Castle Skull

The abbey was amply provisioned. With such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance to contagion. The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think.
"The Masque of the Red Death"

I read this book late last year and I actually wanted to post a review soon after reading it... but I forgot to actually write a review at the time, and I had been procrastinating since...

The French revolution had widespread effect on the views on aristrocracy all throughout Europe, so also on the people living in the Hereditaqua Peninsula in Central Europe. The narrator, Quello, is a young man raised as the second-in-line of a not-too-wealthy aristocratic family. When he was young, he came across a boy snooping around his family's grounds, but the boy assured Quello he was not just a vagrant: he introduced himself as Nagate, one of the Tuigo triplets. Stardio, Nagate and Orcida, who lived at the nearby San Georgius farm, were the well-known product of a scandal: their mother, a noblewoman, had become infatuated with a minstrel, but when she became pregnant with his children, he disappeared. The Tuigo patriarch of course became furious at his daughter, so she and her children were sent away from the capital to live at the farm until she died a few years ago, leaving the farm to the triplets. Quello became friends with the triplets and the four grew up together. Because Quello was not likely to inherit anything in the future, he holds ambitions to obtain a diplomatic post in the capital: however, in order to get such a prestigious job, he needs the personal recommendation of a higher nobleman, and so he becomes the scrivener of Count D, ruler of the D-region on the peninsula. As the scrivener, Quello is expected to be at his master's side all the time, to preserve everything Count D does and says for later generations. That is why he is right on the scene when his childhood friends make a proposal to the count: they will restore one of the decrepit fortress in his terroritory to serve as a line of defense, and rule it for him. As it is wise to have a proper running fortress along the Yana river in these times of political chaos, the count commands the the Tuigo triplets to do as proposed. For the Tuigo triplets, this is a chance to earn an actual aristocratic title: as bastard children, they have been shunned and denied their own title, but they are ambitious, and willing to work hard to earn a title themselves. The triplets have been educating themselves for such a task since they were children, with each of the brothers focusing on a different task (military leadership, diplomacy and architecture). 

The restoration of the fortress enters its final phase when the triplets get a shocking letter: it's from their father Adallo, who disappeared at their birth. According to the letter, he traveled the world and eventually ended up working for a French merchant who became a parliament member. Now he's going to travel to the Hereditaqua Peninsula and he hopes to see his estranged offspring. The triplets don't feel much for seeing him, as they have never met them and all they know is that he left their mother after she got pregnant, but they also don't want to look petty. Because Adallo is connected to the French parliament, they ask Count D whether they could meet Adallo with Count D as a witness at the restored fortress, now dubbed Four-Head Castle, to make it clear they are not collaborating with a foreign government. The Count agrees, and on the promised day, they all await the arrival of Adallo. However, the triplets seem nervous and they storm out of the fortress on horseback to calm their nerves. It is during their absence Adallo arrives and he walks around the courtyard guided by an old friend, who heard of Adallo's return to the peninsula. However, suddenly a figure emerges from the waterway crossing the courtyard and uses a pistol to shoot Adallo. The figure escapes via the waterway, which leads back to the Yana river, but all the witnesses agree on one thing: they all recognized the assailant as... one of the Tuigo triplets, but which one? The triplets are eventually found in a hut, having been knocked out via a drug mixed with the drink they all had. The conclusion seems clear: one of the brothers wanted to kill their estranged father and drugged the other two so he could commit the murder, and then returned and pretened he had been knocked out too. But how can they find out which of the three is the murderer, especially in this age, when there are no forensic techniques available? That is the driving mystery in Shiotani Ken's 2024 novel Hakushaku to Mittsu no Hitsugi ("The Count and the Three Coffins"). 

I can't be the only one who thought this would be more of a John Dickson Carr-inspired story when they first heard of the title, right? There's no real parallels with The Three Coffins though, and there's not even a real impossible crime going on here, so that's perhaps something worth pointing out to someone who's looking to read this book...

But don't let that be a negative point, for Hakushaku to Mittsu no Hitsugi is a really awesome mystery novel. I first heard about this book when I happened to be visiting Kodansha (the publisher) about a month or two before the book released: I heard editors hyping the "upcoming Shiotani work" up... but not to me (an outsider), but among themselves, as in, they were having private conversations and they were all gushing on the book! So it was obviously not "marketing" that made them all seem so excited for this release, so I decided to pick the book up myself too when it released, and I am glad I did as it is definitely one of my favorite reads of 2024 (yes, this review is posted late). 

The book does start very slowly, as it takes its time to set the historical scene: while the actual peninsula might be fictional, the book is firmly set in the European political reality of the time, with the French revolution and its societal consequences playing a major background role in the motivations of all characters. It is also surprisingly how deep Shiotani paints the fictional kingdom, even portraying traditional clothing and other cultural characteristics. It all makes the setting feel real and convincing, which is necessary, as while the core mystery might sound simple (one of the brothers shooting Adallo), there is of course a lot more going on in the background, and all of that is tied to this specific location in this specific period in history. The book is actually presented as a written account by Quello, who wrote the details of the case down decades after it happened. This account is presented to the modern-day reader, and thus includes historical footnotes by the editor to really sell the "historcal" setting. This is the first time I read a novel by Shiotani, but he definitely makes full use of the fictional setting set within a non-fictional Europe, and it makes me interested in his other works, as I know he always uses unusual settings and premises in his books, and if he can use them as good as he did here...

But as I said, the core mystery is quite simple at first sight: a classic Ellery Queen style "one of the three suspects". However, a bombshell revelation is made soon after the murder, which sends the investigation into chaos. Count D, hoping to demonstrate his leadership and talents to the people he rules by commanding the investigation himself, does the best he can, though he soon has to admit his own Court Investigators, who usually do the criminal investigations, are better suited to the task. However, even they must admit this is a tricky task: the three brothers all claim they were knocked out while they were having a drink before returning to the castle, and none of the witnesses saw something distinguishing about the assailant who shoot Adallo, making it impossible to visually determine who the murderer was. The story starts with an introduction by Quello written well into the nineteenth century, explaining how they didn't have access to the scientific investigation techniques in the late eighteenth century so the investigation might sound amateurish "now". However, as he also points out, this mystery can be solved by pure logic, and Shiotani shows himself to be a great plotter of mysteries, as he indeed does not need to resort to fingerprints, DNA analysis or other modern techniques to determine which of the three brothers shot Adallo. The strands of logic are well-hidden, but not overly complex and quite satisfying. The build-up to the ultimate reveal of all that went on at Four-Head Castle is also fantastic, slowly revealing information that seems to be positive on first sight, but upon second thought suddenly turn things around. Mystery-wise, there are some spots I really like, but I can't really go into them without spoiling too much. The bombshell revelation I mentioned earlier halfway the book already changes a lot of the dynamics of the mystery, making it much more complex, but I think it's more fun to arrive at that point yourself rather than me revealing that early here.

So yeah, I really enjoyed Hakushaku to Mittsu no Hitsugi a lot, and I can't recommend it enough. It starts off really, really slow though, so that is something to keep in mind perhaps, but it is well worth the pay-off. Oh, and I can't finish this post without mentioning that sick cover art, right? The physical book looks really cool on a bookshelf...

 Original Japanese title(s): 潮谷験『伯爵と三つの棺』