Murder by Matchlight

眠れる勇者よ　

目覚めろ くすぶるheartに火を付けろ 

「くすぶるheartに火を付けろ」(影山ヒロノブ)

 

Wake up, oh sleeping hero

Light the fire in your smouldering heart

"Light the Fire in Your Smouldering Heart" (Kageyama Hironobu)

The title of this book (named after the title story) is really simple as a term, but it does sound cool for some reason...

As is common in Japanese police structures, whenever a crime is reported to the police, the local detectives will first take charge of the scene, but it's Prefectural Police Headquarters which will eventually take over the investigation: the detectives assigned to the Prefectural HQ are the the people who get sent across the prefecture to deal with crimes like homicide, and because of that, they obviously have more experience to deal with such investigations than a police detective from a local station.  Inspector Katsura belongs to the First Division of the Gunma Prefectural Police and has an excellent track record when it comes to solving crimes, though he is seen as an outlier: while he follows the rules perfectly and always utilizes the correct channels to get whatever he needs, he's also seen by his superior as someone who is a bit too brilliant for his work: Katsura is excellent at directing his team of detectives in order to obtain whatever information he needs to solve the case, but his detectives simply aren't as smart as him, as more often than not, Katsura will be able to solve crimes long before his subordinates even suspect what their boss had been thinking about all along. In Yonezawa Honobu's short story collection Kanenbutsu ("Combustible Substances", 2023), we follow Katsura as he solves five various cases his team has to handle, from a murder at a ski resort to a series of arson.

Sooo... this book probably has a good chance of being translated, right? Because after Yonezawa's success with the Hyouka series (specficially, its anime adaptation), his mystery fiction had been a bit neglected in the English translation sphere, but the critical success of his Kokuroujou led to it being translated as The Samurai and the Prisoner. Kanenbetsu is the first time Yonezawa has attempted to do a police procedural, but it was extremely well-received among mystery fans in Japan, ranking very high (or taking the top spot) in all the major end-of-year mystery rankings of 2023, so that should attract the attention of publishers, right? I know it attracted my attention when I saw it on all those lists, and as I enjoyed Kokuroujou enormously, I knew I had to read this one fast too!

As I started reading this book, I couldn't help but be reminded of Yokoyama Hideo's Daisan no Jikou ("The Third Deadline"), one of Yokoyama's best-known works and similar to Kanenbutsu, a police procedural short story collection. While both books are definitely police procedurals, I do have to say Kanenbutsu has a lot less attention to internal politics than Daisan no Jikou, so if you're not into that, you might still enjoy Kanenbutsu. I do think Yonezawa succeeded in presenting Katsura as the silent great detective within the format of a proper police procedural. The tone of these stories is very subdued and business-like: we get dry depictions of the crime scenes, characters are always introduced with age and current occupation, we never hear about the private lives of Katsura and his subordinates (thank you!), and the flow of each story is very, very deliberate, with Katsura doing every single thing step by step: sending a detective to check up on witnesses, have a detective contact some business, keep his boss up to date and ask for help for formalities when it comes to contacting other divisions in the police... At the same time, Katsura is definitely the great detective: while part of his brilliance comes from how meticulously he does his job, the sparks of inspiration he gets from seeing even the smallest clues definitely leads to the feeling of catharsis you get from "normal" puzzle plot mysteries when all the clues come together at the end, and I also like the book a lot for having a varied portfolio of crimes for Katsura to handle.

The book opens with Gake no Shita ("Beneath the Cliff"), where four men and women have gone missing one afternoon during a snowboard outing away from the regular course of the Kouge Ski Activity resort: one of their party didn't join them as she was still a beginner, but when they didn't return long after dinner, she and the pension owner decided to inform the authorities. When the first two men are found however, the rescuers stumble upon a surprising scene: the two men were found beneath a cliff, seemingly having fallen off, but one of them has been stabbed to death. Katsura's team is brought in to investigate the case, but they learn from the rescue unit there were no footprints leading away from the cliff when they first arrived there, which seems to prove that the other (alive) man must have killed his comrade. But this second man heavily injured his arms when he fell, making it impossible for him to hold a knife, and even more important: there's no sign of any weapon at the scene. Given the man, like the victim, couldn't move away from the scene, the weapon must be beneath the cliff if he's the murderer, but if it's not there, does it mean someone else did it?

While at first you might think this might be a whodunnit, you soon notice that, like with basically all the stories in the book, this is more a howdunnit or even whydunnit. The "most likely suspect" is usually the person to grab in these stories, but in this case, the most likely suspect is also the least likely person, for he couldn't have handled a weapon he doesn't even have, right? I think taken in a void, the solution to this impossible crime isn't very surprising, but Yonezawa does a great job at hiding it beneath the format of a police procedural, showing how Katsura moves step by step to eliminate other possibilities until he arrives at the one solution, how surprising it may be, that is possible. In the type of puzzlers I usually read, I think this solution wouldn't be overlooked for so long, but it works here because of its far more realistic approach, and I think it's a good showcase of showing how you can incorporate "more outlandish" murder schemes, and show them how not an eccentric brilliant detective, but the police would arrive at such a solution.

In Nemuke ("Drowsiness"), Katsura's team is not given any time to sleep, when Taguma Ryuuto, one of the major suspects in a murder-robbery, gets involved in a traffic accident in the middle of the night. Taguma was riding his van outside of town, tailed by two of Katsura's detectives. Because of construction work along the road, the car of the police detectives was stopped for a few seconds, while Taguma proceeded to the next crossing, when there's a big bang: Taguma's car was rammed by another car. The drivers of both cars are taken to the hospital, and after being awakened by his subordinates in the middle of the night to inform him of this turn of events, Katsura sees this as an opportunity, as if he can arrest Taguma for causing the traffic accident for driving through a red light, he could use that to also pump him on the murder-robbery. The following morning, hs team starts gathering witness testimonies from the people at the construction site, the corner convenience store and people living around the crossing, and Katsura soon gains multiple testimonies that say Taguma's van drove through a red light, but there's something bothering about the whole deal, but what? A rather interesting story, because indeed, you don't really know what's bothering Katsura so much even though it seems like an open-shut case, until he reveals why there's something wrong about it all. This is a great story for this particular format: I can't even imagine this working in those closed circle, logic-focused mystery stories I often read, but here, as a police procedural? Yes, it works, and while it might not be completely fair, I think it's surprisingly well-clewed, considering the twist Yonezawa is going for is really quite unique, but it really only works in this realistic setting.

Inochi no On ("A Life Debt") opens with the discovery of a cut-off human arm along the walking trail of the Kisuge Plains. It is clear from the state of the arm it's been here for more than a day, but it's still recognizable as an arm. The police is notified, naturally, and they start a search for the rest of the body along the plains. They slowly do manage to gather the victim part by part, finding legs and a torso and eventually... a head! The teeth are still intact and the man is soon identified as Nosue Haruyoshi, who had been reported missing by his son. Nosue's business was going to fold soon, so he had been lending a lot of money from a man whom he had saved several years ago: Nosue had found the man and his daughter below the mountain track they had fallen off, and the daughter was bleeding heavily. Nosue had carried the daughter to safety by himself, while getting help for the father too, who was of course indebted to Nosue. The last few years, he had lent Nosue a lot of money to keep the business afloat, but now it seems Nosue had went too far... But would someone really kill the man whom he and his daughter owe their lives? A cut-up body is the most "great detective puzzle plot mystery"-esque this collection gets, and the solution... is surprisingly close to the kind of solution you'd expect from such a story! As usual with these stories, Katsura soon focuses on the main suspect and during his investigation, things do seem to point to this man, but there's still some nagging feeling that not all is right. But what is it that lies behind it? I like the motive behind cutting the body up and leaving it along the Kisuge plains, as the goal sounds like contradictionary at first, but it really isn't, and it's pulled off really well here.

The title story Kanenbutsu ("Combustible Substances") deals with arson, a type of crime you don't often see in mystery fiction. For a week or so, somebody has been committing arson across town by setting fire to garbage bags which have been left outside at the disposal area on the streets early, in the evening before garbage day. The first incident was fortunately discovered by a passerby early, who then "borrowed" a bucket and hose from a nearby house to extinguish the fire himself, but since then, more fires have been discovered at garbage disposal areas, all with the same MO: setting fire to a flyer, which is then stuck into a bag of kitchen waste. Katsura's team is usually tasked with identifying a culprit after a crime has already been committed, but this time they need to find the culprit, but also prevent the culprit from starting a fire with deadly outcome, so every night, detectives are watching garbage disposal sites that are scheduled to be emptied the following day, making note of every suspicious person coming nearby, while at the same time, Katsura is also cooperating with the local fire department to learn more about the aronist's MO and checking up on known arsonists. But as Katsura learns more about how the arsonist is choosing their targets and committing these crimes, he feels something isn't quite right about this arsonist, but why? This is again more a story that focuses on whydunnit, as the identification of the main suspect is done via very, very mundane police work. The whydunnit is quite nice: there are a few seemingly contradictary actions taken by the culprit which are discovered while Katsura conducts his investigation, but the solution he proposes offers a very nice explanation for that, and because these stories are all very dry on the whole, the ironic twist at the end felt surprisingly hard.

The final story, Honmonoka ("The Real Deal?"), has Katsura and his team on their way back after a succesful arrest armed murderer, when there's an incoming call for available units to go to a nearby family restaurant, as someone has barricaded himself inside the restaurant. Upon arrival, Katsura speaks with a local detective and a restaurant staff member, and he learns the manager suddenly cried out for everyone to run from his office, an alarm bell went off, and that at least all the four employees made it out safe, as well as a few dozens of customers who were inside at the time. The manager himself however is nowhere to be seen, and suspected to be still inside as a hostage. When the hostage-taker shows his face near the window, a local detectives recognizes him as Shida Naoto, someone who had run into the police a lot when he was younger, though he supposedly settled down now with a wife and child. However, what attracts even more attention is the pistol-like object Shida was holding in his hand. Is it a real pistol, or a fake one? Katsura is ordered to stay put, gather information and try to ensure the hostage remains safe while the tactical unit prepares for deployment, but what can he do from outside? A fun story, as it's so different from the rest again! Katsura slowly reconstructs what was going on before the alarm went off by talking with the employees and some customers, and must try to assess how dangerous the situation is. But how is he going to do that? The puzzle of determining whether Shida's pistol is real, and finding a way for the tactical unit to enter the premise safely to subdue Shida seems a bit detached from the reader for the most part as a puzzle, but more mysteries follow in close succession as the story nears its climax, and they result in a story that is surprisingly satisfying as a puzzle too, and in terms of clewing and plotting, this might be the trickiest of the whole book.

Overall, Kanenbutsu is a really solid short story collection, and I do think Yonezawa really managed to pull off a nice fusion. I am quite surprised to see how formal this is as a police procedural, as you really see Katsura needing to file in requests to get information from other organizations, or you see it reflected in the way detectives from Prefectural HQ are seen and treated as "guests" at the local stations, but at the same time, the plots do deal with the type of twists you'd expect from puzzle plot mysteries, accompanied by proper clewing. I don't think the book is as memorable as Kokuroujou in general, but it's still a very good read, and recommended material!

Original Japanese title(s): 米澤穂信『可燃物』:「崖の下」/「ねむけ」/「命の恩」/「可燃物」/「本物か」

Castle Skull

We'll fight you in the harbor.

We'll battle you on land.

When you meet singing pirates... 

They'll be more than you can stand.

"The Curse of Monkey Island"

I sometimes hardly read the summary/blurb of a book, just buying a book based on knowing it includes certain tropes etc. So I actually thought this book would turn out very different. Based on the covers, I thought this book would be about an adventure-rich mystery odyssey across the seas!

The Island of Solon lies off the coast of the Kingdom of England, located between the British islands and Denmark. Technically, Solon consist of two islands, the Greater Solon Island, where the town is and economic activity takes place, and the Smaller Solon Island, where Aylwin Castle stands. Some generations ago, an Aylwin battled the Danes that lived on these islands, and since then, the Aywlin family has governed the islands in name of the Crown of England. Rolent Aylwin now leads the prosperous merchant island, but lately, he seems worried, and for some reason, he has summoned mercenaries to his castle. Amina, daughter of Rolent, spots Falk Fitzjohn at the harbor, and mistakenly assumes he and his disciple Nicola are mercenaries too, bringing them to her father where other mercenaries have gathered too. To her great surprise, it turns out her father has been expecting the Danes to attack the island in an attempt to take what was stolen from them, and the problem is: these Danes are not normal Danes but supernatural, immortal Danes. Rolent will pay handsomely however, so the various mercenaries agree to assist the very small troupe of soldiers stationed on the island to fight the Immortal Danes. Some like Konrad Neudorfer may just be a "normal" knight with his own troupe of men, but someone like Suwayd can actually use magic while Iter is a great bowman. Falk however is not a mercenary, and it turns out he is here for a completely different reason. 

Falk is a Knight of the Brotherhood of the Holy Ambrosius, and he has been hunting the Dark Knights: former members of the Brotherhood who have turned to the dark side, using magic to act as assassins. Falk has followed the trail of the dark knight Edric to the Solon Islands, and when he learns a loyal guard died "accidentally" only recently, Falk is convinced Edric has come here. Edric is a special kind of assassin, as he can use his magic to make someone his loyal puppet and have them kill someone, without his puppet ever remembering committing a murder. Falk suspects Edric might be after Rolent, and the following day, his fears are proven right: Rolent is found murdered in his war room, having been killed with a sword from the war room. There is little time to mourn Rolent's death however, as the Danes are coming. Amina's brother Adam, while character-wise perhaps not suitable, becomes the de-facto leader of the island and has to prepare the few soldiers on the island for the incoming attack, while Amina is given permission by her brother to investigate their father's murder. Because it seems very likely Edric was behind this, she asks Falk in turn to find out who committed the murder. This is easier asked than done however, as due to Edric's spell, not even the murderer will remember they commited the crime! Can the people of the Islands of Solon find the murderer and fight off the Immortal Danes in Yonezawa Honobu's Oreta Ryuukotsu (2010), also known as The Broken Keel? 

 The winner of the 64th Mystery Writers of Japan Award was touted as a mystery that combined a puzzle plot with a supernatural setting, something we have become quite accustomed too nowadays. While they have been around for a longer time, they were certainly less common in 2010, and I was quite curious to read this one, especially as it was set in a sorta historical Europe (England)... only with a little bit of magic. The world as depicted in The Broken Keel mostly follows real-life history, being set in the 12th century, and making references to the crusades and King Richard. But as mentioned in the introduction above, there's also a bit of magic in this world, ranging from a mercenary who can control a Golem, to Immortal Danes (there's a captured Immortal Dane in the Aylwin Castle who has been there for generations, ever since the Aylwins took the Solon Island) and of course the main problem of the book: a spell that can turn anyone into a murderer, without them knowing they are a murderer.

That said, the book is fairly long (two volumes in the pocket release), and for a great deal, the story reads as a fine historical fantasy book. We get a glimpse in the lives of the people living on the Islands of Solon, and we especially see much of Amina, daughter of the leader of the island, so in a lot of ways a very powerful and free woman, but at the same time completely chained to her own fate as the daughter of a wealthy family. The death of her father especially seems to seal her fate, as she knows her brother is not likely to be very thoughtful of her personal wishes when arranging her future in the form of a political marriage. Tagging along with Falk and Nicola while they investigate the suspects of the murder on Rolent is a way to break away from her usual life (...after the death of her father) and so we go on an adventure together with Amina.

And an adventure it is, as during their investigation, Falk will also occasionally find himself venturing into the seedier parts of town. Early on in the investigation, Falk is able to significantly reduce the number of suspects from the whole island of Solon to a much smaller number, as the Smaller Island of Solon is inaccessible during the night due to a treacherous stream which even the usual experienced ferry-man doesn't dare to overcome. The suspicion lies especially on the mercenaries: any of them could've been turned into an unknowing minion of Edric, being suddenly activated that night to kill Rolent and then forgetting everything. Edric's spell will also cause the minion to die after some time has passed after the murder, so it's a race against the clock to find the murderer, even if they themselves don't remember a thing. Edric's spell however is not an all-mighty spell: it does not make the minion smarter or suddenly capable of doing things they couldn't before. Thus Falk knows the murderer committed the murder in a manner that was actually possible for that specific person, giving him his first opening into the hunt for the minion and Edric behind them.

While Falk tries to interrogate every suspect on their movements on the night of the murder however, the trio of Falk, Nicola and Amina stumble upon a few more mysteries they have to solve on their way, but this only takes up more time as the Immortal Danes start to approach the island. It's around the half-way point of the story the story sets the mystery plot aside for a moment as it shifts a bit more towards a fantasy adventure mode where we finally see the Immortal Danes. Fortunately, I think the adventure parts of this book do not outweigh the mystery parts of the plot, something I did feel with A Case of Dragonslayer, which was more fantasy + a mystery element, rather than a mystery + a fantasy element. 

Ultimately though, despite the setting with Immortal Danes attacking the island and there definitely beign other magical elements (Edric's spell being the most important one), I don't think the fantasy elements are overwhelmingly "present" in the story, and it's almost a historical mystery with a hint of magic. As a mystery story, it does provide a satisfying plot where these minor magic elements do play a role together with other "conventional" clues. We are treated to a long deduction chain where one by one, suspects are eliminated from the list based on everything we know the culprit must have done that night to murder Rolent (and what they must have known or have been capable of doing, to be able to commit the murder). And yep, that includes criteria involving what magic can or can not do. That said, the concept of magic is fairly loose in this book, it's not like we actually know exactly how magic works or what magic in general is capable of, we are only told about the spells that are relevant to this particular plot, but it can feel a bit vague, which can fuel a sense of "unfairness" as we simply don't know if there could've been some other spell that could've been used or not, we only are told this is the only solution assuming we know all the relevant pieces. That is a minor gripe though, as overall, The Broken Keel is a pretty interesting fantasy mystery novel, with a rather unique setting. I think I still like Kokuroujou ("The Castle with the Dark Prison") AKA The Arioka Citadel Case AKA The Samurai and the Prisoner, better overall as a historical mystery, but I think The Broken Keel is also much more accessible.

You will certainly find books that go either deeper into the historical element or deeper into the fantasy element than Oreta Ryuukotsu/The Broken Keel does, but the combination of the two does give the book something unique. It certainly feels very different due to its original setting, and as a fantasy adventure novel, it's a very pleasant read, while at the same time offering a robust mystery plot that embraces the minor magic element it also has. Definitely a solid supernatural mystery, and I think this book in particular will also appeal beyond a mystery-reading audience, as it has enough fantasy-elements to attract readers there too.

Original Japanese title(s): 米澤穂信『折れた竜骨』

The Castle Conundrum

「男にとって体の傷は勇気の証しいわば男の勲章だ」

『聖闘士星矢』

"Scars are proof of courage! Medals of manhood!"

"Saint Seiya"

Added my thoughts on the Tatarigoroshi chapter of Higurashi: When They Cry, as well as for the first of the console-exclusive arcs (Taraimawashi), so those interested can check the memo page for my playthrough of Higurashi: When They Cry.

After many military victories, warlord Oda Nobunaga is close to becoming the first to unify the whole of Japan under the rule of one single person, but there are still factions that resist him. Araki Murashige, who was once part of the Oda forces, however rebels against his former master, returning to his home base of Arioka Castle (Itami Castle) and siding with the Mouri forces and Honganji in their resistance against the Oda forces. This results in the Siege of Arioka Castle in 1578. The location of Arioka Castle, which includes the town itself within its walls, makes it a defensive stronghold and they manage to ward off an initial siege by the Oda forces, but as times passes by, nearby allied strongholds fall or switch sides to Oda, while reinforcements from the Mouri and Honganji forces barely make their way to Arioka, slowly isolating the castle from its allies. It's a stressful period for everyone within the castle grounds, from the warriors in the castle to the villagers in the castle town, so it is internal turmoil within the castle grounds that is worrying Murashige, as he fears that will demoralize the people. When several inexplicable events occur within the castle, like an impossible murder or a decapitated head suddenly contorting its face, Murashige realizes he has to find an explanation for this happenings quickly or it might eventually lead to the fall of Arioka Castle. While Murashige himself can't figure this out on his own, he knows a particularly clever person who probably can. For some months earlier, Murashige had Kuroda Kanbei imprisoned in his castle. Kanbei, an old acquaintance of Murashige, had come to Murashige to convince him to surrender to Oda, knowing very well that this disrespectful act would probably mean his own death, but to everyone's surprise Murashige did not order Kanbei's death, but had him put in the dungeon, a sentence more humiliating to Kanbei than a warrior's death. But now Murashige needs Kanbei's help, as his prisoner is also the smartest person he knows, and indeed, his prisoner can always eventually solve Murashige's impossible mysteries for him, but what good will that do as Oda's forces slowly creep closer to Arioka Castle in Yonezawa Honobu's 2021 novel Kokuroujou ("The Castle with the Dark Prison") which also has the English title The Arioka Citadel Case. 

Released in 2021, Yonezawa's historical mystery novel received incredible critical acclaim not only among mystery readers, but beyond that too. The Arioka Citadel Case not only managed to rank in first place in all of the major annual mystery rankings organized by various publishers, but also managed to rank high in several rankings for historical novels, it won the 12th Yamada Fuutarou Award and in 2022, it was announced that The Arioka Citadel Case was the 166th winner of the Naoki Prize, easily one of the most important literature awards in Japan. With all the praise it got, I knew I had to read this book eventually, though I have to admit I thought I'd be reading this much later. For one, it's a historical mystery, and I'm not that strong in Japan's Sengoku period. Did I ever write here about how we did all of Japan's history, from the earliest times until the post-war period in the first year of Japanese Studies at the university here, but that we did prehistoric Japan until the modern time in only one semester (13 weeks of class)? Suffice to say we only handled most pre-modern time periods only very, very briefly, so I really only remember the major events. When a commentator on the blog asked me whether I was going to read this book, I honestly thought no, not in the forseeable future, because I figured I might as well pick up the book a few years later, when the cheaper pocket paperback version is released. But then there's was a nice promotion sale going on because of the book winning the Naoki Prize, and moments later, I found myself reading the book.

And I have no regrets going in earlier than I had expected, because The Arioka Citadel Case was a fantastic read, I also understand completely why the book managed to garnish widespread acclaim, as it's definitely more than "only" a mystery novel. The historical aspects of the book are at least as important as the mystery plot, probably even more important, and the story paints a great portrait of Araki Murashige, lord of Arioka Castle who sees that his castle is slowly being isolated as allies fall or betray him and he tries to find a way to turn the situation again. People who know Japanese history of coruse already know what will happen with Murashige and Arioka Castle, as the book isn't trying to rewrite history, but The Arioka Citadel Case is absolutely brilliant at using this very specific, and unique historical setting to also present very captivating mystery plots. The idea alone that Murashige is trying to solve these mysteries because they're all surrounded by enemies and he feels compelled to keep the spirit of the people up and erasing any sources of fear by clearing up all these seemingly supernatural happenings that occur within the confined space of the castle grounds works just so well and just one example of the historical setting really being employed in fullest to also bring neat concepts to the mysteries. The book itself doesn't really explain much about the "bigger historical picture" save for some brief segments early on in the story, so initially I was also confused about how all the names that were dropped like Honganji were exactly connected, but after the prologue, the story focuses much more on the internal dynamics of Arioka Castle, so at that point, it becomes a lot easier to follow even for those without much knowledge of Japanese history.

The Arioka Citadel Case takes on the form of a interconnected short story collection, with Murashige facing several inexplicable events during the one-year siege of Arioka Castle which require the mind of his prisoner Kanbei to solve. I won't be explaining all of the four major mysteries in this review, but to give an idea of what's in this book: in the winter Murashige learns of the betrayal of Abe Niemon, who opened up his fort to the Oda forces. As was custom in those times, Murashige had actually been in charge of Niemon's very young son Jinen, keeping him as a hostage: these high-ranking hostages were generally treated well as longwith all the proper etiquette that came with their social status as their family remained the loyal allies they were supposed to be, but death was inevitable if there'd be betrayal. To young Jinen's surprise however, Murashige doesn't order for his execution upon learning of Niemon's betrayal, but orders him imprisoned. Because there's no suitable prison for him yet, he orders one to be built immediately, with Jinen locked up on a storage room for the night. The storage room looks out on an unfinished garden, but a guard is placed on the other side of the garden, while there are also guards placed around the corner of the corridor of the storage room, meaning all entrances to the room are watched. Yet the boy cries out in the night, and when the guards run to the room, they find Jinen on the floor in front of the room, bleeding from his chest. The warriors immediately recognize the wound as an arrow wound, though the arrow can't be found. And more puzzling is that nobody could've shot him: Jinen was supposed to be inside the room, but even then, all three places where any assailant could stand were watched, and the unfinished garden was covered by a carpet of fresh snow, and no footprints can be found there. Even the guard outside in the garden, the only one seemingly capable of firing an arrow at Jinen, is incapable of doing so, as he's not actually an educated warrior and has never mastered the art of bow and arrow, meaning he could never make the shot across the garden. 

This is of course in essence just an impossible murder scenario, with a no-footprints-in-the-snow trope, a missing weapon and a crime scene that was observed from all possible angles of entry. But the mystery makes good use of the historical setting and the mindset of the people. For example, one of the more interesting parts is that everyone is surprised that Murashige didn't just execute Jinen, and even Jinen himself pleads with Murashige, wanting a honorable death rather than being imprisoned. Of course, this also means the mystery looks at the possibility whether Jinen didn't kill himself to make up for his father's betrayal, but it's an idea that is unique to this time peeriod and these warriors of course. Even Murashige's guards can't be trusted completely as they too thought Jinen, an underage boy, should be executed, but there are neat little historical ideas woven into the mystery too, like the guard outside the garden hailing from a lower social status who thus never mastered archery, while some of Murashige's warriors who do know archery seemingly couldn't have found position without being noticed (and also being incapable of removing the arrow afterwards). The solution is probably not incredibly surprising for the experienced detective reader, but I like how Yonezawa used the historical setting to sell the impossibility to the reader. 

I think my favorite idea in this book came from the second mystery. An enemy camp has set-up camp in nearby swamp grounds, hoping to go unnoticed, but Murashige leads two allied troops, the Takatsuki and the Saga troops, placed at Arioka Castle in a nightly surprise attack to catch two birds with one stone: the camp is dangerously nearby near their flanks, but these two troops didn't have much chance to earn glory for themselves on the battleground yet, and both the Takatsuki and Saga men were getting frustrated at just being stationed inside the castle doing nothing. The surprise assault is a success, with many enemies slain and the rest fleeing. As per custom, the warriors decapitate all the defeated enemies and present the heads to Murashige, who will award those who managed to kill high-ranking enemy officers, marked by their helmets, During the party after the attack however, Murashige is informed by a soldier who only managed to get away from the enemy camp late due to an injury that he overheard some of the surviving enemy soldiers say that their commander, Ootsu Denjurou was slain too. However, nobody in Arioka Castle knows what Ootsu Denjurou looks like. The Saga and Takatsuki commanders each brought back the heads of two high ranking officers, all with ornate helments, but which of these four heads is that of Ootsu Denjurou, and which faction, the Saga or the Takatsuki, will gain more glory for their part in the assault? Things become even more mysterious when one of the four decapitated heads suddenly grimaces, striking fear in the soldiers.

Now this is a mystery that really makes use of the historical setting! In a time where we all have internet, social media and Wikipedia, it's almost unimaginable people wouldn't know how an enemy commander would look like, but of course, it makes absolutely sense in the Sengoku period. Because the attack was a nightly assault, the commander wasn't be able to get fully suited up in armor, so now Murashige is left with a handful of decapitated heads, but no way to look up the face of Ootsu Denjurou!  You can't google his face, so you'd have to find (a trustworthy) person who could positively identify them, but in this case, the enemy has already retreated, and with Arioka Castle mostly isolated, it'd be nuts to go around sending for people in the hopes they find someone who happens to have seen Denjurou before. I think readers can fairly easily guess what's going on here, but I love the logic applied in this mystery to prove which of the slain men was Denjurou, as it's so simple, but makes so much sense, and only in this particular time and place.

There are about two more core mysteries that occur in The Arioka Citadel Case, but I'll not be discussing them in detail here as these mysteries are closely related and lead directly into the finale of the novel. What I can say is that like the previous mysteries, the book manages to combine the mystery with the historical setting perfectly, providing not only means of murders unique to the time, but also motives behind the crimes. The motives for the mysterious that occur in Arioka Castle during the one-year siege make only sense in this specific setting: not only just in the Sengoku period, but precisely because they are all inside a castle that is under threat of the Oda forces for such a long time. The Arioka Citadel Case is a historical mystery not only because of the use of props, but because it uses characters that are clearly rooted in this specific time and situation and I can't even think of other mystery novels that have similar ideas. 

Yonezawa Honobu's Kokuroujou or The Arioka Citadel Case is therefore really a must-read. While the historical setting might take some time to get used to, depending on your own historical knowledge, the book soon becomes a memorable experience, that is as much a mystery novel as a historical novel. Yet these two sides of the book have fantastic synergy, each strengthening the other part, resulting in a work full of mysteries that you can only find here, because every event, even character and every action is so tightly tied to the one-year siege of Arioka Castle. It's one of the books I at one hand can see being translated in English due to the critical acclaim it got in Japan, but at the other hand, the book is definitely made better due to the historical context and I have no idea how well historical novels set in Japan do outside Japan. Probably not really. I think an anime would be feasible though, especially as it's work by the creator of Hyouka...

Original Japanese title(s): 米澤穂信『黒牢城』

Have You Got Everything You Want?

"The human and personal element can never be ignored."

"The ABC Murders"

You know, while I spent all full three days at the Kyoto University November Festival (campus festival), I mostly remember just sitting inside the Mystery Club's assigned classroom to sell our club anthology, instead of walking around.

Houtarou's plans for his three years at Kamiyama High School had been to get by, doing as little as possible, but his school life turned out quite differently after his older sister forced him to join the school's Classic Literature Club to save it from dying out. As all the older club members had now graduated, it was up to Houtarou and the other three first-years to continue the tradition of the club. After joining the club, Houtarou found himself involved with all kind of small adventures at school: at the wishes of the club president Eru, the four digged into the history of the club's magazine "Hyouka" and its link to the school festival, while they also helped out class 2-F with their short mystery movie they filmed for the school festival. In Kudryavka no Junban ("The Kudryavka Sequence", 2005), the school festival finally starts! The Kanya Festa is a three-day event where classes and school clubs can show off their activities. For the Classic Literature Club, that means selling the latest issue of their club anthology "Hyouka" at the festival, but there is a "small" problem: due to a mistake, they ordered not thirty copies at the printer's, but two-hundred. As a niche product of a virtually unknown club, two-hundred seems like an utterly impossible number, but as they need to earn back the costs, all members try to come with plans to sell more anthologies, from asking other clubs to help selling "Hyouka" to participating in the various competitions at Kanya Festa to raise the name value of the Classic Literature Club. As the festival continues however, a series of curious thefts occurs, where small objects are stolen from various clubs and at each 'crime scene', a message is left by the thief who calls themselves Juumonji.

Kudryavka no Junban (subtitle: Welcome To Kanya Festa!) is the third novel in Yonezawa Honobu's Classic Literature Club mystery novel series (also known as the Hyouka series, as the anime series is named after the first novel). The series falls within the everyday life mystery genre, that focuses on the solving of enigmatic events that might occur in the normal, daily life, as opposed to bloody murder. It's a sub-genre that naturally fits the high school setting of Classic Literature Club much better than let's say every day a bloody impossible murder after school, and when done well, the everyday life mystery genre can be very entertaining. One of my favorite examples of the genre is from another series by Yonezawa, where the whole mystery revolves around the "impossibility" of how someone could've poured two cups of hot cocoa despite some limitions in the kitchen. That said though, in the second novel of the Classic Literature Club, Yonezawa had the students work on a fictional murder (they had to deduce the ending of an unfinished mystery movie) and that was a really entertaining mystery novel too. But I have to admit that the everyday life mystery genre also often lets me down a bit. It is really hard to come up with a good, everyday life mystery that is both alluring, yet "normal" enough and holds for the solution.

The Classic Literature Club series had been building towards the Kanya Festa ever since the first novel, as all the events in the first two novels basically only occurred because people were preparing for the school's cultural festival. Whereas the first two novels in the series were exclusively narrated by Houtarou, Kudryavka no Junban has us jump between the four members of the Classic Literature Club during the three days of the school festival, as each of them are busy trying in their own way to sell all two-hundred anthologies. This gives the reader an interesting look in the school festival, with for example mood maker Satoshi having fun at the various events (in order to make a name for the Classic Literatue Club) or club president Eru working with the management and news clubs of the festival in the hopes of getting a better chance at selling their wares. Read as a novel about life at a high school, Kudryavka no Junban can be quite interesting, delving into themes like expectations, and due to the varied cast, it's unlikely to really bore.

Unless you're reading the book for a mystery. It takes quite a while for the mystery plot of the thefts to really get going and even then, the core plot is a bit lean on the meat. The idea of a thief stealing seemingly insignifiant objects from various clubs can be fun, but the "surprising" relation between the various thefts is revealed very soon in the story, and afterwards little happens until the conclusion. The mystery doesn't have enough charm to its enigma, and the solution, well, you are not really going to logically deduce that in advance, with proper clewing as the basis of your reasoning. Of course, the everyday life mystery is often built on 'interpretation'  and seldom with mathematical reasoning, but for example, the first novel (Hyouka) was much more engaging as a mystery story, as it dealt with multiple hypotheses built upon each other, with new hints devalidating older hypotheses, but these still remained the basis of further theories. The scope of Kudryavka no Junban is far smaller, with a solution to the thefts that begs the question: "Why in heavens go through all that trouble to accomplish that?". Especially after the brilliance of the second novel, I have to say I felt a bit disappointed by this novel, as it's simply too lite as a mystery novel in comparison.

So yeah, of the three Classic Literature Club novels I've read until now, Kudryavka no Junban was the least interesting as a mystery novel. I have to admit that as a juvenile novel, this might the most interesting of the novels until now, giving us four different narrators and a varied view on the school festival, but read as a mystery novel, it's simply not as intricately plotted as the previous two novels, which had all those false solutions and playing around with Houtarou as a fallible detective and other things like that. I'm not sure whether I'll continue with the series. The anime series Hyouka covers the events of the first four books (three novels and one short story collection), so I might just try out the short story collection too. Or I might not. It won't happen soon anyway.

Original Japanese title(s): 　米澤穂信　『クドリャフカの順番』

Captured In Her Eyes

"A foolishly foolish idea born from the foolish mind of a foolhardy foolish fool."

"Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All"

This book reminded me I once went to a film screening of a Film Club during the university festival of Kyushu University. I think there were two short films, and you were supposed to hand in a questionnaire after the screening. I can't remember a thing about the films themselves though.

The four members of the Classic Literature Club of Kamiyama High School are still working for their project for the school festival when they are invited to see a short detective movie made by the people of class 2-F for the school festival. The story is about a group of students visiting an abandonded mine town, and the murder of one of them inside a locked room in a theater, but the film ends right after the body was discovered. The girl working on the script collapsed due to stress, making it unable for her to continue, but the problem is nobody knows what her plans were for the ending, making it an unfinished detective story. And while several of the clasmates have suggestions for solutions, it's hard to judge which one was the originally intended ending. Irisu Fuyumi of Class 2-F however, known throughout the school as the "Empress" because she's extremely good at getting the right people to work on the right things, wants the Classic Literature Club to act as observers and evaluate the suggested solutions so Class 2-F can finish their film. But it appears that perhaps the members of the club are better fit to find the real solution in Yonezawa Honobu's Gusha no End Roll ("End Credits of Fools", 2002).

Gusha no End Roll is the second book in Yonezawa's Classic Literature Club series (also known as the Hyouka series, as the anime series is named after the first novel). It also carries the English subtitle Why Didn't She Ask EBA, a reference to Christie's Why Didn't They Ask Evans? The series falls under the everyday life mystery genre, which keeps itself busy with solving enigmatic events that might occur in the normal, daily life, as opposed to bloody murder. So more mysteries like "Why is that man on my bus always along for the ride for only one stop?" or "Why did that woman remain in her seat even though this is the terminal station for this train?". Obviously, it's more realistic for freshmen high school students like our four members of the Classic Litereature Club to be paining their heads about these kinds of problems, rather that of violent death.

Which is why it's funny that Gusha no End Roll is indeed about murder! A fictional one, mind you, but still. The idea of having the students detect the murderer in an unfinished mystery film is actually quite brilliant, as it allows for Yonezawa to involve his characters with a type of crime he usually wouldn't be able to. The unfinished film is set in an abandoned theater, with one of the students killed inside one of the backstage chambers which was locked. The only key available was in the manager's office next to the entrance of the theater, but to get that key you'd need to pass the hall and the hallway unseen, which would've been impossible as all students were wandering through the theater). This unfinished film is treated as a text in a historical or bibliomystery: the Classic Literature Club members, but also the students of Class 2-F use the film/text as the base for their deductions, searching each frame for a clue as to what the intended solution was. But like in a historical/bibliomystery, the text is not the only source for our detectives, and that is what sets it apart from a conventional mystery, as there is a layer "outside" the film world. While the script writer is out, the club members also interview other people involved with the filming, like one of the prop builders, to learn more about the fictional world, and about the script writer and how this film project came to be in the first place, all in the hopes of figuring out what the solution is supposed to be.

And as this is the second book I read in this series, I'm now starting to see patterns, and I can say that Yonezawa loves his multiple solutions. Hyouka already had a double-layered solution, but this one has like four or five solutions. Several involved members of the filming crew, like the assistant-director, suggest their solution to the locked room conundrum to the Classic Literature Club, all firmly based on both the "text" and their knowledge of the project circumstances (for example, the props that were prepared). These hypotheses, while grounded, are all rejected one by one based on small oversights made, though each hypothesis does add some new revelation to be used for the next. It has a Berkeley-like effect, and it's something you don't often see done this well in the everyday life mystery genre, so I could appreciate that. The solutions are also different enough to keep the reader entertained (the fake solution marathon can feel tiring at times if done badly) and it also invites the reader to read the "film text" carefully, as a lot of hints are hidden there, while the multiple solutions also show how wildly different each viewer can interpret (the importance of) a scene.

Oh, and as a side-note, the final solution is a lot easier to guess if you know your Holmes! If you're not that well-read, you might not understand a certain hint, but I think the true solution to what happened fits wonderfully with the whole theme of the book, giving true meaning to all the false solutions that came before it.

What is also interesting is that Oreki Houtarou, the narrator and main detective of the series, is shown to be a fallible detective once again. While he does get it at the end, he's not likely to get there in one step, and often falls in the trap of the false solution himself before he finally gets it. It fits his personality perhaps (he's not really a pro-active detective), but the often mistaken detective trope is not one you often see with younger detective characters, at least not seriously (as opposed to what you see in series like Scooby Doo!, where it's most definitely a source of comedy). There is something like a larger story playing across the books in the series with Houtarou's older sister trying to push her brother to be a bit more active, and the books are also slowly working towards the school festival it seems, so we might see more of Houtarou's growth in subsequent books in the series.

Gusha no End Roll is thus a very enjoyable entry in the Classic Literature Club series, as it introduces murder in a convincing and amusing manner in a series that is supposed to be about minor mysteries you'd encounter in your daily life. The result is a book that takes on very large themes in mystery fiction like the locked room mystery, text-based mystery solving and multiple solutions, but dressed like a school comedy drama. Can't wait to read the rest of the series!

Original Japanese title(s): 米澤穂信　『愚者のエンドロール』

Candy

I cry...
To try to cry my pain away
Alone, nobody around
I say you pay for all the things you said 

"I Cry" (Nadia Gifford)

I am not that well-versed in Japanese classical literature actually. I know a bit of Classical Japanese, and I know a bit of the stories through references, but I have never read completely through tales like Genji Monogatari...

Oreki Houtarou's plans to spend the coming three years at high school in an energy-efficient manner (meaning: without any extra activities) are immediately shot down by his globe-trotting sister. She orders her brother to join her old school club at Kamiyama High School, because the Classic Literature Club is on the verge if extinction due to the fact the last members graduated last year, meaning that if there's no influx of new members this year, the club's effectively dead. Houtarou finds he's not the only one to join the club, as Chitanda Eru, heiress of one of the prominent families in town, also joins the club "for personal reasons", as well as two of Houtarou's childhood friends. After learning that Koutarou has a knack for solving small mysterious events that happen at school, like the mystery of the book that is borrowed, and returned on the same day every week by different people, Eru decides that he's the one who can help her. She confides in him that she joined the club because she needed to dig in the history of the Classic Literature Club, as she wants to learn more about her uncle who has disappeared, and her only clue is a fading memory that links her uncle to the school's Classic Literature Club and their club magazine, Hyouka, which is also the title of today's book. There's also an English subtitle, The Niece of Time, a reference to The Daughter of Time.

Hyouka was the 2001 debut novel of Yonezawa Honobu, published in the Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko line for light novels. It turned out to be a golden debut, as Hyouka was followed by several sequels to form the Classic Literature Club series, which was adapted as a succesful anime TV series in 2012, which was named after this first novel in the series. The anime series is fairly populair even outside Japan, and I think most people will know Hyouka better just as a school anime series, rather than as a detective series or the debut work of Yonezawa. I haven't seen the anime myself by the way, as I kept saying to myself I'd read the books first, but it took me quite some years to actually get to them (I have read other works by Yonezawa in the meantime though).

Now I think about it, Hyouka is quite similar to Yonezawa's Petite Bourgeoisie series, as both feature high school students, a protagonist who is somewhat reluctant to actually detect, a more active female counterpart and of course, everyday life mysteries. The mysteries solved here aren't bloody murders, but other, rather innocent happenings that happen in your normal life that might raise an eyebrow. The first few chapters for example throw the cited example of a rather boring book being borrowed every single week on the same day, but by different people, or one where Eru is locked inside the club room, even though there's only one key to the door, which was in the possession of Koutarou (who most definitely did not lock the door). While not a spectacular as a triple murder, I've come to appreciate this subgenre of detective fiction, especially when they're done like in Hyouka: the situations are somewhat mysterious, but normal enough that they raise questions, and they're properly hinted. Bonus points for the fact the situations fit perfectly with the school setting.

After the introducing chapters, Hyouka moves to the main storyline, which is about Eru's uncle and what transpired at the Classic Literature Club thirty-three years ago. Here the mode changes to that of something that resembles a mix between a historical and a bibliophilic mystery, as the club members search for old books and other materials to deduce what happened three decades ago. One has to admire how Yonezawa used precise wording in each of the documents to nudge the reader in the right direction, as well as the fact how each new document presented changes the working theory. So first a theory is made based on document 1, which is then altered because of the contents of document 2 leading to theory 2, etc. It's a great showcase of the cause-and-effect relation between clues and hypotheses, even if the deductions feel less 'tight' (or decisive) compared to the mysteries found in the earlier chapters because it's based on textual interpretation.

I first read this book as a short story collection, as early on each chapter had its own mystery, but it turned out it was a proper novel, and I liked in hindsight how good the clueing was throughout the book, with little comments or revelations made the earlier parts coming back for the end. This is what any good detective novel should do, of course, but because I first read it as a short story collection, I wasn't prepared for that much story integration across stories, and even after noticing it was not a story collection, I thought the clueing/foreshadowing was done really well.

Hyouka was thus a fairly entertaining book, even if a bit short. While the book does feature a finished storyline, it also feels like the start of a story, so I guess we'll learn more about Houtarou, the other characters and the school itself in subsequent entries. So while Hyouka on its own is a good, but light meal, I have the feeling the whole course will turn out to be quite satisfactory. And hey, I might even try the anime.

Original Japanese title(s): 米澤穂信 『氷菓』

A Dish Best Served Cold

忘れかけてた甘い夏の日を

あれからどれくらいの時間がたつの？

大好きだったあの笑顔だけしばらく近くで重ねあう日々を

Ah　もう戻れない時を小さく祈っている

「君がいない夏」 (DEEN) 

Those sweet summer days I've begun to forget

How much time has past since then?

The days with just the smile I loved close to me passing by

Aah, I silently pray for the time we can no longer return to

"The Summer Without You" (DEEN)

One of the best ice dessert I ever ate was a patbingsu in Seoul. Unlike Japanese shaved ice, which is only covered with a syrup, patbingsu was loaded with many yummy ingredients like fruits. And talking about ice, I am not that big a fan of matcha and black sesame ice cream you see so often lately. Also, I never did muster up the courage to eat the soy sauce soft icecream they sold at the Kikkoman factory...

The Petit Bourgeoisie series
The Spring Special Strawberry Tart Case (2004)
The Summer Special Tropical Parfait Case (2006)

Kobato Jougorou and Osanai Yuki are two model second year high school students. Indeed, all they think of everyday is to how to be the perfect citizen, a real petit bourgeoisie. But their examplary behaviour is just a disguise, a goal to distract themselves from their inherent character faults: Jougorou has the habit of flaunting with his deductive capabilities, while Yuki loves taking revenge on people who have done her wrong. On the first day of summer holiday, Jougorou is visited by Yuki, who wants him to join her with her summer plans: to eat all the summer special desserts / icecream / cakes / other sweets the many bakeries in their town offer. Jougorou tags along on her fattening summer plans, but during their quest for sweetness, the two come across a gang led by someone who has an ax to grind with Yuki. Can the duo uphold their perfect, upstanding image as the petit bourgeoisie in Yonezawa Honobu's Kaki Gentei Tropical Parfait Jiken ("The Summer Special Tropical Parfait Case")?

The first book in Yonezawa Honobu's Petit Bourgeoisie series, The Spring Special Strawberry Tart Case, was a sweet surprise: while I am not a fan of the everyday life mystery genre, which usually revolves around rather mundane troubles, I had to admit that quite enjoyed the things Yonezawa did in that book. How to Make Delicious Chocolate Milk, a story where Jougorou and Yuki deduce how three cups of chocolate milk were served, was fantastic: the problem was extremely simple and mundane, but the logic behind the duo used to find out how the milk could have been served under the specific circumstances was something you'd expect in an all-out investigation by Inspector Queen. The protagonists were quite funny too, so I was looking forward to reading the second book in the series.

To start with the conclusion, I like The Summer Special Tropical Parfait Case. Heck, I like it overall better than The Spring Special Strawberry Tart. Overall, I stress, because I don't think that any moment Summer Special reaches the heights of the chocolate milk story of the first book, but the overall story of Summer Special is better structured, I think and more engaging to read. Like the first book, The Summer Special Tropical Parfait Case consists of multiple short story-esque chapters, but with an overarching story to connect all these stories (the sweets Yuki wants to eat in the summer).

The best of the bunch is the opening story, Charlotte Dake wa Boku no Mono ("Only the Charlottes for me"), which is a fantastic inverted crime mystery, but of course in the vein of a everyday life mystery. Jougorou is presented with the problem of having to hide the fact he actually already ate one of the three charlotte cakes he bought: he hopes to make it seem like he only bought two. It has the thrills of a good inverted story, with Jougorou trying to hide all the evidence that hints at the existence of a third cake and him having eaten it, but on the other hand, hiding the fact you stole some sweets is pretty much the most childish crime there is. For me, the everyday life mystery works best when it applies deep analytical thinking on extremely mundane problems, because it's just funny.

The other stories deal with code cracking and some other mysteries, but and while not bad, none of them really reach the level of the opening story (except for maybe the final chapter). What is interesting though, is the fact The Summer Special Tropical Parfait Case does deal more with crime than The Spring Special Strawberry Tart Case. Sure, there was a stolen bike there and there was a bit more 'regular' (criminal) mysteries as it neared the end, but it seems like The Summer Special Tropical Parfait Case is a bit more 'normal' criminal mystery oriented, than just focused purely on everyday life mysteries.

The Summer Special Tropical Parfait Case is a sweet book, and has just the right mix of crime and everyday life mystery to keep the reader satisfied. One warning though: you will want to eat something sweet when you read this.

Original Japanese title(s): 米澤穂信 『夏期限定トロピカルパフェ事件』

Strawberry Jam

「クラーク博士は北海道大学の学生に『紳士たれ』という言葉を残したというけれど、ぼくと小佐内さん も似た信条を持っている。「紳士」によく似ているけれど、それよりはもうちょっと社会的階級が低い。『小市民たれ』。これ。日々の平穏と安定のため、ぼくと小佐内さんは断固とした小市民なのだ。もっとも、その表れ方はちょっと違う。小佐内さんは隠れる。ぼくは、笑って誤魔化す」

『 春限定いちごタルト事件』

"Professor Clark had told the students of Hokkaido University to 'be a gentleman'. Osanai and I had a similar principle. Similiar to "be a gentleman", but ranked a bit lower in society. 'Be a petit bourgeois'. That was it. We decided firmly to be petit bourgeois, for the sake of tranquility and stability. But we executed our beliefs differently. Osanai, she hides herself. And I, I laugh and pretend"

"The Spring Special Strawberry Tart Case"

One thing I'm definitely not missing about Kyoto: the tsuyu rain and the unbelievable heat!

I usually read several books at the same time and that means books sometimes takes ages to be finished: one of these was Yonezawa Honobu's short story collection Shunki Gentei Ichigo Tart Jiken ("The Spring Special Strawberry Tart Case"). Introducing Kobato Jougorou and Osanai Yuki. He is an ordinary boy with a fairly good set of brains. She is a small small girl with a love for sweet things. They are both first year students at Funato High School. And they try to live their lives in the same way: as what they call the petite bourgeois. Just go with the flow of society. Don't stand out. Don't go looking for trouble. Be one of the many. Just one of the many, yet crucial cogs of the machine that is society. These two, neither lovers nor dependent on each other, just try to be what they believe is the best way a person can live. Their classmate, Doujima Kengo however, always seems to get Jougorou (and to a lesser extent, Osanai) in trouble. Not because Kengo is a bad person: in fact, Kengo is usually a good enough a person to want to help others. But helping people, getting involved with other people's problems is another way of standing out. And so our petite bourgeois-aspiring duo contineously have to decide whether to do the good thing, as a contributing member of society should do, or try to ignore trouble, as a contributing member of society should do.

Shunki Gentei Ichigo Tart Jiken is, like Kanou Tomoko's Nanatsu no Ko, an 'everyday life mystery'. No bloody murders, no mysterious locked rooms. Just little mysteries that you and I might encounter, or might have really have encountered in our daily lives. A stolen bike. A purse gone missing. Like I mentioned in my review of Nanatsu no Ko, I am not really a fan of this subgenre. I'd rather have the bloody murder and the mysterious locked room. Not that a everyday life mystery is always bad though. And I think that Shunki Gentei Ichigo Tart Jiken is one of the books that can prove this case.

For while the scale of the mystery might seem a bit small, one shouldn't underestimate the scale of the deductions Jougorou makes about these everyday life mysteries. The best story in the collection is Oishii Cocoa no Tsukurikata ("How to Make Delicious Chocolate Milk"), where Jougorou and Osanai try to figure out how Kengo managed to make delicious chocolate milk with a limited amount of cups. Yes, this intellectual problem might sound very, very uninteresting, but the way the duo think about all the possibilities and shoot down each other's suggestions is what you'd expect in a Queen-style novel, not 'just' an everyday life mystery. But it works wonderfully here and the solution is in the same light-hearted, yet satisfying style.

The short stories collected in Shunki Gentei Ichigo Tart Jiken are written to form one, bigger story, with hints and events happening in earlier stories all coming together in the final story. Osanai's bike is stolen rather early in the collection (together with the last Spring Special Strawberry Tarts available that year she had left on her bike), which is rather troublesome because a petit bourgeois can't go around getting involved with the police (even if it wasn't her fault). But the way Yonezawa placed the hints in the earlier stories is excellent and the deductive chain shown here is quite impressive, especially I hadn't seen such the deductive reasoning approach used in a connected short story collection before (like Mari Yukiko's Futarigurui for example).

Shunki Gentei Ichigo Tart Jiken is a really sweet short story collection. Half daily life mystery, half youth comedy and it works. In a way, this book is like the opposite of Otsuichi's GOTH, both featuring high school students with a particular look at life. This one is more happier and sweeter and cozier, but that really doesn't have to be a bad thing.

Original Japanese title(s): 米澤穂信　『春期限定いちごタルト事件』