The Cat Who Could Read Backwards

さよならさえ伝えられなくて

それでも僕は今日此処を出てゆくよ 

また素敵な誰かに会えるかな 

気紛れで自由な暮らし僕は野良猫 

「NORA」（Garnet Crow）

Without even saying farewell

I left this place today

I hope I can meet with a wonderful person once again

Whimsical and living freely, I'm a stray cat

"NORA" (Garnet Crow)

English-language mystery novels don't pass by here on this blog that often anyway, but I think that the Roger Scarlett re-issues have at least prevented an all-time low this year.... Phew.

Inspector Kane series (Roger Scarlett)
The Beacon Hill Murders (1930)
The Back Bay Murders (1930)
Cat's Paw (1931)
Murder Among The Angells (1932)
In The First Degree (1933)

When you're a millionaire, people tend to put up with whatever you do. History already proved that when the city of Boston decided that Martin Greenough's Gothic mansion, complete with tracts of lush lands with hills for some pleasant horse-riding, would remain, and that the planned major road would have to go around it.  So when Martin's siblings died, they naturally made their well-to-do brother the legal guardian of their children, and "Cousin Mart's" nephews and niece also learned to give in to his whims. While Mart was not particularly emotionally invested into them, he always shared enough of his fortune so they could go out in the world and enjoy themselves with whatever vice they had, but they also remained financially dependent on him as he strictly forbade them to make any money of their own, even well into their adulthood. This was of course not a problem as long as Cousin Mart would provide for them financially and they would inherit his fortune after his death, but the announcement on his birthday that Cousin Mart would finally marry his long-time companion Mrs. Warden certainly caused some panic, especially when he said he'd need to have a talk with his laywer the following day. And this time, Cousin Mart misread the situation horribly, as he's shot dead the same night, and it is up to Inspector Kane of the Boston Police Department to solve this family matter in Roger Scarlett's Cat's Paw (1931).

Cat's Paw is the third novel by Evelyn Page and Dorothy Blair, who wrote together under the name Roger Scarlett. All five of their novels are set in Boston, and feature Inspector Kane as the main protagonist, often assisted by narrator/laywer Underwood and Sergeant Moran. As you might remember, I have read the five books in a rather peculiar order: I first read the fourth novel, Murder Among the Angells, as it was easily available in Japanese some years ago. Then this year, I read the fifth novel, In The First Degree, then followed by the first and second novel (The Beacon Hill Murders and The Back Bay Murders). There's no distinct chronology in these books (or at least, nothing vital, besides a "hey, remember the time we solved that case?"), so it doesn't really matter in what order you read them, but my reading experience turned out to be more interesting than I had expected.

When I first read Murder Among the Angells, I was fascinated by the presence of the setting of the story, an oddly L-shaped mansion where the murders took place. The curious architecture and closed-off location with a Gothic atmosphere made not only an impression on me, but also several influential Japanese mystery authors like Edogawa Rampo and Yokomizo Seishi and through them, on a fair amount of Japanese detective authors after them (see for example Ayatsuji Yukito and his House series, which is obviously about murders that take place in houses with idiosyncrasies). The eeriness of the location was taken even further in In The First Degree, which featured a plot that admittedly relied less on the layout of the place, but more on the atmosphere, as it had a distinct, Gothic horror tone to it with suspicious inhabitants acting as suspiciously as possible. In my mind, this focus on location and the effect it had on its inhabitants had to be a focal point in Scarlett's writing.

So imagine my surprise when I read The Beacon Hill Murders and The Back Bay Murders, in which the locations made less of an impression on me. Sure, they were still set in big houses set in Boston, but they were not as daunting. They were not closed-off, Gothic houses, and while the inhabitants had their characteristics, it wasn't as if you really felt something was brewing like in Murder Among the Angells or In The First Degree. The mystery plots in these first two novels were also very focused on the alibis of each of the characters and their movements in the buildings, which could make the novels feel a bit slow to read as you'd be stumbling about timestamps all the time. Anyway, the gap between these two novels, and the last two novels was quite large in my mind, so when I started with Cat's Paw, I expected, or at least I hoped it would prove to be the key to this change in tone across five novels.

And that it was. Mostly. I mentioned S.S. Van Dine and Philo Vance a lot when I reviewed The Beacon Hill Murders and The Back Bay Murders, and I'd say that Cat's Paw borrows a bit from Ellery Queen this time, most obviously in its structure: the novel is divided in four parts, The Question, The Evidence, The Case and The Solution, each focusing on a different part of the tale. This dividing of the chapters in distinct parts is something you often saw in early Queen novels, and you'd almost expect Scarlett to also play with the initials of the chapter names (I checked, there's nothing there sadly enough). The Question is a very short prologue, while the bulk of the book is made up by The Evidence and The Case. The Evidence shows us the couple of days leading up to Cousin Mart's murder, as his nephews (and if applicable, girlfriends/wives) arrive in his Boston home per Cousin Mart's wishes. The seeds for the murder are planted in this part, but it might also ask a lot from the reader: more than half of the novel is devoted to this build-up to the murder. You get a good sense of the tension building up in the house, and most of the red herrings and vital clues are set-up in this part, but I can't deny that it can be a bit tedious, as there's no formal detecting going on here yet, it's all mise-en-place (as Mart's not been killed yet). Most of the red herrings and clues do work because they are given the proper amount of time to develop though, so I would say the length was a deliberate design choice. It's also in this part where you can see how Scarlett's style shifted from the alibi/movement-focused story to a more atmospheric story with disfunctional families as seen in the latter two novels. The Greenoughs are all dependent on Cousin Mart's finances, but it's obvious none of them really want to be dependent on him all the time, and every one of them appears to have a reason for wanting Mart dead as they pretend to be nice inside his Gothic mansion. The step to Murder Among The Angells, where a family is ruled by a will of the former patriarch is not a large one.

Cat's Paw moves a lot faster once we get to The Case and The Solution. In The Case, Sergeant Moran conducts some preliminary investigation, while Inspector Kane takes over in The Solution, using the facts and discoveries made in the previous two parts... or does he? The solution proposed by Kane is in the same tradition as the previous two novels, with a focus on possible character movements during the proposed time of the murder (though less focus on the floorplans this time), but the solution also takes a bit more from Queen this time, especially in his focus on physical clues, but Scarlett does at least one thing differently from Queen (in his prime), and that is in the department of fair-play. That Kane gets a few good guesses based on instinct rather than real clues, okay, I can live with that because he actually finds clues to collaborate his suspicions and this is some time before the final conclusion, but the final piece of evidence turning out to be one that Kane that had not been mentioned once until he unveils it to Underwood and Moran, that's not playing fair. What's even more vexing it's actually part of a different clue that had been discussed earlier: Scarlett only chose not to mention that other characteristic at all until Kane did in the final pages, even though it was the decisive clue. The thing is, the mystery plot is actually quite good, with twist and turns and mostly adequate clewing, and with good use of red herrings that were set-up in The Evidence that still manage to help out the main mystery plot in a good way, so why slip up on something like an unfair, final clue?

Having read all five of the Scarlett novels now, I think the first one I read, Murder Among The Angells is still the most enjoyable one, with a more unique premise to set it apart. Both Cat's Paw and In The First Degree are good too, with Cat's Paw a more traditional mystery story and In The First Degree taking its cues from Gothic horror novels in terms of atmosphere. The first two novels, The Beacon Hill Murders and The Back Bay Murders aren't bad per se, but they resemble each other a lot, and in comparison with the later novels, not as entertaining a read.

But to conclude with Cat's Paw: Scarlett's third novel is one of potential, and of missed chances. It manages to break away from the first two novels which were too much alike, and it feels much more ambitious, with its formal division in four parts and a more intricate mystery plot, but it isn't completely fair to the reader either. Granted, by far most of the book can be solved perfectly by the reader based on the clues presented, and even making an educated guess as to the identity of the murderer is quite possible but obviously, holding out on the last clue will result in a weird aftertaste, especially considering the Scarlett novels have mostly been following the Van Dine/Queen school which focuses on fair play and physical clues.

Escape from Mystery Manor

「探偵小説を私は『お化け屋敷』の掛け小屋からリアリズムの外に出したかった」

『随筆　黒い手帖』（松本清張）

"I wanted to release the detective novel from the haunted house, into the realism outside."

"Essays: The Black Notebook" (Matsumoto Seichou)

It might be a mistaken impression of mine, but I have the feeling many of my fellow blogging collegues and aficionados consider the impossible mystery, and especially the locked room mystery, as what is perhaps the pinnacle of the mystery genre. I myself never got so deeply engaged with the locked room mystery to be honest. While I definitely enjoy a good impossible mystery, I have always preferred the emphasis on the process of solving a mystery through logical reasoning as seen in the whodunit novels by Ellery Queen. This does not mean the locked room mystery is incompatible with the logical whodunit school, but this fusion usually shifts the focus from the locked room situation itself to questions of who could've created the situation and for what reasons.

Van Dine was of course also one of the figures strongly associated with the logical school and it's his hand you mostly sense at first sight in Roger Scarlett's first two novels. Roger Scarlett was the pen name of  Evelyn Page and Dorothy Blair, and they debuted as Roger Scarlett with the 1930 novel The Beacon Hill Murders, followed in the same year by The Back Bay Murders. The two novels are quite similar in design, but also differ in some key elements. Both books show the influence of Van Dine right from the start though. Both of them are narrated by the attorney Underwood, who is friends with the brilliant Inspector Norton Kane, who in turn often works together with Sergeant Moran, who also serves as a part-time rival, part-time friend to Kane. This triforce naturally remind of the triangle featured in Van Dine's novels, which had narrator S.S. Van Dine, the master detective Philo Vance, and the official forces as personified in District Attorney Markham and Sergeant Heath. The difference is of course that in Scarlett's books, the master detective is actually a police detective himself, so the Markham and Heath characters from the Van Dine novels are basically mashed together in Sergeant Moran. Underwood is an incredible snob in the first novel by the way, with Kane having some of the smooth talking of Philo Vance, though that softens a bit in subsequent books for both characters.

The Beacon Hill Murders and The Back Bay Murders are both set in the city of Boston, but feature very different settings. The Beacon Hill Murders starts with a murder on Frederick Sutton, one of the nouveau riche and client of Underwood, and the subsequent investigation is completely focused on the Sutton residence and the rich family who lives there. The Back Bay Murders on the other hand is about the colorful lot in a boarding house. Arthur Prendergast is a neurotic young man who wants Kane to investigate a malicious prank someone left in his room, but not even Kane could've known that it would end in murder. While the settings of a rich family's home and a boarding home with various inhabitants couldn't be more different, the execution in both books is actually quite similar.

In my reviews of the fourth and fifth novels written by Roger Scarlett (Murder Among the Angells and In The First Degree) I noted how the buildings themselves were important factors in their respective stories: there was a distinct, dooming quality to them that gave them a silent presence in the story, which was emphasized by the abundant use of floorplans throughout the stories. Floorplans are also richly used in The Beacon Hill Murders and The Back Bay Murders, though I'd argue that as buildings themselves, the Sutton house and Mrs. Quincy's boarding house have less importance than in subsequent Scarlett novels. Instead, the design of the floorplans themselves become more important, because The Beacon Hill Murders and The Back Bay Murders both focus on one thing in their whodunnit plots: the alibi.

The investigation into where everybody was at the time of the murder is what drives both books. Little time schedules are given from time to time to show where everybody was at what time, and the floorplans therefore become significant in showing the movements of each and every character and how each of them could vouch for other people. This emphasis on the alibi however does make the middle part of both books rather dull, as you're constantly reading about people talking about where they were when. The Back Bay Murders does slightly better in that regard due to an early twist, but even then it's only barely better than The Beacon Hill Murders. It's interesting to see how these floorplans in these two books were more a tool to assist the alibi-oriented stories, while in later Scarlett novels, the floorplans, and the buildings themselves grew into something bigger than that (especially in Murder among the Angells). The emphasis on alibis is not particularly something Van Dine-ish, though even Van Dine experimented witth some interesting cases, for example with the chess game alibi in The Bishop Murder Case.

The emphasis on alibis is also what makes both The Beacon Hill Murders and The Back Bay Murders somewhat underwhelming, as both books don't go far beyond poking around alibis. The Beacon Hill Murders manages to do something more interesting with the focus on alibi investigation I have to admit, while The Back Bay Murders is rather predictable in terms of execution. Aosaki Yuugo's Suizokukan no Satsujin certainly wasn't perfect in terms of doing an alibi-oriented story: following the alibis of eleven suspects down to the minute was quite tiring, but it at least also had more than just that, and the alibis were tightly connected to those other elements. In these two Scarlett novels however, alibi is the star, and it's a rather dull star most of the time. The focus on character movement within the respective settings also means there's a highly claustrophobic atmosphere in both books, but as the buildings themselves are not as unique as the one in Murder Among the Angells, this pressing feeling is little more than just that, rather than a supporting element in a grander picture.

If I had to differentiate the two books however, I'd say The Beacon Hill Murders is the one that'll make a better impression overall, but it does feature a far smaller cast and a very limited setting. The Back Bay Murders features a more varied cast and is arguably more intricately plotted, but many of the plot elements are also rather obvious to the reader, and the reason for the murders is also quite weak compared to that of The Beacon Hill Murders.

The overall similarities between The Beacon Hill Murders and The Back Bay Murders and the fact that they are now available in one handy volume is why I reviewed these books together, but I'd advice against reading them back to back actually, as they are quite similar in atmosphere. I know that Murder Among the Angells and In The First Degree do feel quite different from each other and these first two books, so that makes me curious to the third book in the series. Anyway, these two books are not particularly impressive mystery novels on their own, but as part of the short Roger Scarlett bibliography, it's interesting to see how the focus in their writing style would shift from the alibi to the setting.

Crooked House

 時には迷宮みたいなmind

やけにバカげた気分になる　投げやりな感じ

それでも孤独じゃ淋しい生き物で

すぐに君にあいたくなる

「君の家に着くまでずっと走ってゆく」（Garnet Crow)

Sometimes my mind feels like a labyrinth

It makes me feel so foolish, as if I want to give up right now

But even so, I'm a being that feels lonely when I'm left all on my own

It makes me want to see you

"I'll Keep On Running Till I Reach Your Home" (Garnet Crow)

And once again, I'm reading a series out of order.

The enigmatic visitor who suddenly dropped in on Inspector Kane to tell him that he feared for his friends' life did in fact not surprise the detective very much. As a person with quite the reputation, kane had some experience with people who are convinced they were on the trail of some nefarious scheme or dastardly murder plot. These suspicions were usually just imaginary of course, so on this occassion, Kane naturally shrugged off the story that a certain Aaron Loring was in danger, until Kane received a concealed message from Mr. Loring himself, pleading for help from the police inspector. As there is no formal case yet, Kane has to infiltrate stately Loring mansion as an innocent lodger. The house is basically cut-off from the outside world: Mr. Loring has been bed-ridden for almost a year, with his wife and sister-in-law remaining inside too. Only the servant goes out, while the doctor attending to Mr. Loring also drops in regularly. Kane instantly notices that something sinister is stirring between the cooped-up inhabitants of the house and it does not take long for the pressure to built towards a deadly climax in Roger Scarlett's In The First Degree (1933).

Quite some years ago, I picked up a Japanese translation of Roger Scarlett (pen name of Evelyn Page and Dorothy Blair)'s Murder Among the Angells (1932), which had been reprinted as part of a summer campaign of the publisher. I had first heard of the novel through the writings of Edogawa Rampo and Yokomizo Seishi, and I enjoyed it greatly as a classic puzzle plot murder story set in a mansion. I did note that even though the Scarlett novels were somewhat known in Japan due to the mentions by those grand figures of the Japanese side of genre as well as reprint campaigns, I was surprised how you could find basically nothing about Roger Scarlett and their books on the internet in English. Roger Scarlett had basically been forgotten by time and the little useful information I did find on Scarlett back then was in Japanese.

But now the five novels by Roger Scarlett have finally been reprinted in English (split across three volumes), which will hopefully bring them more fame, as they really did not deserve to be so absent from collective memory! Oh, I have to admit I was very surprised when I saw I got referenced in the introduction in these reprints...

In The First Degree is the last of the five Scarlett novels and once again stars Inspector Kane in an entertaining murder mystery with an attractive setting. Though this time, Inspector Kane isn't involved with the case as a representative of the police force. In fact, he is only on the scene, in the Loring mansion, because of vague hints that something might happen, which is why he's there as "merely" a lodger. The absence of a police force to support Kane is what gives In The First Degree a unique atmosphere, as especially the first few chapters do not feel like a classic puzzle plot murder mystery, but more like a Gothic thriller novel. Kane manages to rent a room in the Loring mansion with surprising ease, but as he slowly learns more about the other inhabitants of the house, he's confronted with one suspicious event after another: from the servant who very probably knows more than he's saying and Kane sneaking around to eavesdrop on suggestive conversations, to people giving him veiled warnings and even people sneaking in and out of the house. You can almost imagine the scene visually as a gothic thriller film, with everybody acting as suspiciously as possible.

The atmosphere is strengthened by the presence of the Loring mansion itself. I had talked about Murder Among the Angells as an example of the yakata-mono: the mansion story. The sinister location itself played a silent role in the story, and while the term "mansion story" might invoke the English "country house mystery", the yakata-mono is distinctly darker than its English counterpart. This feeling of uneasiness might be achieved through its physical presence, for example because of its strange architecture, but also at a more spiritual level, for example through backstory. Ayatsuji Yukito's House series in particular builds on this concept, but one can also trace a line through other works like Oguri Mushitarou's Kokushikan Satsujin Jiken and Philo Vance's The Greene Murder Case. The Loring mansion in In The First Degree is fairly tame compared to the utterly odd building from from Murder Among the Angells, but there is certainly a dark mood hanging about. The Gothic thriller mode is enhanced because basically all of the story is set within this building, giving it a distinct claustrophobic feeling. You seldom get time to really breath in fresh air and this all adds up to give you, and Inspector Kane, the idea that there's really something brooding in the house, but you never really get any confirmation on anything (till the end, of course), which makes In The First Degree quite different from what you'd expect from a mystery novel starring a police detective.

The mystery plot taken on its own is quite decent, but not without some flaws. It might not be as bombastic as Murder Among the Angells (with a murder in an elevator among others), but I do like what the plot is aiming for, and the clewing is adequately done, but there's just one part of the murder scheme that seems insanely difficult to pull off. It's shrugged off with a "Sure, it was risky, yes, but it worked", but everything would've failed immediately if it hadn't worked out like the culprit had intended. I don't expect realistic naturalism from my mystery novels (no, please), but I think the reader is quite correct if they want to object to this point. While it might not be extremely difficult to make an educated guess about the truth behind the case because of a few scenes that seem a bit too obvious in acting out their roles as clues, I did enjoy the plot overall though.

So it quite some years have passed since I read my first Roger Scarlett, but In The First Degree was more than an agreeable return. The first few chapters might be a bit slow because it appears everyone is just acting suspicious for no reason and the scope is arguably a little small, but by the time you reach the end, you'll have read a well-planned mystery novel and I can't wait to read the other Scarlett novels too.

『ＷＩＳＨ ＲＯＯＭ』

検死官はあくびをして体を動かした。「夜殺人をやるのいたしかたがない。そうする理由があると思う。しかし、死体を発見するのは、私が朝食をすましてからにしてもらいたいんだな」」

『エンジェル家の殺人』　（訳：大庭）

"The medical examiner yawned and moved his body.

"I can't complain about murders being commited at night. There are reasons for doing that. But it'd be nice if they would discover the stiff after I had my breakfast""

"Murder Among the Angells" (Ooba translation)

Even though most of my book purchases are made in second hand bookstores like the Book Off when I'm in Japan, I do go to 'normal' bookshops occasionally. But I only go there when I need to purchase specific books. While my purchasing habits in a Book Off are kinda chaotic (and bad for my wallet), my visits to Fukuoka's Junkudou were like well-planned military missions, purchasing only the books I had planned to buy before entering the building (or occasionally not buying anything at all, instead only acting as a guide as I knew all bookstores in the neighbourhood).

The single impulse purchase I made at Junkudou was that of Roger Scarlett's Murder Among the Angells (1932). Well, technically it's Enjeruke no Satsujin ("The Murder of the Angell Clan"), a translated version (by Ooba Tadao). The title had been in my head for a long time. Why? Well, the novel was mentioned in the very first pages of Yokomizo Seishi's Honjin Satsujin Jiken ("The Daimyou's Inn Murder Case") as one of the books that inspired Yokomizo in writing that novel. I also knew Murder Among the Angells was praised very much by Edogawa Rampo. In fact, Edogawa was so impressed by the book that he made his own adapted/localized version of the story, renamed as Sankakukan no Kyoufu ("The Terror of Triangle Mansion"). A book that inspired two of my favorite authors was simply a must-read.

The problem: it seems like nobody outside Japan knows about this book. Murder Among the Angells is sorta known among Japanese detective critics because of the reasons mentioned above, but a quick Google search for the book and author Roger Scarlett didn't give me any results. At least, I had quite some Japanese results, but practically nothing useful in English on neither the novel nor the author. Which was kinda surprising. So I did something I basically never do: read the commentary at the end of the pocket (Japanese pocket often include by commentaries by other writers. It seems in the West, introductions are used more often).

And commentator Togawa did write up a nice story. As Togawa also noticed this distinct lack of information on Roger Scarlett, he (with some help) dug through many old English crime writer magazines and guides, resulting in the following findings: Roger Scarlett was the pen name of the Americans Evelyn Page (1902~???) and Dorothy Blair (1903~???). Nothing is known about Blair, but Page seems to have written her own novel (The Chestnut Tree) and even made it to associate professor at several faculties at Connecticut College. Page & Blair's debut work as Roger Scarlett was The Beacon Hill Murders (1930), followed by The Back Bay Murders (1930), Cat's Paw (1931), Murder Among the Angells (1932) and finally In the First Degree (1933) (Of these novels, only The Back Bay Murders is not translated in Japanese). So in only a couple of years, this duo wrote five books.  But they stopped for some reason after that and the name Roger Scarlett seems to be totally forgotten nowadays. Except for in Japan, where a translation can purchased at any store for 900 yen + tax. Go figure.

Anyway, Murder Among the Angells. Like the title suggest, murder happens within the Angell clan. The Angell clan consists of two families: the family of elderly Darius Angell (two sons) and the family of his twin brother Carolus (son, daughter and son-in-law) (I'm totally guessing the spelling of the names by the way: Japanese is not particularly clear when spelling out Western names). The two families live under one roof, in a curious L-shaped mansion. The Angell mansion has been split in two, with a wall seperating the two sides. The brothers live their own lives in their own wings. The two wings are connected only by the front door (+ small hallway) and the elevator in the back of the house, which opens on both wings.

Darius and Carolus used to be best of buddies actually, until their father died, leaving a rather troublesome will. While they both receive quite some income from their father's fortune as long as they live, the whole fortune is to go unconditionally to the son who outlives his brother. Fast-forward many, many years later, with the brothers living in seperate wings and a heavily weakened Darius who might die any day. Fearing his sons will be left with nothing if he dies now (which would make his brother the only heir), he hopes to convince Carolus to sign an agreement that they'll split their father's fortune with both families, no matter who dies first. Carolus refuses though, and is found the same night dead, shot by an unknown assaillant. And more developments follow throughout the story, with a new will by Darius (who really seems to want to divide the fortune with his nephew and niece) and a murder happening inside a moving elevator!

Murder Among the Angells might be quite unknown outside of Japan, it's pretty clear why it has some fame in Japan. This is clearly a yakata-mono (a 'mansion' story; see also Jukkakukan no Satsujin), with the strangely divided mansion with an elevator in the middle of the building. With many maps throughout the story, rooms that have doors at the weirdest places and the way people have to move about to get from wing to another, this novel practically screams yakata-mono. The strange architecture practically functions as a silent extra character, not unlike the House of Usher and succeeds in providing a very entertaining location for the murders. The movements of the suspects inside the mansion also plays a big role within the story, with both murders being strongly connected with the way the mansion is built and the way the mansion has been divided into two wings. The Angell mansion is a very impressive force within the novel. Edogawa Rampo didn't rename his adaptation The Terror of Triangle Mansion for nothing.

And setting aside the mansion,  I have to say that the plot is, on the whole, pretty good. My major gripes are some of the lucky breaks of the criminal has and I have some doubts about the executability of the locked elevator murder (the trick is, fundamentally, good though). But I'm overall quite pleased with the novel, as it's a good example of what an orthodox detective should be. Edogawa Rampo said this about the book:

I have nothing but admiration for Angell (...) the way the plot develops, the way the mystery is solved, the level of suspense, this novel has these elements in a strange way no other novel has and it suits my humble taste perfectly (...) yes, this is it, this is it, this is the style of writing I like the best, that's what I think as I read every line.

I won't go as far with my admiration, but Edogawa is right about that that the plot develops at a nice pace. The puzzle plot is constructed very neatly, with enough clues to point to the murderer (the main hint pointing at the criminal is a nice one, reminding me of some stories in Conan and Furuhata Ninzaburou). Like I said, the murderer had some lucky breaks IMHO, but nothing game-breaking. The motive is done quite nicely well and in fact, besides the points mentioned at above, I have no real complaints about the plot of Murder Among the Angells. It's a nicely constructed mansion-story that is sure to entertain readers.
 
I had troubles getting through the Japanese though. Ignoring the spelling problem (I'm not sure whether the detective is called Kane, Caine, or Kain or some other spelling actually), prose in Japanese is very different from prose in English. While I've read plenty of Japanese translated in English, this is probably the first time I read a real translation of an English novel in Japanese (the Lupin novels don't count. Besides being originally French, the translation is clearly smoothed out to normal Japanese). But how tedious Murder Among the Angells was! Part of this tediousness might be blamed to the fact the original text is not contemporary, but even accounting for that... I had never felt this big a gap in writing styles across languages before, but this really caught me by surprise. I'm not talking about a bad translation or anything, but just the way people describe things, where the focus of the paragraphs is placed at and how paragraphs are structured... You just don't repeat a personal pronoun sentence after sentence normally, nor are long passages with only short pieces of dialogue (one or two sentences) pleasant to read. It's really different from a novel that was actually written in Japanese (as opposed to a translation). Like I said, I liked this book, but I'm not really looking forward to reading more of Scarlett in Japanese.

I'm actually quite surprised why nobody seems to know Scarlett outside of Japan. This encounter was pretty pleasant and they did write five books in total, so why did the Scarlett name disappear practically competely?  If I hadn't seen the name mentioned by Edogawa and Yokomizo, I doubt I'd ever found about this book, actually. Which is a shame, 'cause Murder Among the Angells is an entertaining mansion-story which I think doesn't deserve to be forgotten ... this extremely. As for the people interested in Japanese detective fiction, I think the mere mention by Edogawa and Yokomizo warrants a look at this novel

Original Japanese title(s): ロジャースカーレット　（訳：大庭忠男） 『エンジェル家の殺人』 (Roger Scarlett, Murder Among the Angells)