that will prove Gouichi's guilty of murdering his wife: Rion (daughter of the oldest son), Kouya (husband of oldest daughter Kaoruko) and Shin (second son). The one who comes up with the best solution will be given an advantage when it comes to dividing up the inheritance, but it's Kotoko who will decide who will provide the best solution that will fit the known clues and which will be convincing enough (as she alone knows that Gouichi actually struck a deal with a kitsune). What follows is an interesting conversation where Kotoko acts as discussion leader, skilfully leading the three family members to a plausible solution by pointing out contradictions and by secretly hiding hints in her utterances. As seen in the first novel, Kotoko's skills do not simply mean she can come up with a convincing solution, she also knows how to set them up so everyone will be willing to believe them. In order to do so, Kotoko will also uncover secrets nobody had ever thought about, and make everyone first come up with one theory first, only to have them also discard themselves and thus set-up the next theory. The way in which Kotoko acts like a teacher and slowly shows the path to her invented truth is as amusing as always. The murder case itself though is a bit simple, so it never becomes really complex, but the story does show off what Kotoko does best

And like I mentioned earlier, this book does a better job than the previous books at showing the character Kotoko. Whereas previous stories focused on her as a problem solver, this book shows how humans look at a fearsome character like Kotoko, a small girl who looks almost like a doll, but who hides a darkness far greater than anyone can imagine. The first half of the book showed Kotoko through the eyes of characters like her classmates and Rikka, while in the Sleeping Murder storyline, we see what happens if Kotoko is forced to work on a case which ultimately only involves human actors and see how her morals may not coincide with human morals.

Purely seen as a mystery novel, Kyokou Suiri - Sleeping Murder/Invented Inference - Sleeping Murder is probably not as strong as the previous two books. The episodes collected in this volume are intentionally designed to function as a character study of Kotoko, showing her off in various minor mysteries from different parts of her life. Some of these mysteries are quite amusing, but the limited length of these episodes do make the invented inference angle of the series weaker. In a way, Sleeping Murder also feels like a kind of set-up for the sequel, like a prologue for things to come. I don't know for sure whether we'll have something 'big' next time, but Sleeping Murder is like silence before the storm, focusing on Kotoko as we know her now before throwing her into a more dramatic storyline. Kyokou Suiri - Sleeping Murder is not the best volume in the series, but the previous volumes were highly entertaining and if you've gotten that far, it's definitely worth it to read this volume too as it's still an entertaining mystery novel.

Original Japanese title(s): 城平京『虚構推理 スリーピング・マーダー』

Try Again

"Unagi is a total state of awareness, only by achieving true unagi can you be prepared for any danger that may befall you."

"Friends"

One of my favorite reads last year was Shirodaira Kyou's 2011 novel Kyokou Suiri, which carries both Invented Inference and In/Spectre as its official English titles. In a way, the novel reminded me of the work of authors like Christianna Brand and Anthony Berkeley, as Invented Inference was also about multiple false solutions and a challenge to the notion of one truth, which are themes that come up in the novels by the aforementioned writers. But Invented Inference went far, far beyond what Brand and Berkeley ever dared, and Invented Inference was also a great example of show how the supernatural can be incorporated in a fair-play mystery plot, as well as a good example of showing that a good mystery story really doesn't need to revolve exclusively around the pattern of murder/other criminal case and the subsequent search for the truth. When she was a child, Iwanaga Kotoko was chosen by youkai (all kinds of supernatural beings, spirits, etc.) to become their Deity of Wisdom: with her sharp mind, she would help these supernatural beings whenever they were in trouble they themselves couldn't solve, acting as arbitrator and detective. In the first Invented Inference novel, Kotoko had to face the fearsome Steel Lady Nanase: the powerful ghost of a deceased idol singer who was being a danger for both humans and other supernatural beings. She was powered by the belief in the urban legend of the Steel Lady Nanase, making her nearly unstoppable as stories about her spread across the internet.The only way to stop Steel Lady Nanase was to weaken the belief in her existence, and it's here where Invented Inference showed its brilliance. For while it was actually the truth that a ghost was going around causing trouble, Kotoko had to come up with an elaborate lie (an invented inference) that would explain all the supernatural events that had happened in a non-supernatural manner. Ultimately, the novel wasn't about finding out the truth (in fact, Kotoko knew what the truth was because some spirits already told her everything), but about cooking up a lie that was even more alluring than the truth. Invented Inference thus showed what people fundamentally like about mystery novels: it was a story based on logical reasoning, but it also provided a (false) truth that was entertaining.

Iwanaga Kotoko and her reluctant boyfriend Kurou (who has some supernatural powers himself) returned in the 2018 short story collection Kyokou Suiri Tanpenshuu - Iwanaga Kotoko no Shutsugen which also has the English title Invented Inference Short Stories - Appearance of Iwanaga Kotoko. You know this is probably the first time I've read a short story collection in a series which is simply titled "Short Stories"? What if Ellery Queen hadn't named his short story collections after the Holmes' collections, but simply "Ellery Queen Short Stories"? Anyway, this volume collects five short adventures of Kotoko that get her involved with cases that involve both supernatural beings and humans. As with the first novel, the unique aspect of this collection is that the stories here are often not really about figuring out the truth, or at least, not the the truth that human society is usually after. Often various ghosts and spirits will have witnessed something, so even when there's a murder case investigated by the police, Kotoko will usually know who the murderer is because some spirit hanging around happened to have been witness to the murder. The mysteries in this volume therefore revolve around different problems, and often, these problems are only possible because of the supernatural setting, providing an entertaining volume with thrills you really won't find elsewhere.

Though I'll be honest and say that not all the stories are gold. The very short Unagiya no Kouunbi ("A Lucky Day At The Unagi Restaurant") for example feels more like a short horror story to introduce Kotoko to new readers, almost like a The Twilight Zone story. The story is set inside an unagi (Japanese eel) restaurant, where Kajio Takaya and Juujuji Ryoutarou, two old friends, are having a meal. The two hadn't seen each other ever since Kajio's wife was murdered by a street robber six months earlier. When they notice a young-looking girl, beautiful but almost inhuman-looking, sitting all alone in the restaurant, the two start a little game of deduction to guess why a girl like her would be in a restaurant like this on her own, as it's not the type of restaurant even they would go alone to considering the prices and atmosphere. As they pile up their ideas about her presence here however, Ryoutarou slowly moves the discussion to a daring accusation. There's little 'real' deduction here though, as most of what we see here are fancy guesses at best. Weirdly enough, this is the second story in the volume, even though it'd work much better as the introduction story, showing us Kotoko from a third person's view before we get into the stories with more prounounced supernatural elements.

The first story for example, Nushi no Orochi wa Kiiteita ("The Lord Orochi Heard"), is one of the best stories in the volume, making great use of the supernatural to provide a unique problem for Kotoko to solve. An anime television series based on the first novel was broadcast at the start of this year, but it also included an adaptation of this particular story. Kotoko is asked by Lord Orochi (a Great Snake) of Mt. Chikuna to provide the answer to a problem that's been bugging him. One month earlier, a corpse was found in the swamp on Mt. Chikuna by some mushroom hunters. It didn't take long to identify the corpse as Yoshihara Hiroo, who worked at a construction company. The arrest of Tanio Aoi followed soon. Five years ago, her boyfriend had committed suicide together with another woman, because he had embezzled money from the company. It appears Yoshihara had actually been the real culprit, and he had killed Aoi's boyfriend (a colleague) to take the fall. He felt regret now and had confessed it all to Aoi, who had then killed him in a rage. Yoshihara's body was thrown in the swamp of Mt. Chikuna, right behind Aoi's own home. Lord Orochi actually saw Aoi dumping the body in the swamp, so there's no doub that the police got the right person, but there's one thing that bothers the Great Snake: after Aoi had thrown the body in the swamp, she was overheard muttering "I hope they find him quickly" by Lord Orochi. But why would she carry a dead body all the way up the mountain to dump it in a swamp, if on the other hand she hopes it will be found soon? What follows is a great story of invented inferences, where Kotoko has to come up with an explanation for the seemingly contradicting actions of Aoi. The brilliance is of course is that this situation is only possible because we're taking about spirits here: Lord Orochi only overheard Aoi muttering those words because Aoi never noticed there was a spirit around: a human could just go to the police and testify about this. Kotoko comes up with various theories for Aoi's actions, but Lord Orochi's not easily pleased and quickly pokes holes in each of Kotoko's theories, but with each rejected theory, she slowly builds a case that is likely to convince both Lord Orochi and the reader. Ultimately, the fun lies in the fact that Kotoko isn't looking for the truth though: she just has to come up with an explanation that will convince Lord Orochi. A great showcase of the multiple/false solution trope of mystery fiction.

In Dengeki no Pinocchio, Arui Wa Hoshi ni Negai wo ("Blitz Pinocchio, Or: A Wish Upon A Star"), the small fishing town of Todomizu is facing a crisis as every few days, they find countless of dead fish washing ashore. While a popular television drama last year did make the town a tourist destination, the local economy still revolves around the fishing industry, so people are quite worried to see the fish being killed by some unknown force in the sea. While nobody dares say it out loud, there have been some vague sightings of a wooden puppet walking around lately. The wooden puppet belonged to old Zenta, whose grandson was killed by some tourists visiting here in a traffic incident. People in town however seemed to care very little about the death of the boy, fearing that negative news would kill the stream of tourists. The grieving Zenta had been working on a wooden puppet until he himself died too, but the puppet was never found. People in town now fear the puppet has come to life and is taking revenge on the town. And that's actually the truth: every few nights, the wooden puppet descends from the mountains, makes its way to the sea and uses an electric shock blast to kill the fish in the sea. Not even the local spirits can subdue the Pinocchio figure, so they ask Kotoko to deal with the dummy. What troubles Kotoko however isn't the actual threat of this Blitz Pinocchio, but its actual goal. I really like the explanation behind the real intent of the Blitz Pinocchio, but oh, how I wish it had been clewed more fairly. The story first points out that the will of old Zenta and the actions of Blitz Pinocchio don't seem to match up completely, but in order to arrive at the conclusion Kotoko proposes, you need to think of something that may not be on your mind immediately, so it's not completely fair. Had this been extended into a longer story, with more fleshing out of the background story and for example included a mini-lecture on puppets as supernatural themes, this would've been a great story: now it's a fun story, but it feels a tad cheap because Kotoko points out something that you, as the reader, can not know for certain is relevant or not until it is mentioned within the universe of this story. But the solution is definitely original and wouldn't work in any other series except for this one, where we know the supernatural is very real.

In Guillotine Sanshirou we follow the illustrator Sayoko in the train. From her thoughts, we learn she has a connection to Miyaigawa Koujirou, a man who was recently arrested for murdering his brother-in-law and decapitating him with his own guillotine. Miyaigawa owned a genuine Japanese guillotine, constructed in Japan in the nineteenth century, but ultimately never used. When confronted by the police about the decapitation, Miyaigawa said that he had killed his brother-in-law by accident, after fighting over money, but when he saw his brother-in-law was dead, he wanted to try out the guillotine just once. Our look into Sayoko's mind however shows she too is involved with Miyaigawa's crime. When Kotoko and Kurou confront Sayoko however, she's very surprised. Kotoko tells Sayoko that she's hired by the spirit of the guillotine, who apparently is named Sanshirou. When Miyaigawa decapitated his brother-in-law, he muttered the words "Now it should be alright" which seems to suggest there was more to it than just trying out the guillotine. But what? This story is not completely fair to the reader, as Kotoko is told something by the guillotine which she doesn't mention until the conclusion and it's pretty damning information. It does lead to an interesting situation though, as it gives a very good explanation (the foreshadowing in particular is good) as to why Miyaigawa would want to decapitate his brother-in-law like that and it also makes good use of the idea that it was the guillotine itself which provided Kotoko with that information, as nobody else would ever be able to tell her that. So I do think that the plot justifies the use of the supernatural, as it leads to a situation you normally couldn't have in a mystery story (a witness seeing a very important moment, but not able to tell that to others/the police), but that the information gained from that isn't conveyed in a fair manner to the reader, so it feels slightly cheap.

Maboroshi no Jihanki ("The Phantom Vending Machine") is my favorite story of the collection, as it features a truly original conundrum. We learn that a few shape-shifting tanuki (raccoon dogs) have been making some really delicious udon noodles, and they had been selling them to fellow beings of the other world through an udon vending machine in a small building in a phantom rest area along a mountain road. The rest area is located not in this world, and therefore only accessible for supernatural beings. At least, that's normally so, but occassionally humans driving up the mountains do end up at the interdimensional rest station, giving birth to the urban legend of the "phantom vending machine" with the delicious noodles. The tanuki didn't mind the urban legends, but now they're involved with a criminal case! Honma Shun had killed his business partner accidently in self-defense after accusing him of drug smuggling and being attacked himself. After the murder, Honma drove around in a daze, ending up in the mountains. When he arrived at a small rest area, he talked a bit with the maintenance man of the udon vending machine (actually a tanuki who had transformed into human form), had a bowl of noodles there and then drove on to arrive at a coast town in the neighboring prefecture. The problem is that when Honma left the interdimensional phantom rest station, he was not put back in the exact same spot on the mountain, but further down the mountain. Because of that, he arrived at the coast town much sooner than usual and that inadvertently gave him an alibi for the murder, for nobody could've committed the murder and arrive in the coast town at one in the morning! While Honma admitted to the murder, the police find it puzzling that he didn't seem to realize he has an alibi, but the problem is that they can't find the rest area, nor the maintenance man who serviced the vending machine. One detective in particular is very keen on finding the rest area, which is making the tanuki very nervous, so they hope Kotoko can think of a solution that can explain the situation without actually revealing there is a real phantom rest area.

Absolutely brilliant premise for an alibi story! The culprit is been given a perfect alibi by accident because he wandered into an interdimensional space, and now Kotoko has to crack this real alibi by coming up with a logical, believable solution that does away with the supernatural even though that is what actually happened. It's really fun to see Kotoko build a logically sound case based on the known facts, even though you know it's not even remotely true. Like I mentioned in the introduction, it's at these times where you see how Shirodaira dares to go beyond Berkeley and Brand, by actually rejecting the truth and opting exclusively for the false solution as the "correct" solution, even if it's not the truth. Seeing Kotoko spinning a tale based on the facts to explain how Honma got his perfect alibi, makes you realize that mystery fiction is really often not about finding the truth: it's about finding an amusing solution and that's exactly what's done here fabulously.

Kyokou Suiri Tanpenshuu/Invented Inference Short Story Collection has a few stories that I'd have liked even better with some tinkering, but the first and final story in the volume are absolutely great must-reads. They do great things with the supernatural premise of the series, providing you a type of mystery you simply can't get with other 'conventional' mysteries. I mean, how many series do you know where you know the murder weapon can actually explain what happened in person, or where someone is given an alibi by accident due to interdimensional shenigans!? It's easy to assume that this would make this series not a fair-play mystery because of the use of the supernatural, but by shifting the focus of the mystery from 'finding the truth' to 'finding a logically reasoned solution that does not rely the supernatural even though it exists', Invented Inference can offer some great moments not seen in any other detective fiction.

Original Japanese title(s): 城平京『虚構推理短編集 岩永琴子の出現』：「ヌシの大蛇は聞いていた 」/「うなぎ屋の幸運日 」/「電撃のピノッキオ、あるいは星に願いを」/「ギロチン三四」/「幻の自販機」

Lie, Lie, Lie

"The truth is out there"

"The X-Files"

Hey, have you heard about Steel Lady Nanase? The stories of a ghost who carries a steel beam and attacks people around Makurazaka City? They say she's the ghost of the idol Nanase Karin. Never heard of her? Well, she wasn't a household name yet, but she was getting there. She was smart, calculating and that chest of hers! Anyway, she was doing fine until her father died. The two of them, they didn't get along, and there were even rumors he hadn't fallen off the stairs, but that she pushed him. The press was all over her, so she took a break from work to get away from those pesky journalists. Stayed in one city for a few days, then to another, etcetera. Until she arrived in Makaruzaka. One evening, she had snuck into a construction site, when a pile of steel beams fell on her, crushing her face and killing her instantly! And after a while, people started talking. That her ghost still lingered around to avenge her death. That her death was not natural, as she didn't even try to protect herself from the falling beams. She's supposed to be dressed like in her idol days, wearing a mini skirt and a ribbon in her hair, but also swinging a heavy steel beam around at anyone she sees...

Rookie cop Saki of course didn't really believe the rumors of Steel Lady Nanase, but when she heard from a fellow detective that lately, more and more incidents occured in town where people seem to refer to a being that might be Steel Lady Nanase, her interests were piqued, and she agreed to help him out in his investigation. In most of these incidents, like a horrible car accident, the involved eventually gave other excuses for what happened, but strangely enough, it seems their initial, and perhaps most honest reactions were to say they were attacked by Steel Lady Nanase. One night however, Saki herself is confronted with Steel Lady Nanase, and to her shock, she learns that Steel Lady Nanase is really a ghost. And a terrifyingly strong one too, who is growing more powerful by the night. The only ones who can stop Steel Lady Nanase from causing more destruction and eventually perhaps even kill somebody, turn out to be Saki's ex, Sakuragawa Kurou and Kurou's current girlfriend Iwanaga Kotoko, a young girl with a baret and a walking stick. Both Kurou and Kotoko are more than mere humans, falling right in the gap between normal humans and the supernatural. Despite's Kotoko petty and arrogant attitude at times, she is respected and worshipped as the Diety of Knowledge by the various supernatural beings that exist, who count on her wisdom to help her out. Usually, their requests are pretty minor, but now the local ghosts, monsters and other youkai need Kotoko's help to defeat Steel Lady Nanase, who is completely out of control and attacking everyone, humans and other supernatural beings alike. Saki learns from Kotoko that Steel Lady Nanase is an actual product of people's imagination: it's the belief in the urban legend of Steel Lady Nanase that created her and gave her this tremendous power, so the only way to defeat Steel Lady Nanase is to create an even more elaborate urban legend, an even fancier lie that disproves Steel Lady's Nanase's existence for people to believe in, even if she does really exist now. This seemingly contradictional problem lies at the heart of Shirodaira Kyou's 2011 novel Kyokou Suiri, which also carries the English title Invented Inference.

You ever decide to quickly read something because you knew an adaptation was coming? The original novel first caught my eye when in 2012, I was a member of the Kyoto University Mystery Club and one of the scheduled bookclub sessions was about this book (I didn't participate then). The title seemed so weird, yet alluring. Later I learned there was also a manga adaptation, which is being published in the United States with the title In/Spectre and then I heard last year that in January 2020, an anime series based on this novel would start. So I decided to quickly read the novel before the anime adaptation would start. Shirodaira Kyou, whom I knew from the manga mystery series Spiral ~ Suiri no Kizuna, was quite busy preparing for the upcoming hype of the anime series it seems, as both a short story collection and a second novel were published late 2018 and 2019.

Anyway, this is obviously a supernatural mystery: both Kotoko and Kurou have extraordinary powers and can even communicate with supernatural beings like the ghost of the dead, and in fact, early on Kotoko reveals to Saki that Nanase Karin really did just die in an accident and that she wasn't murdered or anything like that, and she can prove that because she has an actual witness to Karin's death: a ghost of a construction worker who had died at that site. So much for a mystery story, you might think, if ghosts can tell you who did or did not kill someone, but that's of course a rather small-minded way to think of a mystery story. Invented Inference is really fun to read, because it's built on a supernatural theme, leading to a type of mystery that is actually quite familiar to veteran mystery readers.

The genius angle with which this novel is written is that Steel Lady Nanase is a ghost that is powered by the belief in her urban legend: because of the internet, modern urban myths can spread with abnormal speed, diffusing a consistent image across the country shared by all readers. This has made Steel Lady Nanase a very powerful ghost in a short time, while in the old days, this process would've taken decades, and it was likely the urban myth would already be forgotten in the meantime. One way to defeat Steel Lady Nanase would be to disprove the urban legend, but as we all know, people like to believe in ghost stories, urban muths and conspiracy theories. Thus Kotoko explains the only way to defeat Steel Lady Nanase, to weaken the belief in her, is to create a new story, which proves there's no such thing as Steel Lady Nanase. But it has to be a story that people want to believe over the story of Steel Lady Nanase, it has to be wackier, more alluring, more worthwhile believing, while at the same time this new story has to be believable and logical. Coming up with a story based completely on lies is easy, but if holes are poked in your new story, then nobody is going to believe it, so it has to be a plausible story too. And thus we have the title: Kotoko has to come up with a completely fictional deduction, an invented inference, that will explain all the incidents that happened across Makurazaka City the last few weeks, including the sightings of Steel Lady Nanase and the enigmatic death of the idol Nanase Karin, an explanation is not only plausible and based on the real facts of the case, but also one that will not create an even worse monster.

The concept of having to come up with what is basically an elaborate lie is really fantastic and touches upon the fundamentals of mystery fiction. For do we really read mystery fiction to find out the truth? No, we read mystery fiction because we like fiction, because we want to hear a story that is plausible and logically based on the facts presented, but also a story that is entertaining, a story you want to believe in, something to amuse you. That is exactly what Kotoko has to do here, and the way she builds up her fake, but plausible deduction is really a sight to see as she skilfully mixes up all kinds of small elements from the urban myth to create her own new (completely fabricated) urban myth. The device of fake solutions of course reminds of writers like Christianna Brand and Anthony Berkeley, who often had the characters in their novels propose false solutions. But the difference is that in Invented Inference, the false solution is not a concept meant to divert you from the truth: the false solution is the goal. In this story, you already have the story of a poor idol who died tragically and is now haunting the city as a ghost swinging a steel beam around, and now the reader and Kotoko have to think of an explanation that is acceptable, based on the facts as far as they are publicly known and most importantly, one that is more entertaining than an actual vengeful ghost story. It's the last condition which makes Invented Inference so original because it's easy coming up with evidence or explanations that there are no ghosts, but people are more willing to believe the more interesting story. Truth is sometimes weirder than fiction, but in this novel, fiction needs to be more entertaining than the truth. The existence of supernatural beings in the world of the novel also doesn't interfere with the fair play element of the mystery, as the story's about creating a new urban myth based on the facts: people's beliefs in Steel Lady Nanase are strengthened by the real incidents she causes, but talking about other supernatural beings in a potential new urban myth is less likely to be accepted unless it has facts to back it up.

I already mentioned this first novel already saw two sequels this last year or so. It was no surprise sequels would follow, as these first novel is also clearly set in a much larger world, with more characters that will be explored more indepth in other stories. Invented Inference is a standalone story, but there's still plenty of questions left unanswered about the characters at the end of the tale.

Anyway, I really enjoyed Kyokou Suiri/Invented Inference, as it took a very original, and seemingly contradictionary approach to telling a mystery plot. The unconventional story setting and disinterest in truth makes this an entertaining read, while at the same time it does make you think, what is it really that makes you want to read a mystery novel. It's pretty light-hearted novel actually, and with the comedic bickering between the characters, surprisingly action-packed narrative and all the supernatural themes going, one might be inclined to think this is also a very light mystery, but at the core it actually addresses a core theme of the whole mystery genre in a way few dare. I might try the anime in January too.

Original Japanese title(s):  城平京『虚構推理』