Now I think about it, it was probably the cover art that put me on the wrong foot...
After his lover was burnt on the stakes as a witch, Rosen quit his job as a lecturer in law at Ernst University and started travelling with his companion Lili, the younger sister of his lover. During their travels, they witness a few more witch burnings, but each time, Rosen is to late to prevent another tragedy from happening. Things are different however when they arrive in a small isolated village in the Schwarzwald, where they learn a witch trial is about to start. Rosen introduces himself as someone who has been involved in witch trials before, and he is introduced to the village elder, as well as to Landsen Einstein, the lord of the region. The people of the village believe strongly in Saint Menininumus, who championed for those with disabilities and thus many people who live in the village have one, as no other village would accept such people. Rosen learns the the defendant in the upcoming witch trial is Anne, the local medicine woman and extremely attractive too. Her mother had been a medicine woman too, but she had been burnt on the stake a few years ago as a witch. People had been suspicious of Anne too all this time, but now suspicious deaths have occured in the village, which prompted direct accussations of witchcraft. The first victims were the elderly judicial officer and his wife, who suddenly died with no obvious cause, even though both were healthy people. A few days later, Galgad, a servant of the Einstein family, passed away too, and he was found with a strange burn on his chest: the mark of the witch. These three deaths in quick succession led to Anne being held captive and her death seems inevitable. Rosen however insists the matter must be investigated thorougly according to the witch laws, and Landsen Einstein seems amused by the idea, and welcomes Rosen's suggestion. While the people in the village are all convinced Anne is a witch, Rosen slowly uncovers clues that not only point at Anne's innocence, they even seem to suggest she's being scapegoated. Can Rosen however convince a whole village of witch-believers that not all is as it seems in Kimono Arata's Majo Saiban no Bengonin (2025), which also bears the English title Witch Trial Defense Attorney on the cover?
Alright, let me start of with admitting I honestly and without any doubts at all thought this was a light novel-esque fantasy book, with a vaguely European high-fantasy setting. Turns out I was wrong. Of course, the book starts with a person called Rosen who travels with a young girl, so at first, I had no reason to assume otherwise. Perhaps I should've started doubting myself already when the book first started mentioning real country names, but it was only by the time the book started naming laws and stuff about witch trials, I realized that this book *was* indeed about witch trials in Europe in the middle ages. The book also features a bibliography list at the end, so the author definitely did his homework on the matter. The tone of the book is not gritty-realism by the way and reads easily enough, but the way it depicts how a witch trial would work, is realistic enough.
I also vaguely assumed this would be something like Gyakuten Saiban/Ace Attorney, similiar to how Konno Tenryuu's Cinderella-jou no Satsujin ("The Cinderella Castle Murder" 2021) wore its inspiration on its sleeves. And here too I was proven wrong, and very much so. In fact, at first it bothered me quite a lot the story seemed to develop so slowly: the first third of the book is dedicated to introducing us to a time period when witch trials existed and were a real part of everyday life, showing us the village and its villagers, and showing how the villagers, with all their preconceived ideas about people, ended up accusing Anne of witchcraft (and of course, all the evidence they provide is fairly flimsy). This part is well-developed, and also introduces us to the villagers' strong belief in Saint Menininumus, which leads to a kind of "special setting" mystery. For example, Landsen Einstein and his men do not hail from the village and do not strongly believe in Saint Menininumus, unlike the local people. Landsen Einsten at least follows the traditions surrounding Saint Menininumus, but the third victim, Galgad, did not place an anti-witch protection charm at his door, like all other people in the village did. This, according to the villagers, is proof a witch (Anne) killed him: it was the only house in the village not under the protection of Saint Menininumus. It is this belief in the traditions surrounding Saint Menininumus that also forms an obstable to Rosen's investigations at first. He is so convinced of his right and of the power of logic and reasoning, he completely neglects the human psychology that forms the foundation to the accusation towards Anne and his efforts to prove he is right, only end up hurting his own case with the villagers as they sense he's dismissive of their ideas and their saint. This belief in Saint Menininumus works effective as a "special setting", because while there are not many specific rules, the reader can easily understand what limitations this strong belief provides to Rosen's investigations and the willingness of villagers to help him.
This is also why the book is not like Gyakuten Saiban/Ace Attorney in terms of story structure. The trial doesn't happen until the very end in fact and is relatively short. Yet it is hard to say much of the book is truly dedicated to a thorough investigation of the deaths. Mood-setting is definitely more important at first: important clues only come into Rosen's possession relatively late, and that's only because it's only then he finally gets a true chance to investigate vital pieces of evidence. Most of the story is more focused on seeing Rosen finding opportunities to actually conduct a true investigation, which actually makes sense as everyone in the village is already convinced Anne's a witch, and while Landsen would find it interesting to see Rosen turn everything around, it's not like he cares whether Anne's convicted or not, as long as peace is restored in his village. Any efforts by Rosen to investigate the case have to be considered carefully, as he himself might be accused of being a witch, or at least an ally of the witch, too. The book is good at portraying this sense of dread, where anyone might be accused of witchcraft or being in cahoots with a witch with one wrong move.
As a mystery, the plot is less built around physical evidence and interpretation of them, and more about the logic derived from the pyschology of the involved characters. If Anne were a witch, would she have done X (as shown by the crime scene) even though she knew condition Y? If Galgad wasn't killed by a witch, what motive would a murderer have to kill him? The mystery crafted by Kimono makes great use of the unique "witches are real and have to burnt on the stake!" psychology portrayed in this book, with good logical deductions based on the actions of characters, considering their beliefs and fears. It is a mystery built with elements that only work in this world and that is always when a mystery novel makes the most impression on me, when it's a mystery that works in, and unique to the world depicted (i.e. in Ellery Queen mystery novels everything has to be rational and actors always act logical for their own causes, so the longer deduction chains work perfectly for that world). Majo Saiban no Bengonin works as a mystery because it is set in a remote village in Medieval Europe when people believed in witches.
The epilogue addresses a few more matters not discussed in the actual witch trial, which adds a completely new angle to the matter too. I think some people might not like the added information: I myself think that while mystery-wise, the epilogue adds cool bits and pieces, I think the overall message of the epilogue falls a bit flat, with the overall message of the book being stronger and more consistent up until the epilogue. I do like the little clues and odd passages being addressed properly in the epilogue though.
I enjoyed Majo Saiban no Bengonin a lot on the whole though. Whereas there is mystery fiction out there that utilize the theme of witch trials, they are usually fantasy-inclined, so it's interesting to have a book that's actually based on European history. Because of the structure of the book, I am a bit reluctant to call it a true courtroom drama, as most of the relevant plot developments don't even take place in the actual witch trial, but nonetheless, I enjoyed the book a lot due to its good take on the theme and I look forward to future works by author Kimino, as this was actually their debut novel!
