Murder, Country Style

"Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness and the horror of blood"
"The Masque of Red Death"

I knew this book only from the listings on webshops with just a small picture of the cover; I only realized those were wisterias on the cover when I actually got the physical book and saw the cover at a better resolution...

Kazuichi was the heir of the Sekimori clan, one of the two prominent families in the isolated village of Umesato in Tochigi Prefecture, but he left the village for Tokyo, having had enough of the struggle for power between the Sekimori and the Hasumi clans. The Sekimoris run a succesful plum business, a driving force for the local economy, which has earned the Sekimoris the name "The Plum Clan" in the family. The Hasumis are known as the "Wisteria Clan" due to their splendid wisteria garden and have lately been gaining political and econimcal influence by opening a waste processing plant. Kazuichi's wish of becoming independent in Tokyo didn't work out well, as business didn't go well, but he did find the love of his life: Ayako, a single mother, with whom he was going to have a child. In order to care for Ayako, her daughter Mana and the upcoming second child, Kazuichi decides to return home and to work in the family business, but as he had feared, his grandmother, mother and uncle, as well as far relatives and other people with close ties to the Sekimoris try to push him to become the Sekimori patriarch and have him run for mayor in the upcoming election. After one of these family meetings in the annex, Kazuchi stays in the room to clean up, while everybody leaves the room. Just as they are all out in the hallway and the last one shuts the door behind him, they hear a loud bang. They all run up to the door, but when they look inside the room, they find Kazuichi has been shot, with the pistol lying near him. However, because the windows were all shut and the shot rang very soon after everyone had left the room, with most people still in sight of others, Kazuchi's death is considered a suicide.

Ayako had not yet married Kazuichi, but as she is carrying their baby, she is, somewhat begrudgingly, allowed to stay at the Sekimori family as the mother of the future heir of the family. However, her stay in Umesato Village is a very dangerous one: an old legend tells about the curse of Aya, a villager who was wronged and who since has cursed the village. Because of that, the name "Aya" and variations of it are a taboo in the village, and many villagers even blame Ayako for the death of Kazuichi, believing her to be an omen of ill fortune. Some time passes, with Ayako simply trying to live her life in the village, but things start to develop when Sakoshima Hiraku, a photographer and old friend of Kazuichi, visits the village: he had been travelling and had only recently learned of his friend's death. When he learns about the mysterious circumstances surrounding Kazuichi's death, he starts poking around, and he learns some months ago, a monk of the local temple had died too, in what appeared to be simple accident of slipping in a hot spring and hitting his head. Some people blame Ayako for this death too, but Sakoshima starts to suspect something is going on in the village, and his suspicions are confirmed when another death occurs in another of the hot springs managed by the Sekimoris. While the villagers are becoming more and more convinced this is the result of Aya's curse and Ayako's presence in the village, Sakoshima is sure there's a rational and humanly evil explanation for the mysterious deaths in the village and he's determined to find out who is behind Kazuichi's death in Nikaidou Reito and Uzumi Miyuki's 2022 novel Jubaku Densetsu Satsujin Jiken ("The Murder Case of the Legendary Curse").

While I have read a lot by Nikaidou Reito, I think this is the first time I read one of his collaborative efforts, though I do know he has quite a few of those. Uzumi Miyuki is an author I was not familiar with at all, though it appears she made it through the first judging round of the 18th Ayukawa Tetsuya Award with a manuscript with a title that also features the name "Aya" in it, and now I am wondering if that manuscript served as a base for this book. My attention was mainly drawn to this book when it first released, because it was the first substantial new release by Nikaidou in years, timed with the 30th anniversary since he first debuted, but I honestly had no idea what it was going to be about or how the collaborative work was done on this book, and sadly enough, the book does not feature an afterword that goes into detail.

Of all of Nikaidou's work, I love his Ranko series best, and specifically, the earlier Ranko novels, up until Jinroujou no Kyoufu, as the books take on a different tone afterwards. With a summary about a locked room murder, an isolated village and a legendary curse, I had hoped Jubaku Densetsu Satsujin Jiken would be a book close to the Ranko novels in spirit. Perhaps not surprisingly however, the most direct inspiration of this book is probably Yokomizo Seishi's work, and especially the Kindaichi Kousuke novels. Isolated village in the middle of nowhere, rivaling families with fueds going back centuries, a local, bloody legend which is believed by the villagers and will cause them to act on their fears and a free-minded, disarming detective who happens to visit the village. A lot in this book feels very familiar, and that's not a bad thing per se, as if you're looking for a book with such an atmosphere, you'll definitely be pleased with Jubaku Densetsu Satsujin Jiken. At the same time, and I have to admit I was surprised by this knowing Nikaidou's work, the book is decidedly less gruesome and horrific than you'd expect of such a story. Considering the graphic imagery shown in a lot of Nikaidou's work, I assume this is Uzumi's writing shining through strongest, with somewhat distached depictions of the various deaths in the story, and a narrative that is mostly told through Ayako's point of view, offering a lot of insight in her thoughts on not just the events, but her own situation too and her somewhat fragile relationship with her in-laws. It's a lot more "internally" focused than I would have expected of a book bearing Nikaidou's name as one of the authors, which is a reason why I was a bit disappointed, as it was exactly his style I was actually hoping to find in this book, even if that's not really the fault of this work.

The book opens with a very nice map of Umesato Village, with the two manors of the Plum and Wisteria Clans, as well as two waterfalls with accompanying hot springs, the "Aya Lake" where the legendary Aya died and more rather detailed diagrams depicting the various crime scenes.... but for some reason, it feels like this was a bit overkill for a story, that ultimately isn't so complex you actually need such detailed diagrams. So funnily enough, the effort put into those diagrams made me assume the plot would be much more complex than it actually turned out to be. The various mysteries that make up the plot of the book, often feel a bit too disjointed from each other, with no real sense of interrelated set-up and pay-off, with one event naturally resulting in another. One "accident" Sakoshima quickly deduces to be a murder for example, is basically resolved the moment we first hear about it, with no build-up at all. Meanwhile, the death of Kazuchi is introduced in great detail in the first chapter of the book, but is then mainly left untouched until the very end of the book, even though most of the information needed to solve the mystery already being introduced in the first part, but then not addressed until the denouement, again making things feel detached. Because of that, each single mystery remains fairly simple, as they too often feel like discrete events, despite it all happening in the same village in a short period of time. While the book tries to tie these events through the legend of Aya and a local song (yes, we have a mitate/resembling or themed murder case here), for some reason it didn't quite work for me. Perhaps because the song is introduced relatively late, perhaps because we ultimately dwell on each crime scene so shortly they don't make enough an impression, but overall, the book feels too much like a few fairly simple murders strung one after another. The solutions to the  locked room murders miss the grandeur we see in the earlier Ranko novels, while as a whodunnit, the book has some good ideas, but also has trouble presenting it in a satisfying manner, as the hinting to certain elements of the murderer feels lacking. The book is on the longer side, but because the narrative doesn't always feel as connected, and in fact sometimes has to rely on a few coincidences to tie things together, the feeling of catharsis when everything is explained also feels a bit lacking. Oh well, I did like the trick and clewing to the second hot spring death though, as well as one certain linguistics-based clue that seemed to invoke the Yokomizo spirit.

Overall though, I do think the atmosphere of the book is good, even though it didn't go as far as I had hoped for. In fact, I can easily imagine a book based on the exact same plot structure, addressing the same story beats, but going deeper into the curse and the horror behind it, and it'd probably be much more to my liking as a mystery novel. It's probably not the book Uzumi wanted to write, but the book I did want to read based on Nikaidou's name, to be very honest.

While it's not really Jubaku Densetsu Satsujin Jiken's fault, I have to say I was a bit disappointed with it. With Nikaidou's name on it, and the fact it was timed with his 30th anniversary as a professional writer, I had hoped it would be a book that'd harken back to his earliest novels in terms of style and plotting, but in a way, this book was intentionally written as a more lite-version of those themes. While it does capture the Yokomizo Seishi-vibe really well and there are, mystery-wise, also interesting clues, it was simply not the book I was looking for, though I do think it's an enjoyable mystery on its own if approached with the right expectations, as it does feel like the classic Japanese mystery novel it is obviously emulating.

Original Japanese title(s):羽純未雪, 二階堂黎人『呪縛伝説殺人事件』

Trouble Island

Tell me, princess 

Now, when did you last let your heart decide? 

I can open your eyes 

Take you wonder by wonder

"A Whole New World"

I do like this cover art a lot...

The members of the art university club Muse travel to the private island of Kiseki Island for a job arranged for them via a former member of the club, who currently works at a museum. Kiseki Island is owned by the Ryuumon Clan, but the island has been sealed off for three decades now. At the time, before World War II, it was the home of "princess" Ryuumon Yukako, the granddaughter of the patriarch of the clan at the time. She had a gigantic manor built on the island called the Chalk Manor, a smaller version of Gaudi's Sagrada Familia and collected all kinds of art. She entertained a lot of men at her home, who all fell for her beauty and all hoped to take her for themselves. However, one night tragedy struck: the princess was found decapitated in the top room of an adjoining outlook tower, where she had gone alone the previous night. However, the only footsteps left in the muddy ground around the tower, were those of her, and the man who discovered her body the following morning (but who has an alibi for the time of death the previous night). A wax doll of Yukako was also found decapitated in the manor. The house and island had been left sealed since, but now the current patriarch of the clan (Yukako's uncle) thinks it's time to open the island again, perhaps turning the manor into a museum. The members of Muse are to stay for a week in the Chalk Manor to try and create a tentative catalogue of the art treasures inside the manor, with proper museum experts coming later based on their findings. They are brought to Kiseki Island on a boat, which will return in a week for the group of 8 students, plus their supervisor, as well as an elderly couple who worked for the Ryuumons and will now take care of food and washing for them during their stay. During their stay, they are shocked to learn that the Ryuumons are actually related to a woman who had been a member of Muse last year, and who was at the center of a shared traumatic experience to all who had been a member at the time. She has passed away now, but left a will addressed to the members of Muse, telling them that the person who will create the best work of art during their stay here on the island, will inherit the island, Chalk Manor and all the art inside! The members are however very reluctant to follow this will, as their memories with the deceased are very dark, so for the time being, they decide to just focus on their work. But then one of the students dies in a freak accident by falling over a balustrade and being crushed by a lamp.Or was it an accident? For the following morning, the decapitated head of the dead student is found in the dining room, having been placed on a plate. Is there a murderer on the island, or is it one of them? And who can solve this mystery in Nikaidou Reito's Kisekjima no Fushigi ("The Wonders of Miracle Island", 1996)?

While the book seems to make it a mystery who the detective will be, I don't think it really works, especially not now in 2024, as almost every write-up on the book will mention it: yes, this is a book in Nikaidou's Mizuno Satoru series, which is immediately obvious because of the title convention. So yeah, we'll see the handsome, but somewhat geeky detective appear here. The Mizuno Satoru series is divided in two eras, with books set in his student days (with books titled [Something] no Fushigi), and books set after he's become a working member of society (with books titled [Location] Magic). In the first book, Karuizawa Magic, we saw Mizuno working as a travel agent, and Kisekjima no Fushigi was released a year later, as the second book in the series, and it seems Nikaidou basically goes back and forth each time between the two eras when publishing the Mizuno books. This is only the second time I read a book about the student Mizuno by the way: Kikounin (Collector) no Fushigi ("The Wonders of Collectors") is one of the very first Nikaidou's I ever read (I mostly remember it from the in-depth Tezuka Osamu discussions), so it's been basically fourteen years since I last read a book about Mizuno set in this era.

I have read a lot of Nikaidou's work, like all of his main Ranko series, and once you start reading his work, you'll quickly notice he's mainly a howdunnit person. He's great influenced by John Dickson Carr, and most of his works feature locked room murders and other impossible crimes. And that's the reason why I got interested in Kisekjima no Fushigi, because it was touted as the work where Nikaidou focuses solely on the whodunnit for a change! The whodunnit form has never been something I associated with him at all, so this surprising twist really made me curious. How would someone best known for creating impossible crimes, tackle a very different kind of mystery writing, with clues pointing to who the culprit is and the logic leading up to that revelation?

In terms of form, Kisekjima no Fushigi follows a very familiar format, being the closed circle situation on an isolated island, and comparisons with And Then There Were None are of course quickly made, and the closed circle with art students and the surprisingly many discussions on various forms of art remind of Ayukawa Tetsuya's Lila-sou Jiken and Maya Yutaka's Natsu to Fuyu no Sonata. As you can guess, the students are getting killed off one by one, and of course, they suspect the killer is one of them, and they start getting more suspicious of each other as the story develops. As a book focusing mostly on the whodunnit, Nikaidou really doesn't do very much with his trademark impossibilities: there's the decapitation on Yukako in the past, but there's not much beyond that, with most murders being possible to most characters (very seldom people have alibis), so you'll have to look out for very different kind of clues if you want to figure out who did it.

But... there's a reason why we associate Nikaidou with the howdunnit and not the whodunnit, and sadly enough, this book tells us enough. As a whodunnit, Kisekjima no Fushigi really isn't remarkable in any way, and seen purely as a whodunnit, there are quite some spots where the logic leading up to the identification of the culprit is playing very lightly with the definition of the term "logical". The book tries to do an Ellery Queen-style "identification of the culprit" segment, but it seldom really works. The logic behind who could've decapitated the first student, whose body had been laid to rest in the cellar after he had been crushed by the lamp, is a prime example of the weird logic: there's one step eliminating two people from the suspect list that make absolutely perfect sense, but then the other characters on the list are eliminated based on just psychological impressions ("they wouldn't do that because they wouldn't"), in order to arrive at the culprit. Other murders often have this too, where there's a moment of a good idea to show someone couldn't have been the murderer, or that something might not have been the way we assumed, but then other moments in the same process are very sloppy, which makes the whole process of elimination feel not convincing, and by the time we arrive at the identity of the culprit, the moment just doesn't feel triumphant at all as you still have all those questions in your mind telling you "Hey, the way that suspect was eliminated... did that actually make any sense?" The result is a whodunnit that... simply has trouble feeling fair to the reader. You can see Nikaidou tried to play with few familiar tropes in classical 'process of elimination'-style deductions, trying to subvert the tropes, but it just falls flat here.

Art plays a surprisingly big role in this story, with the characters name-dropping a lot of art styles and famous artists in various fields as they explore the mansion and discover all kinds of interesting pieces of art, from stained glass windows to wax dolls (9 wax dolls...) to paintings and vases and more. Knowledge of art is also handy for certain parts of the final deduction, though again, you can see Nikaidou isn't really used to doing fair-play whodunnits, as the knowledge necessary to pick up on the clues as Nikaidou intended, isn't provided to the reader before he points it out. While he talks a lot about art throughout the book, the necessary art-related clues are not discussed in detail, making it impossible to guess his intentions until he does his "Tadah!" trick, pretending like you should've caught that before.

It's funny, because there's the impossible crime set three decades ago, about how Yukako got killed and decapitated even though there were no footsteps of the culprit going to/from the tower, and that part alone has at least a more original take than the rest of the whodunnit plot. Apparently, this part alone was originally a short story on its own, starring Ranko, but Nikaidou wasn't content with it, and eventually incorporated it into the backstory for this book. While it's true that on the whole, it's not really that memorable a locked room mystery, and some might even find it utterly insulting, I did kinda like the explanation to how Yukako ended up decapitated, especially the motive behind the actual decapitation. 

As I was reading the book, I did find it odd a lot of the book's setting didn't seem to correspond to the actual story. Like, there's a whole backstory to Kiseki Island, how people used to believe there were Oni living there throwing rocks at people (Kiseki) and how it got renamed to Miracle (Kiseki) later on, and there are still locations on the island named after Oni... but we never visit those places. And then there's the Chalk Manor,  a smaller version of the Sagrada Familia and the book even opens with a super detailed floorplan of the manor... but it's not actually directly relevant to solving the mystery. It makes no difference whether there's a floorplan or not, it at best just makes it slightly easier to visualize the place. It's almost like the setting was originally created for something else, and Nikaidou just ended up using the place for this story. It's a shame because the Chalk Manor is really designed in surprising detail, with all of the rooms accounted for (even though you barely go there in the book, or they are only mentioned in passing), and I was expecting something much more bigger hiding behind it considering how overwhelming the floorplan looks at first.

So I decided to google to see whether anything had been written about my suspicions, and I ended up on on Nikaidou's own website, and it turns out... well, he didn't write about my suspicions, but he did write something else very surprising. Apparently, the version of Kisekijima no Fushigi that got published, is actually the "B version" of the story. The original "A version" featured a different prologue and epilogue, and these framing devices actually led to a very different type of mystery added on top of the whodunnit plot. Nikaidou and the editor apparently couldn't quite make up their mind which version to publish until the very end, and Nikaidou has posted the alternate prologue/epilogue on his site. While the core whodunnit plot doesn't change, I think the added dimension does at least make the book feel a bit more special than it is now, though I can also understand why they went with the simpler B version, as the tone of the book is very different in the A version, which would have worked better as a completely standalone novel. The A version wears some of its inspiration far more prominently on its sleeve, and I do like it for that, so if you have read this book, I do think it's worth to read the A version too if you have the time, just to see how the book was originally conceived.

But while Kisekjima no Fushigi is certainly a very readable book despite its rather lengthy page count, I wouldn't say this is a must-read by any means, especially as it's certainly not written to play up to Nikaidou's strenghts as a mystery writer. As a pure whodunnit, it takes on the correct form, but at no point is it really a showcase of wonderful logic, nor does it manage to really surprise you with the "shocking" revelation of the culprit. 

Original Japanese title(s): 二階堂黎人『奇跡島の不思議』

The Magician's Secret

 “For certain, neither of them sees a happy Present, as the gate opens and closes, and one goes in, and the other goes away.”

"The Mystery of Edwin Drood"

Finished the answer chapter Tsumihoroboshi as well as the Advanced Story arcs Yoigoshi and Tokihogoshi of Higurashi: When They Cry, and have added my thoughts on their consequences for the mystery on the memo page for my playthrough of Higurashi: When They Cry. Still a lot to do, but I guess I'm slowly approaching the finale of this long, long tale of human drama, suspense and mystery!

Yep, it's finally time for this book today!

Nikaidou Ranko series  
Jigoku no Kijutsushi ("The Magician from Hell") (1992)  
Kyuuketsu no Ie ("House of Bloodsuckers") (1992)  
Sei Ursula Shuudouin no Sangeki ("The Tragedy at the Saint Ursula Convent") (1993)  
Akuryou no Yakata ("Palace of Evil Spirits") (1994)  
Yuri Meikyuu ("Labyrinth of Lillies") (1995)  
Bara Meikyuu ("Labyrinth of Roses") (1997) 
Jinroujou no Kyoufu - Deutsch Hen ("The Terror of Werewolf Castle - Germany") (1996) 
Jinroujou no Kyoufu - France Hen ("The Terror of Werewolf Castle - France") (1997)  
Jinroujou no Kyoufu - Tantei Hen ("The Terror of Werewolf Castle - Detective") (1998) 
Jinroujou no Kyoufu - Kanketsu Hen ("The Terror of Werewolf Castle - Conclusion") (1998)  
Akuma no Labyrinth ("The Devil Labyrinth") (2001) 
Majutsuou Jiken ("The Case of the Sorcery King") (2004) 
Soumenjuu Jiken ("The Case of the Double-Faced Beasts") (2007)  
Haou no Shi ("Death of the Ruler") (2012)  
Ran Meikyuu ("Labyrinth of Orchids") (2014)
Kyodai Yuurei Mammoth Jiken ("The Giant Phantom Mammoth Case", 2017)

The Houshou Clan has been one of the most influential families in the city of Hakodate for decades, so when not one, but two of them appeared at the night club Black Lizard one evening, everyone's eyes were fixed on them. Shibahara Etsuo, accompanied by his beautiful fiancée Suzuhara Tomoka, might "just" be a member of the branch family, but still a well-known face around town, but it was his beautiful cousin, Houshou Kimiko and her fiancé Takioka Takashi who had everyone at the tables around them mumble to each other. The two cousins had not expected to meet each other here, but the four decide to share a table and watch the show they had come for: a magic show by the Sorcery King Mephisto, an illusionist who's had a fantastic run abroad and recently in Tokyo too. After some introductionary magic tricks, Mephisto invites both Kimiko and Tomoka on the stage. Kimiko is put inside a box, while Tomoka is placed on a bed. When Mephisto brings out a chainsaw, everyone gasps for a moment as he slowly brings the loud machine down on the bed where Tomoka is lying. But as the audience hear Tomoka's horrific cry as blood spatters all around on the stage and on the face of Mephisto, they slowly start to realize... that this is not a magic trick! After cutting Tomoka in two in front of a live audience, Mephisto then proceeds to tie his assistant to the guillotine on stage, removes the safety and decapitates her on the spot. Everyone is in a panic and tries to flee the club, while Mephisto disappears backstage. It's only by the time the police arrive it becomes clear how grave the situation is: not only has Memphisto killed Tomoka and an assistant on stage, another assistant was killed in his dressing room and Kimiko has gone missing. But while Mephisto's bloody footprints show how he went backstage and killed his other assistant there, there is no trace of him in the building, even though all doors and windows are locked from the inside. Takioka and Etsuo soon receive a letter from Mephisto, who asks for ransom money for Kimiko, but it also soon becomes clear that Mephisto has a grudge against the whole Houshou Clan and that he is after the three family jewels: the Blazing Eye, the White Fang and the Black Heart, which are connected to a secret of the Houshou Clan. The police try everything to protect the members of the Houshou Clan from Mephisto, but the mad illusionist manages to pull off the impossible everytime: spiriting people out of secured hospital rooms, disappearing from a house surrounded by snow without leaving footprints and steal a jewel from a guarded room. The police inspector in charge soon realizes only one person will be able to help them: the brilliant detective Nikaidou Ranko, but she is busy working on another case in the south of Japan now, so they'll have to hold the fort until she can clear this case up in Nikaidou Reito's Majutsuou Jiken ("The Case of the Sorcery King" 2004).

I'm finally done! Nikaidou Reito's Nikaidou Ranko series was one of the earliest series I started to review on this blog and especially in the early years of this blog, our young protagonist Ranko and her brother/Watson Reito had frequent appearances here. While I didn't read the books as regularly the last few years, it remained a series I have fond memories of: I started reading them early on in my Japanese studies, so they had always been a kind of indicator for me for my studies. And they were also the first "big brick" books I read: most of the novels in this series have really high page count, so especially early on in language studies, those bricks can seem rather intimidating. And I haven't even mentioned Jinroujou no Kyoufu yet, which with four hefty volumes is probably still the longest locked room murder mystery. While I'll be the first to admit that I did not enjoy all the novels in this series as much as I would have wanted do, finishing this series still feels a bit sad. Well, I say "finish" now, but in reality the series hasn't officially ended yet, it's just that I have read all the books currently published, and new volumes only come very, very rarily nowadays. Oh, and I think I mentioned in an older Ranko review already, but I have basically managed to read this whole series out of order! The only ones I read in publication order are Akuryou no Yakata and the short story collection Yuri Meikyuu, as well as the four volumes of Jinroujou no Kyoufu, though the latter doesn't really count because the four books form one story.

I once described early Ranko novels as Carr on crack: the books are oozing with dark atmosphere, set in the seventies and featuring many (MANY) locked room murders and other impossibilities committed in creepy mansions, often against a backdrop of family curses, Western esotericism and medievalism. After the epic Jinroujou no Kyoufu however, Nikaidou shifted the story style significantly by introducing the Labyrinth saga with the 2001 novel Akuma no Labyrinth. This book introduces us to an enigmatic and very dangerous murderer called Labyrinth, who served as the archenemy of Ranko. Their battle would last for four books, ending with Haou no Shi in 2012. Unlike the earlier novels however, the Labyrinth novels were styled more closely to the henkaku horror mystery stories by Edogawa Rampo: these tales were lighter on the mystery, and much heavier on adventure, horror and grotesque story elements, reminiscent of the 20s-50s pulp science-fiction novels with evil scientists and things like monsters, bloodthirsty murders who commit their crimes in the bloodiest/horrific manners possible and elements like secret codes and hidden treasures. To be honest, I didn't really like these novels: Akuma no Labyrinth wasn't bad per se, but it was basically just two short novellas that felt a bit lacking, while Soumenjuu Jiken was just straight-up mad scientist sci-fi horror, and the final story Haou no Shi also didn't stray too far from that model. I understand this was the kind of story Nikaidou wanted to write now with Ranko, but it wasn't really what I wanted to read, so it took me quite a while to finally finish the Labyrinth saga with Majutsuou Jiken, which is actually the second novel in the Labyrinth saga.

Reading things out of order also meant I already knew about the murders in the night club, because they are mentioned in the third novel Soumenjuu Jiken. Majutsuou Jiken and Soumenjuu Jiken take place around the same time, and this is relevant to this book's plot. After solving a murder committed by the Sorcery King in Tokyo (but failing to trace his whereabouts), Ranko travels to Kyushu hot on the trail of Labyrinth. These are the events of Soumenjuu Jiken, but during that story, Ranko also happens to read a newspaper article about the gruesome murders that happened at Black Lizard in Hakodate, which she suspects is related to Labyrinth too, but she can't leave right now as she is busy with her current case. This is also why Ranko and Reito don't appear in Majutsuou Jiken until the end, as they were occupied. That also means that the Sorcery King Mephisto is free to do whatever he wants until the end of the story, and he sure does!

Because Majutsuou Jiken is a suspenseful, incredibly pulpy thriller like we know from Edogawa Rampo, with a creepy, insane murderer with a goofy villain name who goes around hurting or killing people in the most horrific ways because, well, he can and he's evil. There's a certain cartoonish element to this which I can appreciate, and I have to admit: I think Majutsuou Jiken is the best of the four Labyrinth novels, as it does what it's supposed to do in the best manner, without feeling too gimmicky like Soumenjuu Jiken. Go in expecting a pulpy adventure similar to Rampo's The Black Lizard or The Dwarf, and you're okay. The story is basically a string of events where the Sorcery King constantly manages to baffle the police and endanger the lives of Kimiko, Etsuo and the others in the Houshou Clan. The mysteries basically never stop piling up. The book opens with a mysterious murder by the Sorcery King, where he stabs someone in a room while observed by a witness, but then the room disappears. Ranko quickly solves this riddle, and I think many readers will have an inkling of what happened too, but then the narrative switches over to Hakodate, and there the Sorcery King is absolutely unchallenged. A few things that occur while Ranko's occupied: a woman is trapped inside an old stone structure that doesn't even have an entrance, a patient is spirited away from a hospital room while a police guard had been standing at the door all the time, a trapped and shot Sorcery King manages to escape from a house even though there was snow around the building and no footprints can be found, threatening letters from the Sorcery King appear inside the Houshou manor even though there's police security in and outside the house and the Sorcery King makes a whole room disappear from a building. The police and the other involved people like Etsuo are constantly baffled by the impossible disappearances/appearances by the Sorcery King, and it is only in the last quarter of the book that we see Ranko.

But the solutions to most of the mysteries we see in Majutsuou Jiken also betray the pulpy nature of the book. A lot of the trickery employed by the Sorcery King is rather simple and more often than not, these "set pieces" in the story are just there to look impressive, even if there's not really a reason for the culprit to do so. In fact, during her explanation of the events, Ranko even states a few times the Sorcery King only did certain things just to scare the wits out of the people involved. There's also a lot of horrifying moments that mostly just there to creep you out, which also sometimes results in weird moments, like the Sorcery King managing to make Kimiko disappear from her hospital room, thus showing how he can make the impossible possible... but at the same time, we also learn he casually killed a nurse and a guard elsewhere in the hospital. So you have this super criminal who manages to commit impossible feats, but who also just slashes and kills rather casually, There are more moments where we see a lot of violence, which again puts this book firmly in the pulp corner, though Nikaidou does make good use of the more horrifying moments for the mystery plot at some moments. Some events in the story however ae really just there to make the story more suspenseful or to drag things out a bit like a serial adventure story, but I don't think it benefitted the story. The book is really, really long (the pocket paperback version is split in two volumes), but having a pulpy, Rampo-esque story at this size is pretty tiring, as it's one cliffhanger after another, and all the protagonists can do is gasp at every new trick the Sorcery King does. I think the book would've been more fun at half the length, because some parts really feel dragged out. Even the summation by Ranko at the end is strangely lengthy, with Ranko constantly using roundabout comparisons first before she uses twice as many words as necessary to explain each and every mystery. Most of the impossible disappearances feature elements that won't be unfamiliar to a fan of the genre, and will even feel a bit too simple. I do have to say the mystery of the vanished boy, who was spirited away from a house even though the police had arrived outside and there were no footprints in the snow around the house, was surprisingly good, and definitely a highlight of the novel.  The more adventure-esque part of the story near the end is something your mileage may vary on, I didn't really like it but I kinda knew it was coming due to the Rampo inspiration and references in other novels.

Oh, by the way, this story is also book-ended by a discussion between Ranko and Reito about Dickens' The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and both Ranko and Reito propose theories about the unfinished mystery (with Ranko absolutely convinced her theory is right), so people interested in the Drood mystery might also be interested.

I should note that my expectations of Majutsuou Jiken were definitely not high. The Labyrinth novels never really worked for me, and the two middle books, Majutsuou Jiken and Soumenjuu Jiken seemed to have had mediocre reception, an opinion I certainly shared concerning Soumenjuu Jiken. But you know, perhaps it's me having more "experience" with the Labyrinth novels now, or me becoming more accepting of what Nikaidou wanted to do with these novels, but I think Majutsuou Jiken is actually the best Labyrinth book of the four. It sets out to present a Ranko story in the format of a serialized, pulp thriller like we know of Edogawa Rampo, and it does that in a perfectly fine manner. The book is certainly a bit too long, but there are some good ideas here and there in terms of mystery in this book, and Majutsuou Jiken I think is also the best at really showing the concept of Ranko VS a superhumanly intelligent and vicious insane murderer (with a Scooby Doo villain name), especially compared to the other three books in this saga. So while I think the best Ranko novels are those that predate the four Labyrinth novels, Majutsuou Jiken is the one book you'll want to read if you do want to try out the Labyrinth storyline (and if you don't mind reading things out of order). Anyway, with that, I'm finally done with the Ranko series, at least, for now. I hope Nikaidou Reito will go back to the style of the older books in future Ranko novels, if more are to follow, but no matter what will come, I will probably read it!

Original Japanese title(s): 二階堂黎人『魔術王事件』

That's Snow Ghost

"It will be cold and bitter, Watson, and a good many of us may wither before its blast."

"His Last Bow"

I suddenly remembered I have ridden on an elephant once, at some children's festival. Weird how you suddenly recall things when writing.

Nikaidou Ranko series  
Jigoku no Kijutsushi ("The Magician from Hell") (1992)  
Kyuuketsu no Ie ("House of Bloodsuckers") (1992)  
Sei Ursula Shuudouin no Sangeki ("The Tragedy at the Saint Ursula Convent") (1993)  
Akuryou no Yakata ("Palace of Evil Spirits") (1994)  
Yuri Meikyuu ("Labyrinth of Lillies") (1995)  
Bara Meikyuu ("Labyrinth of Roses") (1997) 
Jinroujou no Kyoufu - Deutsch Hen ("The Terror of Werewolf Castle - Germany") (1996) 
Jinroujou no Kyoufu - France Hen ("The Terror of Werewolf Castle - France") (1997)  
Jinroujou no Kyoufu - Tantei Hen ("The Terror of Werewolf Castle - Detective") (1998) 
Jinroujou no Kyoufu - Kanketsu Hen ("The Terror of Werewolf Castle - Conclusion") (1998)  
Akuma no Labyrinth ("The Devil Labyrinth") (2001) 
Majutsuou Jiken ("The Case of the Sorcery King") (2004) 
Soumenjuu Jiken ("The Case of the Double-Faced Beasts") (2007)  
Haou no Shi ("Death of the Ruler") (2012)  
Ran Meikyuu ("Labyrinth of Orchids") (2014)
Kyodai Yuurei Mammoth Jiken ("The Giant Phantom Mammoth Case", 2017)

Nikaidou Ranko has made a name for herself as a young, yet brilliant detective with a strong sense of justice. She also likes to solve mysteries of either the fictional kind, or at least less bloody-serial-killings-in-locked-rooms-and-other-impossibilities kind, which is why she, and her brother Reito are also members of the Art of Murder Club. This small informal club meets once a month in Ranko and Reito's regular cafe, with the members a diverse bunch, including the owner of the cafe and Professor Speer, a German who moved to Japan after World War II. In these meetings, the members propose tales of mystery (fictional or real) and challenge the others to solve them. In an earlier meeting, Professor Speer had told about his younger days, when he was a covert agent for the German army and came across the impossible disappearance of a whole mansion in a few hours in Russia, which was also where he first met with his late wife (who is revealed to be the surviving daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia). Nikaidou Reito's Kyodai Yuurei Mammoth Jiken ("The Giant Phantom Mammoth Case", 2017) has Professor Speer reveal more his spy past during the Russian Civil War, in a sequel to the prior story.

Young Lieutenant Speer is ordered by his superiors to find "the Valley of Death" beyond Lake Baikal in Russia. The German army has reason to believe "Rasputin's Brides", a group of spirit mediums who used to serve Rasputin, are held by the White Army in that Valley. They are believed to have psychic contact with the Russian Empire in the future (which has apparently taken over the world), allowing the White Army to utilize (war) technology from the future. One of the generals of the White Army has set up base in the Valley of Death, which is believed by the people to be protected by a phantom mammoth from ancient times, capable of throwing giant boulders to crush tanks coming in. Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II and secretly the lover of Lieutenant Speer, is also held in the valley. Speer's orders are to kill the spirit mediums and Anastasia, though he himself naturally wants to save his lover. Lieutenant Speer therefore, under the name of "Sergei Ephrussi", joins a certain unit of the Merchants, a group affiliated to the White Army. This unit, led by Captain Frolov, is scheduled to deliver goods to the White Army in the Valley of Death, which is the easiest way for Speer/Sergei to get inside the valley. The Red Army is everywhere though, making it a difficult trip for the Merchants to deliver their freight, especially as a mysterious person they call the "Chaser" is on their trail, who has already offed several men of the unit without leaving any footprints in the snow. Professor Speer hands the relevant diaries and documents to Ranko and the others in the Art of Murder Club, challenging them to figure out who the Chaser is, and how this person managed to commit the impossible murders.

I started reading the Nikaidou Ranko novels again this year, after a long reading hiatus. The direct reason for my return to this series was actually the release of this novel: Kyodai Yuurei Mammoth Jiken was not only the first full-length Ranko novel since 2012's Haou no Shi, it was also a special novel to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the series, as Jigoku no Kijutsushi released in 1992. With the medicore Labyrinth saga finished, which had unfolded in the last four Ranko novels, and the fact this was released especially for the occassion, I was hoping that this new novel would be a return to the more classically structured grand puzzle plot mysteries with impossible crimes and Ranko being involved early on, like in the earlier novels, rather than the more 1920s/1930s science-fiction horror mystery adventures that made up the Labyrinth stories. Chronologically Kyodai Yuurei Mammoth Jiken was also set in the time period that featured the more classically-styled stories: this novel takes place after the short story Russia Kan no Nazo, when Ranko and Reito were still students (in the 70s), with Ranko's greatest adventure (Jinroujou no Kyoufu) still ahead of her.

The Ranko framing story is only book-ending the main body of the story however, which consists of excerpts from the diaries Lieutenant Speer (Sergei) and Captain Frolov kept during their trip for the White Army's secret base in the Valley of Death. To be honest, I felt great disappointment when I realized this was the story structure. Jinroujou no Kyoufu is the only story wherein the story-within-a-story framework worked for this series, and that's a special case, as each of the two seperate narratives were full-length novels on their own, and they were followed by two lengthy volumes that followed Ranko as she started her investigation into the two narratives presented earlier, so she had plenty of room herself. Soumenjuu Jiken and Haou no Shi however were not very enjoyable (or not enjoyable at all), as Ranko herself barely appeared on those stories, and most of those stories were more focused on bringing an 'oh-my-god-what-is-happening' atmosphere, rather than a good mystery story. There is less dwelling on gore in Kyodai Yuurei Mammoth Jiken, but still, it mostly reads like a spy thriller adventure novel, with a few mystery elements, rather than a full-fledged mystery novel.

The main problem I have with this novel is that it feels disjointed, like a collection of ideas here and there that however never really manage to become one whole. Take the titular Phantom Mammoth for example. The novel starts with a very short account by the sole survivor of a Red Army unit which had been annihilated by the ghostly monster, which obviously paints the being as an impossible mystery. But then the whole story about the Mammoth is mostly brushed away for the Merchants/Chaser story and while the "mystery" of Phantom Mammoth is revealed at the end of the story, when Sergei and Captain Frolov arrive in the Valley of Death, the "solution" given for the being is basically the most boring one you could give, and it's not like there were any real clues to that explanation. So why have the Phantom Mammoth feature in the title at all if it's actually a minor element in the story that isn't particularly good anyway?

The mystery surrounding the Chaser of the Merchants and how he twice manages to commit murders without leaving footprints in the snow is constructed in a more capable way, though still somewhat underwhelming. The Chaser pulls of the trick twice, in somewhat similar situations. The first time, Lieutenant Speer/Sergei and Captain Frolov arrive at a house where one of their unit members has been killed just moments ago. The only snowprints leading to the house are that of the victim, but there is no sign of the murderer inside despite a search by the two. The second time something similar happens is when the Merchants are invited to the home of Maiya Myskina, a former Bride of Rasputin. During the night, Myskina is murdered and decapitated, and the same happens to her daughters. The body of one of the daughters is missing, while the Siamese Twin is found in the chapel, but while the person who brought the body there left footprints in the snow, there are none found leaving the chapel, yet nobody is inside. The solution to both these impossible episodes hinges on the same concept at its core, and it's... okay, I guess. It's nothing original, but mostly an okay combination of various elements that seasoned readers of mystery fiction will know, or will likely come across quite often. It's not a particularly inspiring solution to the impossible crime though, and the impossible situations themselves are treated rather lightly within the context of the story, so it's hard to feel really engaged with them. The biggest issue I have is the rather bland clewing. The clues on their own are not original either and Nikaidou does nothing new with them and the implementation is rather disappointing. I wouldn't say I felt cheated, but it feels more like Nikaidou added the clues just so the reader can't say he cheated, rather than he really tried to make it a fun game for the reader to solve.

In the afterword, Nikaidou mentions he got the inspiration for the title of this novel, and for the contents from Shimada Souji's Russia Yuurei Gunkan Jiken, which was also about Anastasia surviving the revolution in Russia. While Shimada's story was more rooted in actual history, Nikaidou employs much more fantasy in his story, which is certainly an element that has been present in most of the series. The use of folklore and the occult (or the belief in the occult by certain figures) has always given the Nikaidou Ranko series a creepy atmosphere that went really well with the grand murders, with tales about subjects like the Spear of Longinus, vampires, the Pied Piper of Hamelin woven into the narrative. But the occult is seldom as upfront as in this novel, as the whole reason Lieutenant Speer is sent to the Valley of Death is because the German spirit mediums say the White Army's spirit mediums are in contact with the future and stuff. I mean, the occult itself does not infringe upon the core mystery plot of the no-footprints-in-the-snow conundrum, but still, it's a bit weird to see it so prominently, especially as it's not as much 'you can choose to believe it or not' occultism, but actually occultism (Speer for example gets a revelation through Rasputin's Brides at some point, showing him an early glimpse of World War II). We had genetically engineered gorilla-like monsters in Soumenjuu Jiken, but even that is more believable than receiving messages from the future.

So I wasn't too big a fan of Kyodai Yuurei Mammoth Jiken as a novel. The core mystery plot (the missing footprints motif) would've worked just as well as a much shorter form (novella or even short story), as as it is now, the novel feels disjointed, as the titular Phantom Mammoth is just a very small element of the story (and not a particularly good one either). There are elements that work better becauese there's the framing story and the story of Lieutenant Speer/Sergei, Captain Frolov and the Chaser, but even so, I'm not sure whether the longer length is really an improvement over a hypothetical shorter version, even if that version might not incorporate those elements as well as the current form. While not a bad novel, I find Kyodai Yuurei Mammoth Jiken surprisingly bland, especially as I had hoped that for the occassion, we'd have something more similar to classic Ranko. I have only one Nikaidou Ranko novel left unread now by the way, but the reputation of that novel is not particularly good, so I'm not sure whether I'll be reading it any time soon (especially as I have already read three of them this year).

Original Japanese title(s): 二階堂黎人 『巨大幽霊マンモス事件』

Monsters Unleashed

"How many times do I have to tell you? There is no such thing as ghouls, ghosts, goblins or monsters! Listen up, there is absolutely absolutely no such thing as.... MONSTER?!!!!" 

"Scooby-Doo"

Today, a book I really didn't want to read. I think I bought it used when I was in Kyoto, but the things I heard about it were so discouraging I left it unread for almost six, seven years. But I guess I had to read it some day.

Nikaidou Ranko series  
Jigoku no Kijutsushi ("The Magician from Hell") (1992)  
Kyuuketsu no Ie ("House of Bloodsuckers") (1992)  
Sei Ursula Shuudouin no Sangeki ("The Tragedy at the Saint Ursula Convent") (1993)  
Akuryou no Yakata ("Palace of Evil Spirits") (1994)  
Yuri Meikyuu ("Labyrinth of Lillies") (1995)  
Bara Meikyuu ("Labyrinth of Roses") (1997) 
Jinroujou no Kyoufu - Deutsch Hen ("The Terror of Werewolf Castle - Germany") (1996) 
Jinroujou no Kyoufu - France Hen ("The Terror of Werewolf Castle - France") (1997)  
Jinroujou no Kyoufu - Tantei Hen ("The Terror of Werewolf Castle - Detective") (1998) 
Jinroujou no Kyoufu - Kanketsu Hen ("The Terror of Werewolf Castle - Conclusion") (1998)  
Akuma no Labyrinth ("The Devil Labyrinth") (2001) 
Majutsuou Jiken ("The Case of the Sorcery King") (2004) 
Soumenjuu Jiken ("The Case of the Double-Faced Beasts") (2007)  
Haou no Shi ("Death of the Ruler") (2012)  
Ran Meikyuu ("Labyrinth of Orchids") (2014) 
Kyodai Yuurei Mammoth Jiken ("The Case of the Giant Ghost Mammoth", 2017)

The celebrated detective Nikaidou Ranko and her brother Reito first learned of the horrible murders and other crimes committed by the super criminal Labyrinth in the adventures chronicled in Akuma no Labyrinth. Nobody knew who or what Labyrinth was, but he, or she, was able to commit the most horrifying murders and other mystifying crimes, and was also very eager to challenge Ranko in public to try and solve their 'exploits'. During the events of Akuma no Labyrinth, Ranko and Reito came across an old abandoned house that Labyrinth had used for some reason, and they discovered that Labyrinth had some of the old furniture there shipped off elsewhere. Soumenjuu Jiken ("The Case of the Double-Faced Beasts", 2007) starts with Ranko, Reito and the police hot on the trail of that set of furniture, and their journey brings them to the southern island of Kyushu. There they learn that two grotesque and blood-curling serial murders happened there the last few days: a whole hospital was completely destroyed from within, with the victims horribly mutilated with limbs torn off and worse, while elsewhere, the inhabitants of a whole village were also similarly killed as if they were mere broken toys. The only clue for Ranko are the testimonies of some survivors, which seem to point to the existence of genetically-engineered two-faced monsters created during World War II, who are being used by Labyrinth to... do what actually?

A few weeks back, I reviewed Nikaidou Reito's short story collection Ran Meikyuu, which also marked my return to the Nikaidou Ranko series after quite some years. The reason I hadn't touched this series for so long was basically this novel. I had already read most of the series, and I actually quite like it: I love post-war 70s atmosphere, the locked room murders and other impossibilities are often grand, over the top and always sure to leave an impression and the distinct occult/horror tone that pervades throughout the series is something perhaps not all can appreciate, but most of the time, I think it works out quite good. That is, the above holds mostly for the series until the mammoth work Jinroujou no Kyoufu (which is probably the longest locked room mystery ever, spanning four pockets of over 700 pages each).

The Nikaidou Ranko books written after Jinroujou no Kyoufu introduced a new storyline (though chronologically set before Jinroujou no Kyoufu), and a nemesis for Ranko: the enigmatic super criminal Labyrinth. These novels also meant a shift in tone: whereas the earlier novels were like Carr on crack, the Labyrinth novels were styled more closely to the henkaku horror mystery stories by Edogawa Rampo, which were lighter on the mystery, and much heavier on adventure, horror and grotesque story elements, reminiscent of the 20s-50s pulp science-fiction novels with evil scientists and things like that. The first novel in this mini-series, Akuma no Labyrinth was not that bad, but the fourth novel and ending to the Labyrinth series (Haou no Shi) was at best mediocre, with a disappointing mystery plot and an over-emphasis on horror and science-fiction elements. I had also heard that the two novels in the middle, Majutsuou Jiken and Soumenjuu Jiken were far worse, with especially Soumenjuu Jiken often panned as horrible, so I wasn't too eager to read them. But like I mentioned in the introduction, I only learned of Soumenjuu Jiken's reputation after I had picked it up, so it remained unread in my collection for a long time. I haven't read Majutsuou, nor do I have a copy at the moment, but the events in Majutsuou Jiken and Soumenjuu Jiken happen almost simultaneously: while Ranko is investigating the case of the double-faced beasts in the south of Japan, she learns of a horrible murder that occured during the show of an illusionist in the north and realizes Labyrinth is also behind that case.

But to get back to Soumenjuu Jiken: I have to agree with the general consensus that this was not a very entertaining novel. Most importantly, it's not really a mystery novel. It is pre-World War II science-fiction horror. Unno Juuza is quoted in the book, and yeah, that's certainly a name that'll pop up while you read this novel, as well as things like Conan Doyle's The Creeping Man, Rampo's Kotou no Oni or Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau. For the double-faced beasts that feature in the title? Yeah, they exist. The novel opens with an account by a woman who, as a girl, had miraculously survived the extermination of her village by the titular double-faced beasts. She lived on Skull Isle, an island housing a secret laboratory of the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II, with her village serving as camouflage. Strange experiments went on in that laboratory, all in the hope to win the war. The double-faced beasts were one of the weapons produced by these experiments: the gorilla-like animals had four arms, stremendous strength and stamina, possessed poison breath and could burn people with rays from their eyes. The beasts were taken away at the end of the war, their existence kept top secret by the extinction of the village on Skull Isle. We also learn that Labyrinth too was o a product of genetic engineering by the Imperial Army during the war: Labyrinth is a ruthless superhuman with extraordinary mental and physical traits originally designed as a super-soldier until they escaped the clutches of their creators, so Labyrinth gaining possession of these double-faced beasts is not good news.

The bulk of Soumenjuu Jiken consists of accounts by various people who had encounters with either the double-faced beasts or Labyrinth, both during the war or now, twenty years later, when Labyrinth and the double-faced beasts are leaving a bloody trail throughout Kyushu. Ranko learns about all these accounts as she's chasing after Labyrinth, slowly puzzling the tale of the double-faced beasts and the origin of Labyrinth together. These accounts are very grotesque and basically horror-stories, as we learn about the horrifying acts of these genetically engineered creations, with every single detail about how limbs were torn off and things like that explained. There's no mystery to be solved here, just sheer horror. At the end of the novel, Ranko does make a few deductions that show that not all events were as they seemed at first, but the things she figures out are poorly clewed and rather unimpressive. Soumenjuu Jiken reminded me of Shimada Souji's Nejishiki Zazetsuki, as that novel too revolved around an account of something that seems incredibly fantastical, and which invites to an alternate interpretation that is a bit closer to reality, but the 'alternative' interpretation by Ranko of the events and the existence of the double-faced beasts in Soumenjuu Jiken only involves small parts of the story: most of the monsters-are-loose story is true, and with genetically-altered monsters from World War II wiping whole villages out and things like that, it's kinda hard to care about what Ranko has to say about things that ultimately make no difference at all to the problem they're facing. (that is: that they have to fight genetically-altered monsters from World War II).

And what really kills this novel is the length. It's incredibly long. The version I have is about 750 pages long in double columns: the paperback pocket release consists of two volumes, each nearly 600 pages long. The thing is: it really doesn't need to be this long. The novel consists of accounts by various people on the double-faced beasts, and the story of Ranko and Reito piecing the whole thing together using these accounts, but I think almost half of the book is repeating itself. For example: there's an extended account by a teacher who discovers how a hospital was raided by the double-faced beasts, with everyone inside horribly ripped apart. This is followed by the Ranko narrrative, where she learns about the hospital case and then gets a report from the police. The problem: there is a lot of overlap. All the important facts we learn from the accounts, is always also repeated again in the Ranko narrative, so you're almost always told something twice. Obviously, something good could be done with a dual narrative structure: the discrepency between the eyewitness account and what Ranko learns from the police might for example be connected to some mystery. This however never happens in this novel. It's always a horror account, followed by a more business-like account of the same facts. This repeats itself over and over again, which explains why this book is so ridiculously long even though very little happens here. So even read as a science-fiction horror novel, I can't say Soumenjuu Jiken is good: it's a very repetitive novel and the horror-side of the story doesn't really work towards a (worthwile) climax anyway, so you'd better have no expectations there either.

So no, I can't say I can recommend Soumenjuu Jiken, not even if you like the Nikaidou Ranko series. It's completely different from the earlier novels, and while the other two Labyrinth novels I'd read where also a bit more focused on horror, they at least featured stories one could recognize as a mystery plot, with locked room murders or other impossible crimes. Soumenjuu Jiken on the other hand is all about monsters causing bloody havoc, which at the end is followed by a flimsy attempt at turning it into a mystery story by having Ranko making insignificant deductions, considering they do nothing at help solving the problem that they are facing double-faced four-armed monster gorillas. I remember that Haou no Shi (the last of the Labyrinth novels) kinda revealed the plot and outcome of this novel, so for those who have emotionally invested in this series, I can say you can just skip this novel and skip to Haou no Shi if you really want to see how the Labyrinth saga ends (even if that novel isn't that great either).

Original Japanese title(s): 二階堂黎人 『双面獣事件』

The Quest of the Missing Map

Convenient for reading this post: a post on glasses in mystery fiction.

Don't you just get excited when you open a mystery novel and you discover there are floorplans or other diagrams inside? There's just something romantic about a visual depiction of the setting of a story. In some stories, having a clearly drawn map might be necessary in order for you to solve the mystery, while in other stories, the map is merely there to assist the text, just to make things a bit more clear and perhaps to add a bit of flavor. And as I've also mentioned in my reviews of novels like Kokushikan Satsujin Jiken and Murder Among the Angells, settings like houses, mansions or castles can also act as a character on their own in mystery stories, and floorplans really help giving life to these sinister settings.

For this short post, I wanted to show a couple of floorplans that made an impression on me. I won't be talking about them too much, as in some cases one can even figure out something important by looking at these diagrams if you know what to look for, but I think that no matter what, these floorplans just look impressive.

Ayatsuji Yukito - Meirokan no Satsujin ("The Labyrinth House Murders", 1988)

The title basically says it all. After his debut novel The Decagon House Murders, Ayatsuji continued with this series featuring the creations of the architect Nakamura Seiji and this third novel features an underground 'house' designed after the Labyrinth of the Minotaur, and the building is absolutely insane.

Shimada Souji - Naname Yashiki no Hanzai ("The Crime at the Slanted Mansion", 1982)

The second novel in Shimada's Mitarai Kiyoshi series has an interesting diagram, as it's drawn with depth. Floorplans with perspective aren't really common actually, and I really like how this house looks with the tower.

Nakai Hideo - Kyomu he no Kumotsu ("Offerings to Nothingness", 1964)

These floorplans are a bit smaller in scale compared to the previous ones, but I love the hand-drawn feeling of these plans. Kyomu he no Kumotsu is an infamous anti-mystery novel where the protagonist detectives try to figure out how a murder was committed even though there's no proof it's a murder and they just want it to be a murder because it's more fun and they hope more murders happen. These plans of course help them with their deductions.

Ayatsuji Yukito - Kirigoetei Satsujin Jiken ("The Kirigoe Mansion Murder Case", 1990)

Another novel by Ayatsuji. Technically, Kirigoetei Satsujin Jiken isn't part of Ayatsuji's House series, though the connection is heavily hinted at and the floorplan certainly seems similar in its complexity. This one is remarkable because of its sheer size, and this is just the ground floor!

Nikaidou Reito -  Jinroujou no Kyoufu - France (" La Terreur Château du Loup-garou La Second Partie: France, 1997)

Jinroujou no Kyoufu is a mammoth of an impossible crime mystery, consisting of four volumes of 600~800 pages each. These 8(!) floorplans are of the Blue Wolf Castle, which lies in France. A serises of horrible murders and other gruesome crimes happen in this gigantic castle, but what makes this a true terrifying experience is that this just half of the mystery: the Blue Wolf Castle is just one half of a set of twin castles, and another series of murders happen in the Silver Wolf Castle, just across the border in Germany. The Silver Wolf Castle has the exact same layout as the Blue Wolf Castle, but the happenings that occur in these two castles is just amazing, and one can sense the scale of this story just by looking at these castle plans.

Chisun Inn

 Oh, wait, this isn't from a mystery novel. This is in fact a floorplan of the Chisun Inn, a hotel located in Nagoya, Japan. Which also happens to look exactly like something from a mystery story. The hotel is designed in a spiral form, with a lot of rooms in a fan form, but one can easily imagine this to be the setting of a series of murders, right? I for one would make sure my door was locked and double locked if I were to stay here, as there's bound to be someone who's planning some kind of ingenious alibi trick or an impossible murder!

Anyway, these were a few floorplans from mystery novels that made an impression on me because of how they were designed, the scale of the setting or simply how they were drawn. Feel free to leave a comment with the floorplans from mystery novels (or TV series/manga/games) that made an impression on you.