"The Masque of Red Death"
I knew this book only from the listings on webshops with just a small picture of the cover; I only realized those were wisterias on the cover when I actually got the physical book and saw the cover at a better resolution...
Ayako had not yet married Kazuichi, but as she is carrying their baby, she is, somewhat begrudgingly, allowed to stay at the Sekimori family as the mother of the future heir of the family. However, her stay in Umesato Village is a very dangerous one: an old legend tells about the curse of Aya, a villager who was wronged and who since has cursed the village. Because of that, the name "Aya" and variations of it are a taboo in the village, and many villagers even blame Ayako for the death of Kazuichi, believing her to be an omen of ill fortune. Some time passes, with Ayako simply trying to live her life in the village, but things start to develop when Sakoshima Hiraku, a photographer and old friend of Kazuichi, visits the village: he had been travelling and had only recently learned of his friend's death. When he learns about the mysterious circumstances surrounding Kazuichi's death, he starts poking around, and he learns some months ago, a monk of the local temple had died too, in what appeared to be simple accident of slipping in a hot spring and hitting his head. Some people blame Ayako for this death too, but Sakoshima starts to suspect something is going on in the village, and his suspicions are confirmed when another death occurs in another of the hot springs managed by the Sekimoris. While the villagers are becoming more and more convinced this is the result of Aya's curse and Ayako's presence in the village, Sakoshima is sure there's a rational and humanly evil explanation for the mysterious deaths in the village and he's determined to find out who is behind Kazuichi's death in Nikaidou Reito and Uzumi Miyuki's 2022 novel Jubaku Densetsu Satsujin Jiken ("The Murder Case of the Legendary Curse").
While I have read a lot by Nikaidou Reito, I think this is the first time I read one of his collaborative efforts, though I do know he has quite a few of those. Uzumi Miyuki is an author I was not familiar with at all, though it appears she made it through the first judging round of the 18th Ayukawa Tetsuya Award with a manuscript with a title that also features the name "Aya" in it, and now I am wondering if that manuscript served as a base for this book. My attention was mainly drawn to this book when it first released, because it was the first substantial new release by Nikaidou in years, timed with the 30th anniversary since he first debuted, but I honestly had no idea what it was going to be about or how the collaborative work was done on this book, and sadly enough, the book does not feature an afterword that goes into detail.
Of all of Nikaidou's work, I love his Ranko series best, and specifically, the earlier Ranko novels, up until Jinroujou no Kyoufu, as the books take on a different tone afterwards. With a summary about a locked room murder, an isolated village and a legendary curse, I had hoped Jubaku Densetsu Satsujin Jiken would be a book close to the Ranko novels in spirit. Perhaps not surprisingly however, the most direct inspiration of this book is probably Yokomizo Seishi's work, and especially the Kindaichi Kousuke novels. Isolated village in the middle of nowhere, rivaling families with fueds going back centuries, a local, bloody legend which is believed by the villagers and will cause them to act on their fears and a free-minded, disarming detective who happens to visit the village. A lot in this book feels very familiar, and that's not a bad thing per se, as if you're looking for a book with such an atmosphere, you'll definitely be pleased with Jubaku Densetsu Satsujin Jiken. At the same time, and I have to admit I was surprised by this knowing Nikaidou's work, the book is decidedly less gruesome and horrific than you'd expect of such a story. Considering the graphic imagery shown in a lot of Nikaidou's work, I assume this is Uzumi's writing shining through strongest, with somewhat distached depictions of the various deaths in the story, and a narrative that is mostly told through Ayako's point of view, offering a lot of insight in her thoughts on not just the events, but her own situation too and her somewhat fragile relationship with her in-laws. It's a lot more "internally" focused than I would have expected of a book bearing Nikaidou's name as one of the authors, which is a reason why I was a bit disappointed, as it was exactly his style I was actually hoping to find in this book, even if that's not really the fault of this work.
The book opens with a very nice map of Umesato Village, with the two manors of the Plum and Wisteria Clans, as well as two waterfalls with accompanying hot springs, the "Aya Lake" where the legendary Aya died and more rather detailed diagrams depicting the various crime scenes.... but for some reason, it feels like this was a bit overkill for a story, that ultimately isn't so complex you actually need such detailed diagrams. So funnily enough, the effort put into those diagrams made me assume the plot would be much more complex than it actually turned out to be. The various mysteries that make up the plot of the book, often feel a bit too disjointed from each other, with no real sense of interrelated set-up and pay-off, with one event naturally resulting in another. One "accident" Sakoshima quickly deduces to be a murder for example, is basically resolved the moment we first hear about it, with no build-up at all. Meanwhile, the death of Kazuchi is introduced in great detail in the first chapter of the book, but is then mainly left untouched until the very end of the book, even though most of the information needed to solve the mystery already being introduced in the first part, but then not addressed until the denouement, again making things feel detached. Because of that, each single mystery remains fairly simple, as they too often feel like discrete events, despite it all happening in the same village in a short period of time. While the book tries to tie these events through the legend of Aya and a local song (yes, we have a mitate/resembling or themed murder case here), for some reason it didn't quite work for me. Perhaps because the song is introduced relatively late, perhaps because we ultimately dwell on each crime scene so shortly they don't make enough an impression, but overall, the book feels too much like a few fairly simple murders strung one after another. The solutions to the locked room murders miss the grandeur we see in the earlier Ranko novels, while as a whodunnit, the book has some good ideas, but also has trouble presenting it in a satisfying manner, as the hinting to certain elements of the murderer feels lacking. The book is on the longer side, but because the narrative doesn't always feel as connected, and in fact sometimes has to rely on a few coincidences to tie things together, the feeling of catharsis when everything is explained also feels a bit lacking. Oh well, I did like the trick and clewing to the second hot spring death though, as well as one certain linguistics-based clue that seemed to invoke the Yokomizo spirit.
Overall though, I do think the atmosphere of the book is good, even though it didn't go as far as I had hoped for. In fact, I can easily imagine a book based on the exact same plot structure, addressing the same story beats, but going deeper into the curse and the horror behind it, and it'd probably be much more to my liking as a mystery novel. It's probably not the book Uzumi wanted to write, but the book I did want to read based on Nikaidou's name, to be very honest.
While it's not really Jubaku Densetsu Satsujin Jiken's fault, I have to say I was a bit disappointed with it. With Nikaidou's name on it, and the fact it was timed with his 30th anniversary as a professional writer, I had hoped it would be a book that'd harken back to his earliest novels in terms of style and plotting, but in a way, this book was intentionally written as a more lite-version of those themes. While it does capture the Yokomizo Seishi-vibe really well and there are, mystery-wise, also interesting clues, it was simply not the book I was looking for, though I do think it's an enjoyable mystery on its own if approached with the right expectations, as it does feel like the classic Japanese mystery novel it is obviously emulating.
