Regarding the English translation of The Labyrinth House Murders

My translation of The Labyrinth House Murders (Yukito AYATSUJI) was released three weeks ago in the UK by Pushkin Press. I hope the people who have read it enjoyed it, and that those who still have to read it, will find it as entertaining as I did when I first read the work. As much as I love the original work however, there was one point in the original work that wasn't likely to work "as is" in an English translation, and after deliberation with the editor and Ayatsuji himself, it was decided I'd change part of the mystery slightly, in order to keep the fair play spirit of the original work intact for the English-language reader. However, I still want people to know what the real idea was Ayatsuji had planted in his book, so I decided to write a piece explaining about what was changed and why, and go over a few other translation-related points while I am at it.

As you probably can guess, I'll be discussing major spoilers for The Labyrinth House Murders in that piece, so you should only read it after reading the book.

You can find the page here, and I will be re-posting this announcement when the US version of the book will be released coming Spring.

番外編：The Labyrinth House Murders Released

I probably mentioned it earlier on this blog, but today's finally the day: this is the day Pushkin Press is releasing my English translation of The Labyrinth House Murders (Meirokan no Satsujin) by Yukito AYATSUJI. Or at least, in the United Kingdom, I believe the US release will follow in a few months.

While my English translation of The Decagon House Murders was released via Locked Room International back in 2015, Pushkin Press took over the license, starting first with a revised re-release in 2021, and then following up with the sequel The Mill House Murders in 2023. Fortunately, both Ayatsuji himself and Pushkin wanted me on board again for the sequel and I was glad to hear that they also had intentions of continuing the series, so that brings us to the third book in the series: The Labyrinth House Murders was originally released in 1988 and is set in a rather unique location: the titular house is a genuine underground maze inspired by the myth of the Minotaur and the home of Miyagaki Yotaro, a veteran mystery writer who has been active for decades not only as an author, but also in an editing position where he helps younger authors debut in his beloved genre. As of late however, he has decided to retire, but for his sixtieth birthday, he has decided to invite some of his closest comrades, like writers who debuted under his tutelage and an editor with whom he has worked for a long time. However, soon after everyone has arrived, a shocking death is sprung upon the guests, and they are locked inside the Labyrinth House and are asked to participate in a bizarre competition with deadly results...

The Decagon House Murders was not written as a 'series' book with obvious story hooks or anything like that, which explains why The Mill House Murders, as a sequel, could be read without any prior knowledge of the series. That also holds for The Labyrinth House Murders: while a few references are dropped about earlier cases, the tale itself can be read independently, so there's no real problem if you decide to start with this book.   

Personally, this has always been one of my favorite entries in the series, ever since I read it over a decade ago. This is in part due to the background setting: ever since I was a child, I have loved Greek mythology, so the setting of the labyrinth and rooms named after figures related to the myth of the Minotaur really appeal to me. The floorplan of the titular Labyrinth House is also much more complex than any of the maps we have seen so far: it's a genuine maze and each time you want to move from one room to another, you need to go through the maze. As you read, you'll be looking at the floorplan, and that adds a fun element, kinda like how you'd read The Lord of the Rings and check how everyone was moving while heading for Mordor. But the story itself is also fun: we have a group of genre-savvy characters gathered together, from mystery writers to a critic, an editor and a huge fan of the genre, and the plot plays a lot with that. As for the mystery, it's a really tricky one once again, that has hints hidden in more places than you'd expect.  

Translation-wise, there's something I do want to discuss in due time, but I might wait a little bit longer to get back to that, as it's not something to mention right away on release day! 

Anyway, if you liked The Decagon House Murders and/or The Mill House Murders, please read The Labyrinth House Murders too, and if not... try it anyway! In a way, it's the most "detectivey" book of the three books released until now, so I have no doubt a lot of readers will enjoy this one. And as for more translations of this series? As you can expect, positive reception is the most likely to ensure more translations follow (hopefully by me of course), so it'd be great if you'd pick the book!

番外編：The Mill House Murders Released

Back in November, I announced Pushkin Press would be publishing my translation of AYATSUJI Yukito's The Mill House House Murders, at the time with a scheduled release date of late February. Sorry for the wait, as the release was eventually pushed back a month to March. Now!

Two years ago, Pushkin Press re-released The Decagon House Murders, a slightly brushed-up version of the translation I originally made for Locked Room International in 2015.  Fortunately, the re-release seems to have been received well, leading to plans to release the follow-up novel and I am also happy both author Ayatsuji and Pushkin Press wanted me on board again. The Mill House Murders was originally published in Japan as Suishakan no Satsujin in 1988, set once again in an architectural creation by the architect Seiji Nakamura, and yes, people die there. The Mill House is a castle-like structure, home of a wealthy recluse with a unique art collection, and his beautiful young wife. One year before the present, a horrible murder case happened at the Mill House while a small party of guests were visiting visited the house to view the art collection. Exactly one year later, most of the same people have once again gathered at the Mill House, and that is of course the go sign for more mysterious happenings that build towards a surprising conclusion.

The Mill House Murders is the second book in Ayatsuji's long-running series featuring Nakamura's buildings and he recently got started on the tenth book. This second volume can be read seperate from The Decagon House Murders, as basically the only spoiler is the series detective, but of course, those who have read the first book will get some of the minor references and call-backs. People who liked the first book will find a lot to love in The Mill House Murders, as the reader will once again explore an unsettling, closed-off location where curious, bloody murders occur and a surprising conclusion waiting at the end. The Mill House Murders is also a transitional book: The Decagon House Murders was written as a standalone book, inspired by Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, but its success led to it being turned into a series, and this book does feel like it opens up the world a bit, marking the transition to a series.

One personal memory I have of this book I already mentioned in my review of the Japanese book. I originally obtained a used copy of this book, and near the end, before the final chapter, I found a receipt stuck between the pages. At first I thought it was just something left accidentally there by the previous owner and missed by the employees of the used book shop, but when I turned it around, I found it had a message for me, the new owner: it was a Challenge to the Reader, from A Reader. The note mentions that the murderer would be revealed in the next part, and challenged the reader to try to solve it themselves first before reading the final chapter. It was such a fun, unique present of the previous owner and I still have the note.

Pushkin is based in the UK, which means The Mill House Murders is out this week there, with a US release scheduled for I believe in May. Anyway, if you liked The Decagon House Murders, please try The Mill House Murders too and if not.... try both? The Decagon House Murders was the first novel I got to work on, and when I first started this blog, I of course never had imagined I would be translating all those books I was writing about, so I'm more than thrilled I was able to also work on The Mill House Murders. And as for more books in this series? I guess positive reception is the most likely to ensure more translations follow (hopefully by me, haha), so it'd be great if you'd pick the book if you happen to be looking for a fun mystery novel.

番外編：Death Within The Evil Eye Released

Okay, I know I make the same mistake every single time, but I really should start thinking more about what to write in my announcements of upcoming announcements, for there's always little left to write in the actual release announcement, because I already wrote most of what I should write in the announcement of the announcement only a few weeks ago...

In 2021 Locked Room International published my English translation of IMAMURA Masahiro's 2017 novel Death Among the Undead, which was a huge hit in its home country, leading to film and manga adaptations. And yes, I am happy to announce that I got to work on its 2019 sequel too. And with the product page up on the site of Locked Room International, it appears my English translation has now been published (or will be made available the coming days). Death Within The Evil Eye has the members of the Mystery Society travel all the way to to a remote village deep in the mountains as they trace a lead connected to the events of the first book. They and a group of other people who happen to be stranded there end up visiting an old woman of whom it is said she possesses powers of clairvoyance, capable of telling the future. But when the bridge collapses back to the main roads collapse, everyone ends up trapped on one side of a river and it's then they learn that being foretold the future is certainly not always a good thing, for what if the future that awaits you is certain death?

At least among the commentators of this blog, Death Among the Undead had been by far the title most people wanted to see a translation of, so I was really glad I was able to work on the translation and get an English version published last year. I personally liked its sequel Death Within The Evil Eye a lot too, so while I wasn't expecting it, I did hope I'd get to work on that book too in the future, but even I hadn't expected to work on Death Within The Evil Eye so soon! Like the previous book, it combines a classic closed circle situation mystery plot with a very non-classic, supernatural theme, resulting in a very unique tale of mystery, but it's a fair-play puzzle plot mystery that challenges the reader to solve the mystery themselves.

My review of the Japanese version can be found here, but you could also wait until you've read the book yourself to compare notes later. Publishers Weekly also has had their early review up already.

Anyway, I hope people enjoy Death Within The Evil Eye! The holiday season is coming up, so if you're still wondering about suitable gifts, or just want something for yourself to read in the darker months, why not go for Death Within The Evil Eye? And by the time you're done, perhaps consider my other upcoming translation in February...

番外編：Death Within The Evil Eye

I'd better say this right away: don't expect another announcement next Friday. This post following my recent announcement of the upcoming release of The Mill House Murders is more-or-less just a coincidence... Let's not make this a habit!

2021 was a weird year, as two mystery novels I translated were published, but not only that, on the surface, they had rather similar, but unique themes. Publisher Ammo's YAMAGUCHI Masaya's Death of the Living Dead was about well, the living dead. The lengthy tale follows Francis "Grin" Barleycorn who has returned to the family home, the famous Smile Cemetery in New England, as his grandfather Smiley Barleycorn is terminally ill. Meanwhile, a strange phenomenom has been plaguing the world: the dead have started to rise. The scientists haven't figure out why yet, there have been several cases across the world where people simply "wake up" from their death and are still able to think, speak and act basically as if they were alive. It's amidst these circumstances that mysterious deaths occur at the Smile Cemetery, and it's up to young Grin to solve these deaths, which is easier said than done when the dead don't stay dead. The book was originally released in 1989 and is one of earliest and definitely one of the best Japanese mystery stories that utilized a supernatural setting to present a fair play puzzle plot detective. The other book I translated last year was also about mixing the supernatural with the classic puzzle plot mystery: Locked Room International published IMAMURA Masahiro's Death Among the Undead, an absolute hit 2017 mystery novel in its home country. It told the story of Akechi and Hamura, two students who make up the Mystery Society. The two of them are invited by Hiruko, a fellow student and accomplished amateur detective, to join a short trip organized by the Film Club of the university. Staying at a mountain-side pension overlooking Lake Sabea, the idea is that the members will film a short film as a club project. But on the first evening, the students are suddenly attacked by a mob of something very unlikely and very unnatural. They barricade themselves inside the pension with no hope of escape from this closed circle situation as the beings try to get inside, but then one of the students is killed inside his locked room during the night: at first they suspect one of the beings killed the poor man, but they soon realize that isn't possible and that a human, ergo, one of them must've done it. But how did the murderer manage to get in and out the locked room of the victm, and more importantly, why now, while they're being attacked by those things and don't even know whether they'll survive this? The book is an excellent example of how a mystery story can still utilize very irrational and supernatural elements, and yet be a completely fair, puzzle plot tale.

And for those who enjoyed Death Among the Undead, I have good news, for Locked Room International will be releasing its sequel too! Death Within the Evil Eye was originally released in Japan in 2019 as Magan no Hako no Satsujin and is the direct sequel to Death Among the Undead. Once again, I was fortunate enough to be able to work on this translation: I originally read the Japanese version of Death Among the Undead late 2018, so I was thrilled when I learned the sequel would be published just a few months later, and I loved the book, just like the first novel. While the book is a direct sequel, it does not directly spoil any big details of the plot of Death Among the Undead, so you could start with this book if you want to, though obviously, it is much more rewarding if you do read these two books in order. Death Within the Evil Eye brings the members of the Mystery Society to a remote community deep in the mountains as they trace a lead connected to the events of the first book. Some other people happen to arrive at that place too, and the party eventually arrives at a curious, block-like building where an old woman lives who is said to have powers of clairvoyance, capable of telling the future. But the bridge collapses, trapping everybody in the building, and it's then they learn that knowing the future is certainly not always a good thing, as what if it is foretold you will die?

Readers might be surprised on one hand to see how different the theme is this time compared to Death Among the Undead, on the other hand, Imamura does here what he did so well in the first book too: Death Within the Evil Eye uses a supernatural premise, in this case prophecies, to bring an incredibly original mystery novel. I'll be lazy today and simply quote myself from my review of the Japanese version: "In a way, the concept behind the prophecies isn't very different from what was done in the first novel: Imamura locks his whole cast up in a closed circle situation, and then has a supernatural/unnatural phenomenon threaten our cast. What makes his novels different from most other closed circle mysteries is that the threat isn't simply a force of nature, like a snow storm or the raging sea or something like that, but something out of the ordinary. What's more, Imamura is sure to make use of these unique special circumstances to come up with situations that can only exist because he's utilizing these unique ideas, resulting in mystery stories that are in the core recognizable, but also like something you have never seen before." For those who are curious now, my review of the Japanese version is here, but you could also wait until you've read the book yourself and compare notes later.

Oh, and what prompted me to write this post in the first place: Publishers Weekly has their early review up already, and they seem quite enthusiastic too with a starred review! 

And the big question is of course, when is the book out? ... I don't know exactly myself actually! At least, I can't give you an exact date, though I believe we'll still have wait a few weeks at the least as there are still some i's that need dotting in regards to the final release. So consider this just an advance announcement, and I'll be sure to make another announcement once you can actually purchase the book.

In the meantime, you could always read Death Among the Undead if you hadn't already!

番外編：The Mill House Murders

Better make an announcement in advance, before I am too late...

Two years ago, Pushkin Press re-released The Decagon House Murders, a slightly brushed-up version of the translation I originally made for Locked Room International in 2015. 1987's The Decagon House Murders is of course historically an important work, as it was Yukito AYATSUJI's debut novel was also the first novel in the so-called shin honkaku (new orthodox) movement in Japan, which was a call for authors and reader to return to intelligent puzzle plot mysteries. Readers of the blog are very likely to be interested in shin honkaku fiction and hopefully, they have read some of the other shin honkaku novels I have translated like Death of the Living Dead, Death Among the Undead and The Moai Island Puzzle. But I think most people can also understand me when I say I consider The Decagon House Murders also a work important to me personally: it was the full first full novel I translated and it was the positive reception that has since allowed me to translate more Japanese mystery novels. The Dirda piece in the Washington Post back in 2015 must have been one of the first mainstream publications to use the word honkaku and it's been very interesting to see that word develop since in the English-language word. The more recent release by Pushkin Press of The Decagon House Murders gave the book renewed attention worldwide too, so it was great to see the book mentioned and referenced more and more as time passed by.

I believe this has been officially announced by Pushkin Press already, or at least, you can already find entries for the book and pre-order it at all the big bookstores, so some might be aware already, but Pushkin Press will be releasing the sequel to The Decagon House Murders next year. The Mill House Murders was originally published in Japan as Suishakan no Satsujin in 1988, and once again features a classically-styled tale of murder and mystery. The English translation is scheduled for a February 23rd, 2023 release and I am happy to say that author Ayatsuji and Pushkin Press wanted me on this project again, so yes I reprising my role as the translator for this second novel featuring an architectural creation by the architect Seiji Nakamura, and of course something bad is going to happen in the titular house. The Mill House is a castle-like structure with three gigantic water wheels that power the building. It is the home of a recluse and his beautiful young wife. One year before the present, a horrible murder case happened here while a small party of guests visited the house to view an exclusive, prviate collection of paintings on display here. Exactly one year later, most of the same people have once again gathered at the Mill House, but perhaps they should have known that would be tempting fate, and indeed, new deaths occur at this creepy house...

I know a lot of readers were curious to the further adventures revolving around the buildings created by Nakamura after reading The Decagon House Murders, either back in 2015 or more recently with the Pushkin Press release, so it's great to be able to say their wishes will come true soon. People who liked the first book will find a lot to love here, as we once again explore an unsettling, closed-off location where curious, bloody murders occur and where a surprising solution awaits at the end. At the same time, I'd say this is also a transitional book: The Decagon House Murders was of course written as a standalone book, inspired by Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, but this book does feel like it opens up a bit, marking the transition to a series and upon hindsight, it's an interesting book to look at as a "link" between The Decagon House Murders and the books that would follow later. I read the book back in 2012, and if you're curious to my thoughts, you can find them here, or you could just wait and read the book first in a few months and then come back to check. By the way, Ayatsuji has recently announced he's finally getting started on the tenth novel in the series, and he announced the title last week...

Anyway, I could probably write more about this book, but I better save that for when we're closer to the actual release of the book in a few months! If you haven't read The Decagon House Murders yet, you still have plenty of time to read that one and be ready for the sequel, and otherwise, there might be some other translated honkaku novels out there to read while we wait for The Mill House Murders to arrive in stores, right?

番外編：Death of the Living Dead Released

Considering my other new translation released this year was Death Among the Undead, you'd almost think this was planned...

One month ago, on Halloween, publisher Ammo announced they'd be publishing my English translation of YAMAGUCHI Masaya's seminal mystery novel Death of the Living Dead soon.  And soon it was, as I can announce now that the book has been released now, both as an e-book as well as in physical form! I already wrote an announcement post last month, so I guess I'm just repeating myself here, but I was asked by Yamaguchi to work on a translation a few years ago, but a revised Japanese edition was released after I had worked on the translation. I was informed that translation advisors/editors worked on my initial translation afterwards to incorporate the revisions, so while the base is my work, I am very grateful to all the other people who worked on the text! I have to admit I haven't seen the final product myself yet, and due to the long timeline behind the project and the extra revisions that had to be made due to the newer Japanese version, I'm pretty excited to have a look at the book myself too finally. It's been quite some time since I last worked on Death of the Living Dead, so I reckon it'd feel fresh even to me!

For those who missed the original announcement post,Yamaguchi's debut novel originally released in 1989 and is one of earliest and definitely one of the best Japanese mystery stories that utilized a supernatural setting to present a fair play puzzle plot detective. It has won several awards for mystery fiction, both during its original release as well as many decades after the release, proving its relevance even now. Set in the United States, this lengthy tale follows Francis "Grin" Barleycorn, a rock punk who after a turbulent time in the old country, returns to his family home: the famous Smile Cemetery in New England. Grandfather Smiley Barleycorn, the person who brought the Barleycorn funeral directing family business to the States and built the empire that is the Smile Cemetery, doesn't have long to live anymore, giving Grin a reason to finally meet his grandfather and his uncles for the first time in his life. Smiley's been in bad health for some time, and his sons are running the company now in his place, but Grin's uncles all have different ideas what to do with the business once Smiley is really  gone. Meanwhile, a strange phenomenom has been plaguing the world: the dead have started to rise. The scientists haven't figure out why yet, there have been several cases across the world where people simply "wake up" from their death and are still able to think, speak and act basically as if they were alive. The only problem: their body is still decomposing. It's amidst these circumstances that mysterious deaths occur at the Smile Cemetery, and it's up to young Grin to solve these deaths, but what's a detective going to do in a world where death isn't as decisive as it used to be?

I read the book for the first time back in 2014, and I was sold immediately. Going through the book again for the translation only rekindled my love for the book. The way the novel makes use of the supernatural element is brilliant, especially considering that this was first released in 1989. Long-time readers of this blog will have noticed that I have developed a love for mystery novels with supernatural elements these last few years, and the concept itself has become very popular in Japanese mystery ficton, but Death of the Living Dead still ranks among the best of the genre. This is also due to the surprising deep way in which the book tackles the theme of death. Sure, mystery novels usually revolve around death, but Death of the Living Dead really delves into the question of what death means for us humans, and there's a lot of discourse and discussion going on the theme of death across the centuries. You'd be surprised how well-researched this book is on the theme of thanatology, without burdening the brilliant puzzler that is at the core of this novel. The book is basically twice the length most books I've translated until now, and it makes good use of the extra page count to present a very tricky plot, but also to talk about everything death.

Anyway, I basically just repeated every single point I already made in my announcement a month ago, so I'll stop right here. Be sure to visit the official website of Death of the Living Dead as I can really recommend this book to any fan of the genre. Death of the Living Dead is funny, dramatic and poignant, but best of all a really clever mystery novel that has been a well-regarded classic in Japan for three decades, and hopefully it'll appeal to the English-reading audience too!

番外編：Death of the Living Dead

2020 saw the release of two new Japanese mysteries translated by me, being Ayukawa's story collection The Red Locked Room and Higashigawa's locked room mystery Lending the Key to the Locked Room both from Locked Room International, as well as a new release of The Decagon House Murders by Pushkin Press. Three releases is definitely not the norm for me though, so I guess most people would assume that Imamura's Death Among the Undead some months ago would be my only contribution to the world of translated Japanese mysteries this year. To be honest, I wasn't sure myself!

I have to admit that even I was caught off-guard by the official announcement that Ammo will be publishing my English translation of Masaya YAMAGUCHI's Death of the Living Dead in December 2021, with the preorders on Amazon for the e-book having started yesterday on Halloween. Originally published in 1989, Yamaguchi's original debut novel was a smash hit by being one of the earliest and definitely one of the best Japanese mystery stories that utilized a supernatural setting to present a fair play puzzle plot detective. Set in the eighties in New England, US, the story follows Grin, a rock punk who after a short period where his life had gone off rails, returns to his family home: the famous Smile Cemetery. Grin is welcomed by his grandfather Smiley Barleycorn, the person who brought the Barleycorn funeral directing family business from the UK to the States and built the empire that is the Smile Cemetery. However, Smiley doesn't have long to live anymore and his sons all have different ideas what to do with the business once Smiley is gone. Meanwhile, a strange phenomenom has been plaguing the world, as the dead have started to rise. For some reason, there have been several cases across the world where people just "wake up" from their death and are still able to act basically as if they were alive, save for the rotting of their corpses. It's amidst these circumstances that mysterious deaths occur among the Barleycorns at the Smile Cemetery, and it's up to young Grin to solve these deaths, but what's a detective going to do in a world where death isn't as decisive as it used to be?

I read the original book back in 2014, and I absolutely loved the work, as Death of the Living Dead used the supernatural setting to bring an absolutely original detective story, combined with both witty comedy as well a surprisingly deeply worked out look at the theme of death. The book has consistently ranked very high in Japanese mystery rankings and has been available in various (mostly Asian) regions already, where it apparently also garners a lot of praise, so it's widely considered to be one of the more important works of early shin honkaku mystery fiction. Yamaguchi had been trying to get the book out in English for a long time, so I was very honored when he asked me to work on the translation. This happened a few years ago by the way, but due to a revised Japanese edition releasing after I had worked on the translation, I was informed that translation advisors/editors worked on my translation afterwards to incorporate the revisions, so while the base is my work, I also have to say thanks for all the hard work to all the people who worked on my text! But that's also why I didn't have exact information on the release window, and me being surprised at the official announcement the book was coming!

It might seem very natural to draw parallels with this year's release of Death Among the Undead which I also translated, but ultimately the works are very different, with the former focusing more on the horror-side, while Death of the Living Dead focusing much more on the question of what death means for us humans, and there's a lot of discourse and discussion going on the theme of death across the centuries, and you'd be surprised how well-researched this book is on the theme of thanatology, without compromising the brilliant puzzler that is at the core of this novel. It's also quite bit longer than the other books I've translated until now, allowing it to go a bit deeper.

Anyway, I can wholeheartedly recommend this novel, not just as someone who worked on this specific release, but simply as a huge fan of Death of the Living Dead itself. It's a fantastic piece of detection that has earned a place in the history of modern Japanese mystery fiction and well worth the read. Be sure to visit the official website of Death of the Living Dead and I hope you'll enjoy the book when it's finally out!

番外編：Death Among the Undead Released

Doing announcements of announcements is like shooting myself in the foot, because I'm always left with nothing to say in the actual announcement... It's common practice to make an announcement of an upcoming major announcement, or at least it's like that in the game industry, but I guess you're not supposed to give away everything during the pre-announcement.

So now that Locked Room International has today published my newest translation of Masahiro IMAMURA's 2017 debut novel Death Among the Undead (original title: Shijinsou no Satsujin), do I have anything to add to my original announcement post not even two weeks ago? No, not really.  Pointing out that Death Among the Undead was an unprecedented monster hit that became the first title in history to conquer the first place in all the major Japanese annual rankings of mystery novels, and that it has since become a multimedia franchise, with a manga adaptation and an excellent live action adaptation would just be repeating myself. Raving about how it introduces a completely original take on the closed circle situation and locked room murder mystery is all I have been doing here ever since I read the book back in 2018. It is the book you need to read if you want to know in what (amazing) state the Japanese mystery novel is now currently, but yes, it's all been said here before.

Though I am really excited the book is out now! I assume most people reading this are regular readers of this blog, so they'll be aware that probably about 85% of the books I discuss here are not available in translation (English or any other language) and it's not uncommon to see comments on articles here where people voice their wishes for a translation. And I can safely say that at least on this blog, Death Among the Undead was by far the most wished-for title. Heck, when I reviewed the third novel in the series released only a few weeks back in Japan, the comment section once again had people wishing for a translation of Death Among the Undead. As it hadn't been formally announced yet by Locked Room International, there wasn't much I could say then though. Anyway, it's awesome that the book is now indeed available in English translation now, and that I got to work on it myself!

Edit: Publishers Weekly's starred review is also up!

For those who have read previous translations of Japanese mystery novels published by Locked Room International, this might be a slightly surprising work. Like Lending the Key to the Locked Room released last year, Death Among the Undead is a fairly recent work, as opposed to the early shin honkaku novels from the eighties Locked Room International did before (not to mention the even older The Ginza Ghost and The Red Locked Room). Death Among the Undead follows the classic tropes of the murder mystery, but at the same time it's unmistakenly a contemporary work, a murder mystery written within the current zeitgeist and presenting familiar-looking ideas in a brand new context. I myself love this book, as it really shows the potential the puzzler mystery story has and that there's stll a gold mine of ideas to be explored for the genre. This Locked Room International version features a special introduction by Soji SHIMADA by the way!

Anyway, I can only hope you'll enjoy the book as much as I did back in 2018! It's such an important work in the context of contemporary Japanese mystery fiction, I really recommend you read it even if the premise of the book sounds a bit... uncanny, because Death Among the Undead is an excellent example of how far the Japanese mystery novel dares to go, and how at the same time it still manages to hold onto our beloved classic tropes and structure firmly. And I'm really repeating myself now, so that's it for today! Enjoy Death Among the Undead!

番外編：Death Among the Undead

After the annual releases of The Decagon House Murders (2015), The Moai Island Puzzle (2016), The Ginza Ghost (2017) and The 8 Mansion Murders (2018),  Locked Room International didn't have a full-length Japanese release in 2019, but last year, two of them were released: Ayukawa's classic locked room & perfect alibi story collection The Red Locked Room and Higashigawa's comedic locked room mystery Lending the Key to the Locked Room. And people who have been following these releases will probably have noticed that the summer is a time to pay attention to, so...

I'm happy to announce that Locked Room International will be releasing Masahiro IMAMURA's debut novel Death Among the Undead very soon and I am even more thrilled that I was the one to translate the work to English. Oh, and to be clear: this is the Japanese cover, the Locked Room International release will have a different cover. Originally published in 2017 as the winner of the 27th Ayukawa Tetsuya Award with the title Shijinsou no Satsujin ("The Murders in the Villa of the Dead"), it was an absolute monster hit in Japan. It became the first title in history to conquer the first place in all the major annual rankings of mystery novels organized by various publishers and has since become a multimedia franchise, with a manga adaptation and an excellent live action adaptation. Honestly, no other mystery novel in recent years managed to make such enormous waves in Japan as this novel. It became the first novel in an on-going series, with the third novel being released just a month ago in Japan. Imamura's debut work is a novel I was absolutely sure was going to be available in English sooner or later, but I couldn't have guessed I'd be the one who'd get to translate the book!

Having heard about a curious threatening note to the university's Film Club, self-proclaimed detective and notorious campus troublemaker Kyosuke Akechi and his assistant Yuzuru Hamura manages to tag along with the Film Club's summer outing, together with the mysterious Hiruko Kenzaki, who is apparently also known in some circles as a gifted detective. The trip brings them to a mountain-side pension overlooking Lake Sabea and the idea is that the members will film a short film in this nature-rich area. During their stay here, the three student-detectives try to learn more about the threats while they help the members of the Film Club with their project, but in the evening, the students are suddenly attacked by a mob of something very unlikely. The group are forced to barricade themselves inside the pension with no hope of escape from this closed circle situation as the beings try to get inside, but then one of the students is killed inside his locked room during the night: at first they suspect one of the beings killed the poor man, but they soon realize that isn't possible and that a human, ergo, one of them must've done it. But how did the murderer manage to get in and out the locked room of the victm, and more importantly, why now, while they're being attacked by those things and don't even know whether they'll survive this!?

I was late to the party myself and read Death among the Undead in 2018, but I absolutely loved it, and the series has become one of my favorite ones in recent years. Imamura managed to create an absolutely unique closed circle situation for a mystery novel and makes excellent use of the concept to present one of the most original mystery you'll read. While initially you might think the concept is more focused on suspense or perhaps even gore, and that it doesn't fit the mystery genre, you'll be surprised at how brilliantly Imamura uses non-conventional elements to create a fantastic locked room murder mystery that is still all about the fair-play, originality and logical reasoning we love about detective fiction. It's a novel you have to read, and I would have said that even if I wasn't involved with the translation (in fact, I've been fanboying about this novel on this blog ever since I first read it).

Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy Death Among the Undead as much as I originally did, or more! As mentioned on the Locked Room International website, due to circumstances there's a product page online already, but the book isn't actually available yet at this moment: I believe it's scheduled to released very soon though so keep an eye on the Locked Room International website to see when it's available for purchase. People who liked previous Japanese releases by Locked Room International will definitely love this one, but the book has a lot of appeal beyond that I think, so I hope the book will also act as a gateway work for a new reading audience to get into Japanese mystery novels! And that's it for today's service announcement. Enjoy Death Among the Undead when it's out!

番外編：Lending the Key to the Locked Room Released

When The Red Locked Room was released earlier this year, I mentioned how Locked Room International didn't have a full-length Japanese release in 2019 after the annual releases of The Decagon House Murders (2015), The Moai Island Puzzle (2016), The Ginza Ghost (2017) and The 8 Mansion Murders (2018). And that's why I assume few people were expecting to see Locked Room International publishing two of these books translated by me this year.

Whereas the spring release The Red Locked Room was a short story collection, I'm pleased to say that we have something for lovers of novels too this year. Tokuya Higashigawa is a name which has been featured a lot on this blog, as he's a personal favorite of mine. The current president of the Honkaku Mystery Writers Club of Japan specializes in comedic mystery stories, but don't let the antics in his novels fool you, as the comedy is also camouflage for cleverly-plotted mysteries. Lending the Key to the Locked Room (Misshitsu no Kagi Kashimasu, 2002) was his first full-length novel and also the first novel in his popular Ikagawa City series, which is currently still running. This series is perhaps unique in the sense that while it's a series, there's no fixed detective character. These stories set in and around the titular city feature an ensemble cast with different colorful characters all solving part of the mystery. Or they make things more confusing. In Lending the Key to the Locked Room, the reader is introduced to the college student Ryuhei who finds himself in a lot of trouble: what should've been a nice night watching a mystery film together with a friend in a private home theatre, ends with him discovering his friend's dead body, but the apartment is completely locked from the inside, meaning the only viable suspect for his friend's murder is.... Ryuhei himself! And he's pretty sure he didn't do it. When Ryuhei learns that the police is after him for another murder, he seeks help from his ex-brother-in-law, the hapless private detective Ukai who at times seems like he's in complete control and at times completely out of his depth with this case. Solving a locked room mystery is hard enough without the police chasing after you...

I first read the book myself in 2011, and in the review I wrote "A funny novel with a satisfying plot-structure that is sure to entertain the reader," which is an opinion I still had when I went through the book again while translating it. And on a side-note: huh, that was the first review since this blog got its current look. But it's no secret that I love mystery stories with a comedic atmosphere and Higashigawa always delivers in that respect. Higashigawa's work has been rather popular on the screen too by the way, with numerous adaptations of his novels. The best-known adaptation is probably the series and movie of Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de AKA The After-Dinner Mysteries, but the Ikagawa City series, including Lending the Key to the Locked Room, had an entertaining television adaptation too in 2014.

 

Anyway, I hope the release of Lending the Key to the Locked Room is a nice end-of-year surprise for you. It's a genuinely entertaining locked room mystery that sure got me hooked on Higashigawa's mystery stories (seriously though, I'm going through old reviews now for this post and I only now realized this novel was the first full-length book of Higashigawa I ever reviewed). And if you're still looking for some more winter reading, why not try The Red Locked Room or perhaps the re-released The Decagon House Murders?

番外編： The Decagon House Murders Released Once More, with Feeling

Five years ago, Locked Room International released The Decagon House Murders, my translation of Ayatsuji's monumental 1987 novel Jukkakukan no Satsujin, about the members of a university mystery club who plan a visit on an abandoned island, only to be killed by a mysterious killer one after another. It would be the first novel of the so-called shin honkaku (new orthodox) movement in Japan, which was a call for authors and reader to return to intelligent puzzle plot mysteries. Many writers would follow in the wake of The Decagon House Murders, making it one of the most important novels in recent detective fiction history in Japan. The release of the English-language version of The Decagon House Murders was of course a personal milestone, but putting it in the wider context, for many it was probably also their first steps into shin honkaku, and since then, I've been fortunate enough to be able to work with Locked Room International to bring more Japanese mystery fiction to the English-language world (In case you missed it, take a look at The Red Locked Room!). Since its release, The Decagon House Murders has seen some interesting and positive reviews. Personally, I have to admit that the Dirda piece in the Washington Post back in 2015 still made the most impression on me, especially as it really helped the word honkaku spread.

For some time now, Pushkin Press has been publishing Japanese mystery fiction, with prominent writers like Shimada and Yokomizo seeing both new translations, but also re-releases of older translations that had gone out of print. Some of the readers may have been aware of this already, but Pushin Press required the rights for The Decagon House Murders some time ago. And now their version's out! At least, I believe the e-book is available right now, while the physical book will follow in only a few weeks. It's a re-release, but the text has been brushed up by the new editors, and some help from myself of course and it's got a nifty new cover. Seriously, Pushkin has been hitting home-runs with these covers, and the first I was contacted over this new release, I couldn't help but be utterly excited about what kind of cover it would get!

Pushkin Press is based in the UK, so the e-book is out now and the physical release follows in the first week of December, while I think the US release is scheduled for next year, though that's kinda a moot point since you can just order anything from internet nowadays... Anyway, if you were still wondering about gifts for the holiday season, or just something to read yourself in the upcoming darker months, why not The Decagon House Murders?

番外編：The Red Locked Room Released

Some readers may have been disappointed when Locked Room International didn't release a full-length Japanese mystery last year. Abiko's hilarious locked room mystery The 8 Mansion Murders was released in 2018 and while Abiko's short story A Smart Dummy in the Tent was published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in 2019, most people had probably expected something more from Locked Room International after the annual releases of The Decagon House Murders (2015), The Moai Island Puzzle (2016) and The Ginza Ghost (2017). But I'm happy to say we can offer you something now in these times.

For the short story collection The Red Locked Room was released today, with a selection of seven stories with locked room murders, perfect alibis and other impossibilities by none other than the illustrious Tetsuya Ayukawa. I was once again very fortunate to be involved with this project as the translator. Ayukawa (1919-2002) was one of most respected driving forces of puzzle plot mysteries in post-war Japan. His creative output was excellent, with meticulously written plots that often involved perfect alibis that had to be cracked, but he was also a master of other impossible mysteries like the locked room murder. While he has not been translated in English before, you may know his name from the award named after him: the Ayukawa Tetsuya Award is awarded annually by the publisher Tokyo Sogensha, which gives newcomers an opportunity to debut as a professional authors. Ayukawa was very keen on finding and nurturing new and old mystery talent, as he himself had a rather rough start as a mystery writer. Keikichi Osaka was for example a mostly forgotten author, but Ayukawa was one of the people who brought his stories back on the stage and for all we know, The Ginza Ghost would never have been released without Ayukawa. Many shin honkaku authors made their debut because of Ayukawa's editiorial efforts. Two of them are Taku Ashibe and Alice Arisugawa, the duo responsible for the initial selection of the stories included in Locked Room International's The Red Locked Room.

Unfortunately enough, Ayukawa himself did not see an English translation of his own works during his own life-time. One of his short stories was actually considered for Ellery Queen's anthology Japanese Golden Dozen: first that story didn't made it because it was considered perhaps too complex, and when it was finally included in the second volume of Japanese Golden Dozen, that second volume never got an actual English release!

The Red Locked Room includes seven stories, four starring the foppish great detective Ryūzō Hoshikage, three starring the ever-diligent Inspector Onitsura. The Hoshikage stories are about locked room murders and other impossibilities: a murder in a locked autopsy room, a killer clown disappearing from a tunnel and more. The Red Locked Room, The Blue Locked Room and The White Room form a colorful trio, and especially The Red Locked Room is regarded very highly among fans of the genre. The Clown in the Tunnel is a personal favorite with its brilliantly plotted impossible vanishing, and I don't even like clowns! We also have Inspector Onitsura, who is always facing suspects who appear to have a perfect alibi even though Onitsura's certain he's on the right trail. Both Whose Body? and Death in Early Spring keep you guessing what really happened as Onitsura investigates each possible trail, while The Five Clocks is a genuine masterpiece about a man with a perfect alibi vouched for by no less than five different clocks! The book also features an introduction by Taku Ashibe, who has been a tremendous help in making this project possible in the first place. His preface gives you insight in how important Ayukawa was for the genre both as writer as well as an editor.

My own reviews of the stories included are a bit scattered, as The Red Locked Room features an original selection: you can find the Hoshikage stories here and here, and the Onisura stories here (never reviewed Whose Body? I realize now). Publishers Weekly's early review is also available now, which gave the book a starred rating and says "The seven whodunits in this outstanding collection reveal Ayukawa (1919–2002) to have been one of Japan’s most accomplished writers of classic fair-play mysteries" and "Ayukawa’s ingenuity will make golden age fans hope his novels will also be translated." On The Threshold of Chaos also has reviews of the Japanese version of the Hoshikage stories here and here.

Anyway, I think that people who have enjoyed the previous Japanese release by Locked Room International will have a lot of fun with these stories too. The fantastical impossibilities of the Hoshikage stories and the slightly more realistic approach of the Inspector Onitsura stories cover a wide range and on a completely personal note, I am really thrilled to see Tetsuya Ayukawa finally getting an international audience! And that's it for today's service announcement. Enjoy The Red Locked Room!

番外編： A Smart Dummy in the Tent

So for the last two months or so, I kept telling myself, don't forget to write an announcement, it'll take no time at all, it'll just be a short post.... And in the end, I still didn't manage to write this thing in time...

Last year, Locked Room International released the hilarious impossible crime mystery The 8 Mansion Murders by Takemaru ABIKO, translated by yours truly. That was not the first time Abiko had been translated to English, as some of his work for videogames (like The Starship Damrey (3DS)) had already been available in the West, but The 8 Mansion Murders was his first proper mystery novel which had been translated into English. I was obviously happy to see that the novel was received pretty well when it released (if you haven't read it yet, please do). For those who enjoyed the novel, I have good news, as more Abiko is available now. The June/August 2019 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (which should be available right now) features Abiko's impossible crime short story A Smart Dummy In The Tent (orig.: 1990), once again translated by me. The story is part of Abiko's Mario series, and stars a... ventriloquist's dummy as the detective. Yoshio is an incredibly gifted, but somewhat clumsy ventriloquist who performs together with his puppet Mario. However, Yoshio's great secret is that Mario isn't just a tool of his trade, Mario's a whole seperate personality of Yoshio. And despite his arrogant and wise-cracking personality, Mario's also actually really clever and sharp, which comes in handy in A Smart Dummy In The Tent, when Yoshio and his love interest Mutsuki get involved with an impossible crime that occurs in the backstage area of a circus tent.

Those who enjoyed the comedy and banter of The 8 Mansion Murders should really check out the story, as this one too is immensely fun to read, while the impossible crime angle of the story is also quite original, really fitting to the circus setting. I hope you'll enjoy the read! To end with a completely uninteresting note: I have been to the circus in real life only once, when I was a kid!

As for other projects and related announcements, that's a tale for another day. Another day that might not really ask for a DeLorean, but some patience will be necessary.

Borrowed Place

“I will now lecture on the general mechanics and development of the situation which is known in detective fiction as the ‘hermetically sealed chamber.’ Harrumph. All those opposing can skip this chapter."

"The Hollow Man"

Ever since Dr. Fell made the utterly shocking confession that he's in fact a fictional character in a mystery novel, we have seen more people, fictional or otherwise, thread in the good doctor's footsteps and take a look at the mystery genre in general, rather than a specific problem in a specific novel. Dr. Fell's locked room lecture provided a now infamous classification of how locked room murders could be achieved in tales of mystery and imagination, for example by making it seem like the crime happened earlier or later than thought, etc. The notion of attempting a taxonomy of a certain trope in the genre (that is, the locked room murder or impossible crime) is actually quite interesting, as it freely admits that there is no such thing as pure originality, and it is a clear confession that most of the time, every single idea in mystery fiction is just a variation of something else, some admittedly more inspired than others.

On the other hand, the possibility of a taxonomy also emphasizes the game-like element of the genre, I think. I have mused over "winning the game of a mystery novel" before, but I think that efforts like the Locked Room Lecture really show this element very well for this particular form of game.  A well-designed videogame for example, will present obstacles and problems for the player to conquer and more importantly, build on that as the game continues. To take the famous level 1-1 from Super Mario Bros.: the very first section of the level, the game first teaches you can 'jump', it will show you can 'jump on an enemy' to defeat it, and that you can 'jump higher if you hold the button longer'. What follows afterwards are increasingly difficult variations on these notions: you might be asked to jumped consecutively, or beat multiple enemies, or do tricky jump combinations of various heights. The further you progress in a game, the harder it gets. But the thing here is: the game is designed knowing that you have cleared the previous obstacles. A good stage design knows you are in the possession of certain skills and the knowledge of how the game world works ('jumping on an enemy kills it') and how objects and enemies move in a game. In short: it teaches you to recognize patterns, and in a way, that is what mystery fiction also does. As the Locked Room Lecture shows: most examples of this particular sub-genre can easily be identified as a varation of a certain pattern. If you, as the reader, want to "win" this intellectual game, you need to be able to recognize the pattern being used despite all the misdirection and apply your knowledge to this particular version of the pattern.

The plot device of having a character in a novel suddenly hold a lecture about a certain trope in the genre can feel a bit pretentious, but I think it works if you take mystery fiction to be a game of wits. Going back to Super Mario Bros.: say you make it to stage 8-3. I can, assuming you didn't use the special warp pipes or had someone else help you, perhaps assume you have played the previous levels and overcome the obstacles and problems presented there. I can therefore estimate how good you are at the game (at least good enough to do X). That is a different story with a novel: Carr is not likely to know how much you know about the mystery genre, or locked room murder sub genre, if you pick up The Hollow Man. It could be the very first novel you ever read, or just the last in a decennia-long diet of only impossible crimes. The in-novel lecture can thus function as a gauge: by presenting the patterns, the author openly shows the difficulty level they are working at, allowing the reader/player to estimate their own position. Is this author operating at a difficulty level much higher than what I used to, or is it just right? So I am quite fond of these kinds of lectures.

There have been many writers after Carr who have played with the Locked Room Lecture (Amagi made a typology and example stories for each category), or more specific examples of the impossible crime like Nikaidou Reito's Footprints-in-the-Snow lecture. I happened to have translationed one on locked room murders myself even, with Shinji, one of the characters in Abiko's The 8 Mansion Murders, agonizing the suspects and the police as he babbled on about his own locked room lecture, heavily inspired by Carr's. Shinji also refers to a famous essay by Edogawa Rampo by the way, where Rampo doesn't just attempt to categorize the tricks behind locked room murders: Rampo decided to categorize every single trick from mystery fiction. I don't have a full translation of the essay, though I do have a short translation of the various categories Rampo identified. As mentioned in that post, Rampo also has an interesting taxonomy of unique motives featured in mystery novels.

But I have to say, I am infinitely more partial to in-novel lectures on genre tropes, rather than standalone essays. And I also think it's not a secret that I'm actually not so singularly focused on locked room murders and other impossibilities as some of the other mystery bloggers around. Therefore, I'm usually very fond of lectures on mystery tropes other than locked room murders, even if you don't see them a lot. Granted, not every type of mystery works really well in a taxonomy. The 'list-up-all-the-characteristics-of-the-culprit'-type of whodunnit as championed by authors like Queen, Arisugawa and Aosaki for example doesn't really lend it well for it, though I have made a feeble attempt in the past by sketching an idea for a typology for clues used in these type of stories.

But to mention a few other interesting typologies: Arisugawa's The Moai Island Puzzle (disclosure: I translated the English version) features a very short Dying Message Lecture by Maria, which I quite like because the dying message itself is a trope that is often used as just a minor touch to a mystery story, seldom taking the spotlight. Mitsuda's Kubinashi no Gotoki Tataru Mono has a very unique and specialized one, as it is about the topic of decapitated bodies. I mean, once you start thinking about, you'll quickly realize that a taxonomy of this trope is quite possible (the question being why a body is decapitated) as there are a few variations, but it's still a surprisingly original lecture topic.

I didn't really have a point to make in this post, but "hey, I like lectures" but to finish with some more thought-provoking, I thought I'd add in a translation of Arisugawa's categorization of alibi tricks. The alibi is of course a very important notion in mystery novels, and is often also a crucial element of "true" impossible crimes, as well as semi-impossible crimes ("He couldn't have done it because he was seen elsewhere at the time of the murder") and variants. Arisugawa's lecture is featured in his 1990 novel Magic Mirror, and unlike his usual Queenian efforts, this novel is actually more inspired by the work of Crofts, explaining the lecture. And I haven't read it yet, though I will eventually, of course.

Anyway, if you have something to say about lectures on any trope of the mystery genre, or perhaps the alibi lecture specifically, leave a comment.

ARISUGAWA ALICE'S ALIBI LECTURE

(from: Magic Mirror (1990))

1. THE WITNESS HAS ILL INTENTIONS.
- The witness is intentionally lying.

2. THE WITNESS IS MISTAKEN.
a. Mistaken time.
- The watch of the witness has been tampered with; mistaken day of the week or date; etc.

b. Mistaken location.
- The witness is mistaken about the location they were with the culprit (the exact apartment, train, mountain, river, etc.)

c. Mistaken identity.
- The culprit had someone impersonate them.

3. THE CRIME SCENE IS MISTAKEN.
- For example the crime is committed in the mountains of town A, but the body is moved to the mountains of town B to make it seem like the murder was committed there.

4. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE IS TAMPERED WITH.
- For example the faked photograph.

5. THE TIME OF THE CRIME IS MISTAKEN.
a. Made to look like it happened earlier than actually happened.
- For example the victim is made to appear like they were killed at 2 o'clock, even though it happened at 3 o'clock, and an alibi is obtained for 2 o'clock.

b. Made to look like it happened later than actually happened.
- For example the victim is made to look they still lived at 4 o'clock even though they died at 3 o'clock, and an alibi is obtained for 4 o'clock.

A. Medical trickery.
- The time of the crime is faked through tricks like heating or cooling the corpse, tampering with the contents of the stomach, etc.

B. Non-medical trickery.
Using non-medical tricks to accomplish 5a and 5b.

* Both 5A and 5B feature an a and b variant.

6. AN OVERLOOKED ROUTE.
- For example it takes one hour between points A and B, but an overlooked route between those points is only thirty minutes. This category is especially often seen in mystery stories about train timetables, but one can also think of shortening an one-hour hike from the mountains to mere minutes by jumping off a cliff with a parachute.

7. REMOTE MURDER
a. Mechanical trickery.
- A pistol that is fired through a clock mechanism etc.

b. Psychological trickery.
- Having a person under hypnosis or suffering from conditions like sleepwalking commit dangerous acts on their own.

8. GUIDED SUICIDE.
- Giving the victim such a tremendous psychological shock they commit suicide.

9. NO ALIBI.
- That what the culprit claims is an alibi isn't a real alibi at all, but only said to make other people think they have one.

Original Japanese source:  有栖川有栖　『マジックミラー』

番外編：The 8 Mansion Murders Released

I really should stop doing announcements of upcoming announcements, because it always leaves me with next to nothing to say with the actual announcement...

So yeah, I have little to add to my previous post, but to say that Takemaru ABIKO's The 8 Mansion Murders (original Japanese title: 8 no Satsujin) is now finally available as both a trade paperback and e-book, translated by me and published by Locked Room International. The previous shin honkaku mystery novels brought by LRI were obviously inspired by Agatha Christie (The Decagon House Murders) and Ellery Queen (The Moai Island Puzzle), while also having their own, distinct voice: The 8 Mansion Murders continues that trend of building on the context of Golden Age mystery fiction, but within a modern, setting as the impossible murders committed with a crossbow within a curious 8-shaped house invoke clearly the spirit of John Dickson Carr, which is even emphasized with a genuine Locked Room Lecture. The 8 Mansion Murders is also by far the funniest novel I've translated until now, but don't let the comedy fool ya! Publishers Weekly said in its starrred review the book is "one of the funniest and cleverest novels of its type to hit the English-language market in years."

ABIKO was the third author to debut from the Kyoto University Mystery Club, after Yukito AYATSUJI (The Decagon House Murders) and Rintaro NORIZUKI ('The Lure of the Green Door') (ARISUGAWA Alice was also a student in Kyoto, but he was at Doshisha University). ABIKO's career in the mystery genre expands beyond novels, as he was also the mastermind behind the epoch-making Kamaitachi no Yoru videogame for the Super Famicom in the mid-90s, changing the form of mystery games (an English-language localized version titled Banshee's Last Cry is available on iOS/Android). The Starship Damrey (3DS) and 428 - Shibuya Scramble (first English release in 2018) are some other games he worked on that are available in English, but The 8 Mansion Murders will be the first time one of his novels is published in English translation.

For those who have read LRI's earlier releases of (shin) honkaku mystery novels: you probably know what you can expect, so why wait? For those who haven't yet: I actually think this is the most accessible one until now. Like with the other novels, there are a lot of references to classic mystery fiction, but the banter of the characters in The 8 Mansion Murders is really funny to read and the main impossible mysteries are a blast.

And that's it for today's service announcement. I hope you'll enjoy The 8 Mansion Murders!

番外編：The 8 Mansion Murders

It's that time of the year again! Hay fever? Well, yes, that too, but the last few years, the early spring has also been the period for me to do a service announcement that should interest those who like Japanese mystery fiction.

In 2015, I was more than excited to announce that Locked Room International would publish Yukito AYATSUJI's The Decagon House Murders, and that I was responsible for the translation of that ingenious homage to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. The year after, we followed up with Alice ARISUGAWA's The Moai Island Puzzle, a mystery novel I personally see as one of the greatest Japanese experiments in deduction, beating Ellery Queen at his own game. Both these novels were excellent examples of the shin honkaku, or new orthodox mystery novel movement that started in the second half of the eighties in Japan, when a group of young university students started making their debuts as professional writers with puzzle plot mysteries that harkened back on the Golden Age, but with an imbedded meta-concious tone. In 2017, I worked on The Ginza Ghost, a short story collection of (mostly) impossible mysteries from the 1930s-1940s by Keikichi OSAKA, a brilliant master of the short story who sadly enough became a forgotten writer after World War II, but who has recently regained a very appreciative audience.

For 2018, we're going back to shin honkaku, back to modern puzzle plot mysteries that pay homage to Golden Age mystery fiction, but also build upon that and even dare to go further. By now it's known that the shin honkaku movement was born in Kyoto, as most of the shin honkaku writers originated from Mystery Clubs from universities in the ancient capital of Japan. The most influential was the Kyoto University Mystery Club, where writers like Ayatsuji and Norizuki came from (Arisugawa came from Doshisha University's MC). For Locked Room International's third shin honkaku novel, we have the first novel of the third author who debuted from Kyoto University Mystery Club. Takemaru ABIKO's The 8 Mansion Murders was originally released in 1989, but the English version is scheduled to be released coming May. The novel's a tribute to the impossible crime mystery in the spirit of John Dickson Carr, which also happens to be a hilarious adventure. Comedy is a trademark of Abiko, but don't let the funny bickering between the various characters fool you, as the core is as classic as you can get, with impossible murders inside an odd, "8"-shaped house and! and a genuine locked room lecture!

Publishers Weekly has an early starrred review up and deemed The 8 Mansion Murders "one of the funniest and cleverest novels of its type to hit the English-language market in years." My own review from many years ago can be found here. Of the novels I've done for Locked Room International now, I think The 8 Mansion Murders is not only by far the funniest, it's also the most accessible I think, with a more classic, but certainly not less entertaining set-up.

Takemaru ABIKO writes mystery plots for a wide variety of mediums, and has especially been influential in the videogame world. The game Kamaitachi no Yoru was a genuine game-changer for mystery games back in the mid-90s (the first where you had to input the name of the culprit yourself!), and an English localized version is available on iOS and Android under the name Banshee's Last Cry. He has also worked on the 3DS mystery/science-fiction game The Starship Damrey and on certain scenarios of the fantastic 428 (English release 2018). The 8 Mansion Murders however will be the first time one of his novels will be translated into English.

Anyway, I hope you'll have as much fun with The 8 Mansion Murders as I had with translating it. The book will once again feature an introduction by Soji SHIMADA, and (a lot!) of footnotes both by the author himself and me. For those who enjoyed The Decagon House Murders and/or The Moai Island Puzzle, I'd say this is a must-read, as it builds on the same tradition, but with a very different tone from those works.