Old Habits Die Hard

"Extra, extra, read all about it!"

Huh, I am really using the anthology tag only once a year...

Disclosure: I am a member of the Honkaku Mystery Writers Club of Japan. However, I didn't vote for the stories this year though. Or any year to be honest.... I just never read short stories published in magazines, making it impossible for me to vote in the first place...

We've made it halfway through the year 2022, so here it is: Honkaku-Ou 2022 ("The King of Honkaku 2022"). This annual summer anthology collects the best honkaku short stories published the previous year, as selected by the members of the Honkaku Mystery Writers Club of Japan. It is basically a counterpart to the Honkaku Mystery Award, which is awarded to the best published book each year. Short stories are usually published in magazines or online, which occasionally can make them difficult to track down several months later, so that is why each year, this anthology is published, to ensure these stories can be easily found. I've been reading this collection since they started the current format in 2019, and while it's not like I love every single story each time, the anthologies do give a good idea of what's going on each year in the mystery scene of Japan. Last year's volume for example had a #StayHome themed story because of a certain pandemic, so I was curious to see whether that would still find its way into this volume one way or another. But while each year can be quite different, the last two entries featured some stories that were really strong and some even ended up on my favorite reads of the respective year, so it's always worth it to at least take a look at these books.

Nemuranai Keiji to Inu ("The Detectives and Dogs That Don't Sleep") by Michio Shuusuke and Island Kitchen by Ashizawa You are the stories by the two novelists I had never read before, and to be really honest, these were also the two stories in this volume I liked least. I can easily explain why though, as both stories feature a somewhat vaguely defined problem/case, so it takes a long time for the story to get to a point where you really feel you are reading a mystery story, rather than something else. Both do start out with a seemingly "straightforward" case though. Nemuranai Keiji to Inu for example has a police detective hiring a... pet detective to find a missing dog. The dog's owners were murdered in their home, and their dog went missing on the same night, so it is assumed the dog is involved in one way or another with the case. The pet detective in question is Ezoe Masami, a pet detective who has an incredibly good track record, but the narrator, a female police detective knows Ezoe isn't always honest to his clients, occasionally finding pets early and keeping them hidden so they'll hire him for a longer period. She hires Ezoe to find the missing dog behind her superior's back and thus the two go looking for the dog together. What follows is a story that works pretty good as a character study, where parallels are drawn between the two detectives and dogs, but the reveal about how the dog is ultimately connected to the murder feels a bit... underwhelming, because most of the page count seems to be more focused on the characterization than the puzzle. Which is a matter of personal taste of course, but I feel like even with the same puzzle elements, this story could have been a tricker, and more amusing detective story had the emphasis on the themes been shifted a bit. The same holds for Island Kitchen, which starts with a retired police detective visiting a real estate agent, hoping to find a home with a garden for him and his wife. He spots an apartment building among the listings where he once investigated a deadly fall and he starts reminiscing. The case involved a woman living in the building falling to her death, but it was unclear whether it was an accident, suicide or murder. The woman had been stalked by someone for a long time, but the police hadn't done anything to help her, so suicide due to despair, or murder both seemed quite possible. As the former detective thinks back to the case, he realizes not everything was as it was, and personally, I think the *idea of the twist* is pretty good. But the "set-up" to the twist is so long and involves so many elements that ultimately aren't relevant to the twist specifically, it kind falls flat for me, because now it's almost like you're reading two seperate stories that are only linked in a very, very minor manner. I really do like the twist itself though, so I kinda wish it had a different story as the set-up.

Ooyama Seiichirou's work is always a joy to read, and he mostly writes short stories, so he fits here really well. Karamazov no Doku ("The Poison of the Karamazovs") is of course a story inspired by The Brothers Karamazov and is part of a series about Kayou Daisuke, an actor specializing in villain roles, but who is actually a gifted armchair detective. This time he is consulted by the elderly Yamazono Marue, who in her younger years as a housekeeper for an agency. She recounts the time she was involved in a murder case. At the time, she had been assigned by her agency to work at the house of the wealthy Karamura Tatsuo. On her first day, she met with the man, and his three sons, and they soon reminded her of The Brothers Karamov and the characters of Fyodor and his sons Dmitri, Ivan and Alexei. She has only just arrived when she is asked to pour in tea for everyone, and she quickly returns from the kitchen with the refreshments. But the moment Tatsuo has his drink, he starts coughing and gagging. An ambulance is called, but it is too late, and the man ends up dead. The police learn he was poisoned, but can't figure out how: the young maid had never met the man before and had just arrived on her first day here, while her three sons each had a motive to kill the man for his money, but couldn't have tampered with the drinks the maid had prepared. It's a very short story, so I think the actual explanation of how this seemingly impossible poisoning was done will not be incredibly surprising, but I do like the initial one or two clues that put the reader on the trail. I think that even when the actual "how" of an impossibility in Ooyama's work is simple at the core, he always does a good job at actually laying out a trail of clues for the reader to follow in order to arrive at that how logically (instead of just guessing), so in that sense, his stories never disappoint.

It's been while since I last read something by Morikawa Tomoki... Wa-wait! It's been 8 years!? The last one I read was back in 2014?? Anyway, Whodunnit Reception is a pretty interesting story that is foremost a puzzle. The story starts when Masatsugu and his classmate friend Yumiko sneak into the room of Masatsugu's brother Masakazu, a young mystery writer. Masatsugu is just looking for some files he knows are in the room that'll come in handy for a school project, but Yumiko accidentally knocks over some coffee over some hand-written documents, which turn out to be a finished, but unpublished manuscript, being the solution to a mystery story that's being serialized right now! Masatsugu knows his brother doesn't use computers and hardly keeps any copies, so he realizes in how much trouble they are right away as the coffee has erased a lot of the text. Masatsugu and Yumiko eventually manage to reconstruct most of the documents, but there are still spots that were tainted too much by the coffee, making it impossible to see what was originally written there, and it turns out they are the most important part of the story, where the detective explains how they figured it out and who the culprit is. Yumiko, a budding writer herself, however comes up with a plan: they are going to guess what is supposed to go in the blank spots based on the context of the surrounding passages, reconstrucing the solution of the story! A very interesting story, as it turns the solution of a mystery story into a mystery! There are 17 blank spots, and the reader, Masatsugu and Yumiko have to deduce what goes in each blank spot based on the surrounding context of the detective's explanation of the case (they do not have the first part of the story). It's very puzzle-like: you first fill in the spots that are very obvious based on the context, and that allows you to fill in other spots too because of the implications of the previously filled in spots etc. The story surprisingly has a few twists too while you fill in these blank spots, and it's pretty fun to read, but it does very "puzzle-like" because you are really filling blank spots, and some readers might find it a bit too "artificial." I myself enjoyed the whole concept though of a solution part of a mystery story being a mystery itself and have you deduce the solution of a mystery story of which you don't even know the first part!

Houjou Kie has been a personal favorite since she made her debut of course and I loved her short story Amulet Hotel last year, so I was really looking forward to her short story Kage wo Kuu Mono ("Shadow Eater"). And of course, this story features supernatural elements: the narrator is out camping deep in the woods with a friend and his dog. The narrator wakes up in the middle of night and happens to spot a Shadow Fish, a kind of yokai (supernatural being) that feeds on the shadows of living beings. The Shadow Fish can only move in shadows, jumping from one shadow to another, and it preys on the shadows of living beings. Once they have jumped into the shadow of their victim, they remain in their shadow (even if the person/animal wakes up) and feeds on the shadow until the shadow is gone, which kills the person/animal in question. The narrator sees how the Shadow Fish jumps out to the shadow of a dead fox and in the direction of his two sleeping companions and by the time he has waken both of them, he realizes it's too late: the Shadow Fish is in the shadow of either his dog or his friend, but they can't tell which of them. They happen to have a very powerful drug that can kill the Shadow Fish, but they have only one tablet, and the drug is so powerful it will kill a person/animal if they take it without a Shadow Fish being their shadow. With little time left until the Shadow Fish is done feeding on its prey, the narrator and his friend have to quickly deduce where the Shadow Fish is, based on the shadows at the time the Fish was spotted. Houjou once again brings a new kind of mystery story by using supernatural elements: this is almost like a "whodunnit", only you are looking for the "culprit" hiding inside a different person. You can also tell Houjou is a gamer (like with her third book), as there are (segments in) games where you have to move from shadow to shadow as a gameplay mechanic and this story of course feels very similar to that. While there is an emphasis on deducing where the Shadow Fish went based on "rules" (the Shadow Fish can only jump a certain distance, it will always go for the nearest sleeping target etc.), the way the story is also very focused on visuals do form an obstacle for this story, I think. A lot of the story hinges on how far each shadow of everything in their camp reached at the time the narrator spotted the Shadow Fish, and while this story has diagrams, you do have to consider multiple "moments" of where each shadow was, so I think this story, ironically, would have worked better as a game, allowing you quickly "scroll" between the various moments. It's a good mystery story though that as always shows detective stories don't need to be realistic to present interesting mysteries.

Asakura Akinari's Ito no Hito wo Sagashite ("Looking for the Person of My Thread") is tied as my favorite in this volume with Kage wo Kuu Mono and is in a way the polar opposite, as it pertains to a very "realistic" occassion: a goukon or group blind date. The narrator, Kawase, is an unremarkable university student who never had a girlfriend, which is why he didn't really believe his friend Yoshimi told him his girlfriend knew a girl who was interested in Kawase. The girl is rather shy however and doesn't dare to approach Kawase without "any cause", so the idea is having both of them appear at the same group date, with five men and five women. That would give the girl an opportunity to strike up a conversation with Kawase and see how things'll go from there. Kawase has never been in a group blind date before, so when Kawase first arrives at the restaurant, he's quite nervous, but the first girl to arrive immediatey says she knows Kawase from classes, so the plan to find the person on the other end of the red thread of fate seems to work... until the second girl also says she knows Kawase. And the third, fourth and fifth too! Kawase remembers he was never told what the other girl's name was or how she looked like, and now all five girls seem somewhat interested in him (to the chagrin of the other four men). At first, Kawase thinks that it shouldn't really mattter with what girl he ends up with: his friends may have  intended him to meet a certain girl and arranged for both them to attend this group date, but they can hardly critizie him if he happened to get along better with someone else, right? But then he receives information that tell him he has to be very, very careful, as there's "something dangerous" about each of the other girls: one of them for example is actually a married woman cheating on her husband, while another girl is the daughter of a boss of a crime syndicate, and another is an underground idol with very fanatic fans who are willing to kill if they learn their idol is dating someone... So can Kawase deduce which of the five girls in front of him is the girl he was supposed to meet? Okay, so the setting of this story is a bit silly, as apparently people around Kawase do recognize some of the women in their group date and know they are "dangerous" one way or another, but at the same time they don't actually know which woman they are or don't tell Kawase. The way the puzzle is constructed feels a bit forced, but you know, I can live with it, because this is just a fun story. It has a distinct, comedic tone where Kawase keeps falling in love with basically every girl all over again every time he thinks they are "safe". At the same time, this is a well constructed detective story, where you have to use the few hints Kawase did learn about each girl and try to deduce the identify of each girl. Some of the hints are a bit too obvious I think, or in some instances the "time" between a certain clue and the revelation which girl is who is a bit too short, giving you too little time to think for yourself. But overall, this is a very memorable story, because it is basically a "whodunnit" only now you're just trying to figure out which girl Kawase is supposed to be dating. So as mentioned earlier, this story is strangely enough very different, and similar to Kage wo Kuu Mono, as both are original takes on a "whodunnit" concept, but in very different manners.

Like the 2021 edition, Honkaku-Ou 2022 is a pretty solid anthology, with a few really strong puzzle plot stories. Personal favorites are the entries by Houjou Kie, Asakura Akinari and Morikawa Tomiki, but none of the six stories are truly bad, and while these volumes usually only have five, six stories, they tend to be fairly consistent in quality exactly because they have been selected by a whole group, rather than just one single editor. This is the fourth volume in this format, but I have really grown to appreciate reading this anthology once a year, just to see what is going on in the short story format. Hopefully we'll have a solid volume next year too!

Original Japanese title(s): 『本格王2022』: 道尾秀介「眠らない刑事と犬」/ 大山誠一郎「カラマーゾフの毒」/ 芦沢央「アイランドキッチン」 / 方丈貴恵「影を喰うもの」 / 浅倉秋成「糸の人を探して」 / 森川智喜「フーダニット・リセプション」

The Mistake of the Machine

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Nobody likes people who cut in line, but I decided to move this review forward in the schedule because it's a recent release (it released on June 20th). I actually have enough reviews written and standing by to last me until well into October at the moment...

Machina looks and sounds precisely like you'd expect from a high school girl with long black hair. Except, she isn't one. In fact, she isn't even human. Machina is one of a small group of detective robots made by professor Sakamaki with superior analytic and investigative skills. The professor has kept his inventions a secret for most of the world, but he occasionally sends his robots out on investigations for friends and fellow scientists. His grandson Masayuki is one of the people who knows about the robots. One day however, three of the detective robots go haywire and escape from the laboratory. Machina and Masayuki have to retrieve the robots and figure out what the bugs are in their AI brains in Morikawa Tomoki's Handoutai Tantei Machina no Miteigina Bouken ("The Undefined Adventures of Semiconductor Detective Machina").

And while you might think of Blade Runner, the cover kinda gives away this is not a gritty science fiction thriller about ethics of living beings and all. It's just a cute story.

Handoutai Tantei Machina no Miteigina Bouken was released not long after Morikawa Tomoki won the 2014 Honkaku Mystery Grand Prize with Snow White. I loved the wonderful fantasy-filled, yet undeniable orthodox mystery novel and I've been reading his books since. And for those who have been following Morikawa's detectives along with me, must have noticed that all of his novels are heavily influenced by fantasy and/or science fiction elements, but are yet always completely fair mystery novels. Snow White gave the detectives a magic mirror that could tell the answer to any question, and yet it gave enough room for the reader to interact with the story at a deductive level. Shapeshifting cats or all mighty golems? It's still as fair as anything Christie or Queen wrote. So I wasn't too worried when I heard that Morikawa's newest book featured detective robots.

Handoutai Tantei Machina no Miteigina Bouken's premise of a hunt for, not a crime, not a criminal and not even the truth, but detectives is quite interesting, even though the fundamental dynamics don't seem to change much from most of Morikawa's novels. In all of his novels until now, the reader was confronted with multiple parties who try to outsmart each other (some in possession of magical, but predefined powers): you'd be fed conclusions of such battles of the brain, which might seem unbelievable at first, but when it is explained why or how something came to be, you realize that everything was fairly hinted at. In Cat Food for example, shapeshifting cats kept trying to outsmart each other in the hopes of saving / killing a group of humans and it was always possible to logically deduce how actions the other party would take based on the given information.

Handoutai Tantei Machina no Miteigina Bouken does bring something new here, because this time the antagonist robot detectives aren't acting logically per se. That is, they do act according to logic, but that logic has an inherent flaw, because of the bugs in their programming. Each of the robots has a different fault in his/her AI brain, and it is up to Machina, Masayuki and the reader to deduce what that bug precisely is, based on the actions of the robots. Reverse engeneering of logic.

The book reminds me most of those scenes where Watson and his literary descendents wonder what the heck the detective is talking about / doing now now. The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime? Beating a dead pig? These events may seem mysterious and strange, but there is always a certain logic behind these actions. Usually, this logic is something that we all share (even if we don't realize it immediately), but in Handoutai Tantei Machina no Miteigina Bouken, the logic of the detective robots is flawed. But it is always possible to deduce what that flaw precisely is, and that's what makes this book a fun read: it shifts the focus from an event to be detected, to the brains of the detectives themselves as focus of detection.

And on the whole, I'd say that  Handoutai Tantei Machina no Miteigina Bouken is another fun, lighthearted mystery that shows Morikawa's love for the 'great detective' trope. For some, it might feel a bit too lighthearted and the execution of its premise, while good, never reaches the great heights it did with Snow White, but I had a lot of fun reading this. And that's the most important, right?

Oh, for those interested, these are the reviews on this blog of other Honkaku Mystery Grand Prize winners: Otsuichi's GOTH (2003), Norizuki Rintarou's Nakakubi ni Kiitemiro (2005), Higashino Keigo's Yougisha X no Kenshin (The Devotion of Suspect X) (2006), Arisugawa Alice's Jooukoku no Shiro (2008), Ooyama Seichirou's Misshitsu Shuushuuka (2013) and Snow White - Meitantei Sanzunokawa Kotowari to Shoujo no Kagami wa Sen no Me wo Motsu (2014).

Original Japanese title(s): 森川智喜　『半導体探偵マキナの未定義な冒険』

Feet of Clay

探せ 追え 謎を解け

BD7 BD7 BD7 は 少年探偵団

『いくぞ！BD7』

Search! Chase! Solve the mystery!

BD7 BD7 BD7 are the Boy Detectives!

"Let's Go! BD7

About a year ago, I raved about Morikawa Tomoki's Snow White, as an excellent example of how to implement fantasy elements like magic in an orthodox detective novel. The magic mirror that told the detective-character everything was a wonderful plot element, and the story's sense of speed and thrill was fantastic. Indeed, it's not strange Snow White was nominated for the Honkaku Mystery Grand Prize last week. And since reading Snow White, I have also been going through Morikawa's other works, like Cat Food and the non-series Two Detectives and One Watson, but we'll go back to Morikawa's main series for this review.

Great Detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari series

Cat Food

Snow White

Odoru Ningyou ("The Dancing Dollls")

Odoru Ningyou - Meitantei Sanzunokawa Kotowari to Golem no E wa Shinjutsu no E ("The Dancing Dolls - Great Detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari and the E of Golem is the E of Truth") is a mouthful, so let's just call it Odoru Ningyou. Elementary school student Fumiko gets acquainted with professor Minami, who is working on the creation of a real-life Golem. The second time they meet, the professor tells Fumiko that she has succeeded in the experiment, but is now forced by the powerful, immortal Golem to create more of these beings. The professor had just managed to escape, but the Golem quickly manages to locate her, and takes her (and Fumiko) back to his lair. Furusawa, Fumiko's classmate and proud member of the Boy Detectives, enlists the help of the group leader Shima to help and stop the Golem from executing his evil plans. If only the Boy Detective's boss, the great detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari were here to help them...

Oh, and for those who haven't read the reviews of the other books in the series yet: Sanzunokawa Kotowari is an utterly evil detective who always ends up as the antagonist of the story.

Odoru Ningyou is obviously inspired by Edogawa Rampo's Shounen Tantei Dan series, with a team of child detectives trying to stop a thief/murderer/Golem-intent-on-outliving-humans. It feels particular similar to the first book in the Shounen Tantei Dan series, Kaijin Nijuu Mensou, following a similar two-part structure of the Boy Detectives being forced to cope with the enemy themselves in the first half, before their boss (Akechi Kogorou, and in the case of Odoru Ningyou, Sanzunokawa) appears to finish the job off in the second half. The energy of the young detectives is felt throughout the story, and Odoru Ningyou is a light-hearted, fast-paced mystery that keeps your eyes glued to the pages from start to finish.

The main flow of the novel is what you'd expect from the Great Detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari series: the Boy Detectives and the Golem have several skirmishes over the course of the story, with each side outsmarting the other side several times. The situation keeps changing, and you, as the reader, have to guess which side will pull one over the other, and more importantly how. In Snow White, this battle of the wits was based on creative use of the magic mirrors and this time the outcome of the battles hinge on the special powers and characteristics of the Golem (who split up his clay body and control each part). Because the story is based on clear rules (the extent of the Golem's powers are explained), Odoru Ningyou is a fair detective story, despite featuring magical elements (see also the other books in the series, but also i.e. something like Professor Layton vs Gyakuten Saiban).

But the elements that make Odoru Ningyou fun, are also those elements we've been familiar with since the first entry in the series, and in that sense, Odoru Ningyou is also a bit too predictable. All three books are structured around a magical plot-device with certain rules (transforming cats, a magic mirror and now a Golem) and rapid-fire, fast-paced battle of wits. There's a bit of been-there, done-that feeling here, and while the theme of the Boy Detectives is done well here, I have to admit I prefer the magical whodunnit of the magical cats in Cat Food, and the more Death Note-like approach of Snow White to Odoru Ningyou's boy adventure. A personal preference of course, but it's difficult to deny these books are all quite alike (even if they're fun).

Sanzunokawa Kotowari is still an interesting plot device and character. Even though it's called the Great Detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari series, one has to keep in mind that there is no series continuity whatsoever: what happens in one book, has absolutely nothing to do with another, and they are all set in seperate worlds. One can see it as the 'actor' Sanzunokawa being (type)cast in different stories each time, so while he appears each time as the same person (himself), events and background settings of one story do no apply to another, even if it's one series. Of course, by now the reader knows Sanzunokawa is not a very nice guy, so even though he is set up as the boss of the Boy Detectives in Odoru Ningyou, everyone knows not to trust him by now. This kind of character typecasting across stories is of course famously done by Tezuka Osamu (his Star System), but not a practice you come across very often.

I'd say that Odoru Ningyou is a somewhat predictable entry in the series, but not bad per se. Personally, I prefer the previous two novels but it's an enjoyable series no matter the entry. And because there's no series continuity, it really doesn't matter where you start. If you're a big fan of Rampo's Shounen Tantei Dan, Odoru Ningyou is very solid choice.

Original Japanese title(s): 森川智喜 『踊る人形　名探偵三途川理とゴーレムのEは真実のE』

Bug X Debug

 "Looking for lodgings." I answered. "Trying to solve the problem as to whether it is possible to get comfortable rooms at a reasonable price."

"That's a strange thing," remarked my companion; "you are the second man to-day that has used that expression to me."

"And who was the first?" I asked.

"A fellow who is working at the chemical laboratory up at the hospital. He was bemoaning himself this morning because he could not get someone to go halves with him in some nice rooms which he had found, and which were too much for his purse."

"By Jove!" I cried, "if he really wants someone to share the rooms and the expense, I am the very man for him. I should prefer having a partner to being alone."

"A Study in Scarlet"

Reason: "Oh, that Lupin III vs Detective Conan crossover TV special a couple of years ago, oh, that was neat, but a bit too much on the safe side of things. So I shouldn't be too excited for the upcoming film sequel of Lupin III vs. Detective Conan."

*watches trailer*

Fanboyism: "To heck with reason! This is going to be absolutely awesome!!"

Morikawa Tomoki's Hitotsu Yane no Shita no Tanteitachi ("Detectives Beneath One Roof") has the additional English title of Two Detectives and One Watson, which I will be using. Over a century ago, a quest for reasonably priced lodgings that brought us the duo of Sherlock Holmes and John H. Watson. And reasonably priced lodgings are still very much wanted, so it shouldn't be that surprising that the same noble goal created a new detective - writer team. Or to be precise, detectives - writer team. Both of essayist Asama Osamu's new roommates happen to be private detectives, but very different kind of detectives. Asama himself refers to the two as the Ant and the Grasshopper (from the fable). Machii Yuito, always dressed in a neat suit, is a hardworking detective with an extensive circle of acquaintances. He works by checking the facts, making detailed observations and slowly building his way to the truth. Tenka Reisuke, mostly dressed in pajama, stays mostly at home, sleeping. He works by making brilliant deductions based on one or two observations. Asama's publisher agrees to his idea of writing a book based on one of the detectives. Which of them is going to appear in the book (and receive money)? The one who will solve the mysterious death of a man who starved to death in a storage room locked with a number lock, of which he knew the combination. Will the hardworking ant win, or the playful grasshopper?

The rival detective has always been one of my favorite tropes in detective fiction, though it is not a very widely-used one. Maybe it's because of the work it brings with it. Consider this, writing an intelligent detective isn't easy anyway, and with a rival, you need to write another one!  The characters need to be close to each other in terms of deductive powers, or else the element of competition weakens. The trope is also often used in combination with fake/multiple solutions, the rival detective is then used to propose a fake solution, which the main detective corrects. One can for example think of Simon Brimmer in the excellent Ellery Queen TV series, or to the first appearance of Hattori Heiji in Detective Conan (vol. 10). The problem is that this is often invoked by giving the rival detective insufficient data, which lead to the fake solution. Of course, that can be seen as a character flaw (too hasty to be a good detective), but it leaves the question, what if the two detectives had access to the same information? In that respect, Anthony Berkeley's The Poisoned Chocolates Case is a better example of rival detectives. Even though the people there do use information only they can have, the starting point is the same and most of the information is indeed shared information. Or what about Van Madoy's Revoir series? In the private trials there, the ultimate goal for the defense and prosecutors isn't finding out the truth, but winning the case. There the detectives (defense and prosecutors) are tested by their gift of making up plausible and logical hypotheses. Here the rivalry isn't about the truth, but just about being convincing.

A more satisfying way to do the rival detective trope is by giving the rivals different methods of detecting. Tantei Gakuen Q has a great premise in that respect, as the children in Q Class all have different fields of expertise that influence their work method; Megu for example has a photographic memory, while Kazuma is more IT-oriented and Ryuu works with cold reasoning (it's not used up to the premise's full extent though). But this might even be harder to write, as a writer needs to come up with (at least) two characters who tackle on a case very differently, and yet as rivals they still need to be evenly skilled.

And in that respect, Two Detectives and One Watson is a very entertaining novel. The start of the novel shows a good example of the different thinking methods of the two detectives: whereas "Ant" Machii sums up a string of observations and list of facts that lead to the conclusion that narrator Asama has been to a certain restaurant before, "Grasshopper" Tenka arrives at the same conclusion with just one inference based on one single observation. Both methods are correct and lead to the same conclusion, but are very different. And as the story continues, we see more and more of the working methods of these two different detectives and it's a pleasure to see each of them tackling the case in a completely different way.

The structure of Two Detectives and One Watson is very similar to Morikawa Tomoki's Sanzunokawa Kotowari series: even though the plot deals with one large mystery (the man who starved to death), the story is structured in smaller mysteries that get solved as the story develops (whodunnit, howdunnit and whydunnit), like how the stories are structured in the drama Trick. Two Detectives and One Watson also has a great sense of speed, and never gets boring. Another thing Morikawa seems to have learned from his Sanzunokawa Kotowari series is changing the conditions every now and then to keep things exciting. Snow White for example started with an introduction of a magic mirror, with more and more functions of the mirror explored as the story continued. Two Detectives and One Watson also has some surprises to keep the reader, and the detectives on their toes. For example: Tenka is shown to be a genius detective, but his extremely short (yet corrrect) deductions offer too little material for a novel, so he actually has to do his best now to create material if he wants to get chosen for the book. The different methods of deduction and the ever-changing circumstances keep the reader's glued to its pages.

Finally, the mystery behind the man who starved to death in a room he could have left is surprisingly fun. At first, I thought that the case would only serve as a background setting for the competition between Machii and Tenka, but the solution turns out to be quite surprising and is sorta reminiscent of Higashino Keigo's The Saint's Salvation, in a twisted way. It works excellent in the context of this story and helps strengthen the Ant and the Grasshopper theme.

In conclusion, a very amusing novel. It's a light-hearted mystery that is simply fun to read, which is actually all the excuse you'll need for picking up the book. And Morikawa Tomoki's new Sanzunokawa Kotowari novel is out now too, so I'll have to pick that up one of these days.

Original Japanese title(s): 森川智喜　『一つ屋根の下の探偵たち』

『完全犯罪に猫は何匹必要か？』

「この本は、ネコの手の届かないところに保管してください。殺人をたからむ恐れがあります」

 『キャットフード 名探偵三途川理と注文の多い館の殺人』

"Keep this book away from cats. They might be planning a murder"

("Cat Food - Great Detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari and the Murders of the House with Many Orders")

When I was in Kyoto last year, I lived in a dormitory for international students. I think I've seen my neighbour only once, and that was not in before our rooms, but in a class we happened to take together. After a bit of talking, we suddenly discovered we had lived next to each other for over half a year without ever meeting once. As I lived at the end of the corridor, I had only one neighbour inside the dorm, but I also had three stray cats living somewhere near my room whom I saw/heard quite often. Actually, I probably saw those cats more often than other people in my dorm. They were quite popular too, with children always creeping into the bushes to play with them (which was a bit creepy actually; those kids always popped up from a little shrine in front of the bushes... almost as ghosts). Anyway, those cats were good neighbours. Of course, they might also have been evil cats keeping an eye on me.

I loved Morikawa Tomoki's Snow White, and with his third novel out this week, I had to sneak in his debut work with the overly long title Cat Food - Meitantei Sanzunokawa Kotowari to Chuumon no Ooi Yakata no Satsujin ("Cat Food - Great Detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari and the Murders of the House with Many Orders"). Four high school students have won a free stay on a resort island. What they don't know, is that the whole island is a trap set up by... cats. Evil cats. Evil cats who try to take over the world. The world of processed cat food that is. For these cats have come up with a new product for the nouveau riche of the cat-world: cat food made out of human flesh. The four students are the ingredients needed for the first test run of the factory. Of course, this wouldn't be possible for normal cats, but the brains behind the Pluto Meat Company are a group of transforming cats, who can change at will into about everything (humans amongst others). One problem though: Willy, another transforming cat has taken the place of one of their ingredient-humans, but they don't know which of the four is Willy. While cats are allowed to kill humans, they can't just kill other cats (that would be illegal) and thus starts a clash of deductions, with the cats of PMC are trying to figure out which of their ingredients is Willy, who is desperately trying to save everybody without blowing his cover.

Snow White featured a battle of the wits based on a fantasy setting (magic mirrors) and it worked out great there, and the same can be said of Cat Food (I am not going to use the full title). Transforming cats might sound a bit unfair, but there are clear rules (the cats can only change to objects / persons of a certain size, they have to obey the 'cat-laws', the human ingredients have to be processed into food, so they can't just blow up everyone and the island...), so in the end, Cat Food works out as as you would expect from any good deduction battle story. The first part of the story is centered around Willy trying to figure out a way to get everybody of the island safe, while the cats are spying on the humans in the hopes of discovering who Willy changed into. In the second part of Cat Food, Pluto, the leader of the evil cats, asks for the help of her owner, the unscrupulous, yet brilliant great detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari. He agrees in helping finding out which of the humans is Willy (and thus agrees in helping the cats making cat food out of the other humans).

The story consists of several confrontations between Willy and the other cats and Sanzunokawa, with each time one side trying to outsmart the other. The point of view constantly jumps between these two sides and while the reader is shown some of the thoughts/plans of either side, you never really know is going on until the confrontation is over and that is, similiar to Snow White, the best point of the story. You just never know who is going to win each confrontation and the great tempo with which these battles follow each other keeps the reader hooked to the pages.

It's also a fun novel. The whole idea of evil, transforming cats is alluring (and probably not very far from reality...), but the narrative is also always written in a light, humorous tone that works wonderful with the fantasy setting. Considering the basic premise, this could also easily have been written as a horror-mystery novel (the whole humans being made into cat food premise offers enough material for that)... but it's just funnier to read about cute evil cats planning our demise, rather than actually evil and scary cats planning our demise.

Cat Food is a really short novel though, even shorter than Snow White I think. It's great fun while it lasts, but that's not very long and considering Cat Food is released under the prizey Kodansha Box imprint (softcover novels with a sturdy silver cardboard box), I can't really recommend the reader buying this new / for the set price. The same holds for Snow White, but that one actually has a neat thing going on with the box design, while Cat Food's box is... just a grey box (Van Madoy's novels are also published under this imprint, but are much longer).

The setting of  Cat Food - Meitantei Sanzunokawa Kotowari to Chuumon no Ooi Yakata no Satsujin alone makes it worth reading. It's lighthearted fun mystery, but it does leave you wanting for more. Both because it's just plain addicting, but also because it's a bit lacking in volume.

Original Japanese title(s): 『キャットフード 名探偵三途川理と注文の多い館の殺人』

The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side

「それでは、鏡や鏡。この中で誰がいちばん名探偵か、いっておくれ」

「私です」

『スノーホワイト　名探偵三途川 断りと少女の鏡は千の目を持つ』

"Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the greatest detective of us all?"

"I am"

"Snow White - Great Detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari and The Girl's Mirror Has Thousand Eyes"

Maybe I should review something Western in the hopes of getting comments again. I should ask a mirror whether that would work.

For most detectives, finding out the truth behind a case is an important, if not the most important part of their jobs. But what if you'd have a detective who would always know the truth? That is the premise of Morikawa Tomoki's Snow White -  Meitantei Sanzunokawa Kotowari to Shoujo no Kagami wa Sen no Me wo Motsu ("Snow White - Great Detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari and The Girl's Mirror Has A Thousand Eyes"). Our protagonist is Erioto Mamae, a teenage girl who runs her own detective agency. Which would be quite impossible under normal circumstances, but having a magic mirror that can answer any question probably doesn't count as normal circumstances. So while 'normal' detectives would have to listen to testimonies, gather evidence and build up a chain of deduction in order to solve a murder, Mamae just has to ask her mirror who did it. In short, she cheats. Her assistant, the dwarf Grumpy Ingram who came from the same world as the magic mirror, doesn't really like that, for he would rather want Mamae to at least try to deduce a bit herself, but it least keeps the agency running.

And then you ask, how can a detective novel be fun if the detective can always cheat? Well, it's because the author had a lot of fun with his little gadget. For instance, using the mirror means you don't have to deduce, but with Mamae that means she doesn't deduce. She just tells what she saw in the mirror, which often includes more information than the client ever told her. And sometimes, clients do want to hear how she managed to 'deduce' the truth or else they won't be convinced. And because Snow White itself is still a fair-play detective novel, it is indeed possible to deduce the truth based on the information offered. So it is like cheating with a mathematical problem at school: you might know the right answer and write on your testpaper, but the teacher isn't going to be satisfied with just the right answer: you have to show how you arrived at the answer. One could also see some parallels with the inversed detective stories like Columbo, with the 'answer' already known the viewer right from the start. At any rate, it does bring a fresh dynamic to the story-structure.

But the second part is where Snow White really shines, when the Great Detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari, a young unscrupulous, yet brilliant boy, is hired to kill Mamae and gets his hands on his own magic mirror. And Snow White suddenly changes in a grand batte of wits, with two detectives in possession of a magic mirror. Here the focus changes from 'reversed' deducing to how to make full use of the properties of the magic mirror, keeping in mind that the opponent also has a mirror can answer anything from 'who is trying to kill me and why' to 'what is my opponent planning to do next?'. And yes, this second part feels a lot like Death Note: a magic item with a certain set of rules and properties forming the basis of a heated battle between two detectives. I wouldn't say geniuses, because Mamae really isn't highly intelligent like Sanzunokawa, but even Sanzunokawa has to be careful in his attempts to commit murder, knowing his opponent can instantly find out the truth using the mirror the moment something suspicious happens.

The concept of Snow White is interesting on its own, but the story also has a great sense of speed and tempo. It keeps providing the reader with new stimuli: every case Mamae encounters is different from the previous one and I don't mean just regarding the contents: the way the mirror is used, the structure of the story, it is every time something else, from start to finish. What also helps is that Morikawa seems to have a great love for Great Detectives (TM), because we have no less than three (!) detectives running around in Snow White, and they're all great in their own way. The love the author has for this trope can be felt throughout this novel and you can sense the fun he had writing it. It almost feels childish, but in an innocent, pure-hearted way.

A lot of reactions on the novel included wanting to see Snow White adapted as an anime or something of the sorts, and I concur it really feels suitable for it. The slight fantasy-setting, the one-case-a-episode setup at the beginning and the great battle of wits in the second half, greater-than-life characters. It would work perfectly. Maybe in a few years?

Morikawa by the way originates from the Kyoto University Mystery Club and Snow White is the second novel in his Great Detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari series, which is kinda surprising considering Sanzukawa is definitely the antagonist in this story! I really should read Cat Food, the first novel too (and the third novel is already scheduled for this summer).

Original Japanese title(s): 森川智喜　『スノーホワイト　名探偵三途川理と少女の鏡は千の目を持つ』