『帰ってこさせられた33分探偵』

「えー、『あの泥棒が羨ましい』 二人のあいだにこんな言葉がかわせるほど、そのころはーって渋いね、菜緒ちゃん、こんなの読んでるんだ」

鞄の中に江戸川乱歩の『二銭銅貨』を忍ばせている女子高生。どうやら僕は高林奈緒子という同級生に対する認識を改めなければならないようだ。この娘、只者ではないのかも。 

「霧ヶ峰涼と見えない毒」

"Hmm, 'That's one lucky thief'. During the time these words which passed between those two.... Hey, that's sneaky, Nao! You read this too!"

A female high school student who hides a copy of Edogawa Rampo's The Two-Sen Copper Coin in her bag. It seems like I will have to revise my image of my classmate Takabayashi Naoko. This girl, she might not be just an ordinary person.

"Kirigamine Ryou and the Invisible Poison"

Still alive! I think. Reporting live from Japan. Have I ever mentioned how I always suffer quite a lot of jetlag? The last time I had it this bad... I made my first translation for this blog. It's not that bad this time, but I'm still 'off' a couple of hours from my usual schedule. Anyway, it's been a long time tradition that first days back in Japan include a search for (preferably second hand) book stores in the neighborhood. The closest one I've found at the moment is five minutes away with the bike, so I'll be swinging by often. Unless a storm suddenly decides to visit Kyoto, like two hours ago.

And the first book I bought here... is a familiar one. By now, we've seen Houkago wa Mystery to Tomo ni pass by at this blog as a radio drama, a CD drama and two translations (based on the radio plays). Which is quite often, considering the original work is just a single volume (and not that big either). But yes, the reason why it is featured here so often is because I absolutely love this short story collection starring the tomboy Kirigamine Ryou, the vice-president of the Koigakubo Academy Detective Club who despite being the protagonist of the stories, never seems to be able to solve a case on her own. I am not going to review all the stories again, as I already did that in my review of the radio drama, but I did mention there that the radio drama had left out two short stories from the book. Which is just enough material for a short review.

Kirigamine Ryou to Mienai Doku ("Kirigamine Ryou and the Invisible Poison") has Ryou and her friend Naoko trying to figure out whether somebody is trying to kill old man Kadokura. Kadokura is a distant (and rich) relative of Naoko and she lives with him (and his family) because it is closer to school. Some days ago, a roof tile just barely missed falling on Kadokura's head and Naoko suspects that someone in Kadokura's family, consisting of his son, daughter-in-law and his grandson, doesn't have the patience to wait for the old man to die a natural death. Just as Ryou and Naoko are investigating the case, the old man is poisoned (though he survives!) as he was drinking his coffee. His last words before he passed out were 'poison in the coffee', but forensics show that the coffee wasn't poisoned at all. So how did the would-be murderer introduce the poison to Kadokura's body and who is (s)he?

Like many of the stories in Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de, this story hinges on customs, movements and other little things that are part of what we call 'common sense'. In Higashigawa's stories, the clues often hinge on either a situation that doesn't seem to comply to 'common sense', or even erratic situations that become perfectly understandable if you just apply common sense to it. The same holds for this story, though I have to admit that the story doesn't feel as satisfying as some of the Nazotoki stories.

I had high expectations for Kirigamine Ryou to Ekkusu no Higeki ("Kirigamine Ryou and the Tragedy of X (Ekkusu)"). Why? Higashigawa himself said that it took him ten years to write the short story, as he just couldn't find a way to make his initial trick work. Anyway, the final version starts with a meteor shower party at school, organized by the geography teacher Ikegami. The party is not really a succes, but Ikegami and Ryou suddenly spot a strange flying object that emits a greenish light and flies in an erratic pattern. Ikegami immediately decides that it is an UFO (the alien kind, not the literal definition) and starts chasing it (taking Ryou along with her). The UFO disappears though and in the middle of the field where they last saw it, the duo spot the body of a unconscious woman. The woman presumably lost her conciousness because she was strangled by someone (as seen by the marks on the neck), but the only footsteps on the wet field are those of the woman. The only logical explanation? The UFO dropped the woman off in the middle of the field!

Well, there is another explanation too, of course. I have no experience in writing stories and plotting, but I have to admit that my reaction was 'did this really take ten years to write?'. Which doesn't mean that this is a bad story. Actually, it is a very good impossible crime story that is quite dense for the short page count and the atmosphere of the story is also entertaining. Strictly speaking, the solution is a (much altered) version of a well-known impossible situation, but it's done so well and originally that it really doesn't matter. A very cool story, but it doesn't need the 'ten years' story. I am sorry I brought it up.

I'm still not sure how things will work out with the blog as I'm in Japan now. There is certainly no lack of material unlike the last three months (hoho, books of 800 pages, double columns for 200 yen?), but I need time/intention to read and write. Which might be the bottleneck this time.

Original Japanese title(s): 東川篤哉 『放課後はミステリーとともに』:  「霧ヶ峰涼と見えない毒」 /　「霧ヶ峰涼とエックスの悲劇」

番外編： The Fiend With Twenty Faces

What? The post title is not the title of a book or a quote? There is no introducing quote? Shocking! But there is a reason for that.

Because this post is more like a service announcement. Or a commercial. Some might have noticed that Kurodahan Press, who has published some interesting Edogawa Rampo novels / essays in the past, has released The Fiend with Twenty Faces a couple of days ago, the first volume in the Shounen Tantei Dan ("Boys Detective Club") series. The children's literature series stars masterdetective Akechi Kogorou and his assistents the Boys Detectives in their battles against the criminal mastermind Twenty Faces and quite famous in Japan and can been seen as the main inspiration for modern detective comic series like Conan and Kindaichi Shounen.

I had the pleasure and honor of writing the introduction to Kurodahan's The Fiend with Twenty Faces actually. Which was fun! And entertaining! Readers here might have noticed that I 1) like Edogawa Rampo and 2) I like writing about him and his works and to actually do it for an official release, well, I couldn't wish for more! It also means that I actually have the honor of having my name next to Edogawa Rampo's name on sites like Amazon. Which is really weird.

So for people interested in modern detective manga, 1930s children literature, Edogawa Rampo, Arsene Lupin and grand battles between good and evil, masterdetectives and masterthieves (not all of the above per se), take a look at Rampo's famous novel!

And now to solve the puzzle of packing for a year without making my luggage too heavy.

「殺しの際は帽子をお忘れなく」

Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?

- That depends a good deal on where you want to get to

I don't much care where.

- Then it doesn't much matter which way you go.

…so long as I get somewhere.

- Oh, you're sure to do that, if only you walk long enough.

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"

Those who can read Japanese (or those who are adept at using translation websites), might have seen it in the comments already. Or you might have deduced it from the fact I kept mentioning I don't have any unread books left, yet didn't went out to purchase them. Anyway, I will be leaving late next week for Japan to study there for a year. Yes, again. In fact, this blog started in 2009 just as a personal blog to keep the home front up to date when I went to study in Tokyo and Fukuoka, but somewhere along the way it transformed into the.... thing that it is now. So the reason I didn't buy new (Japanese) books was because it would be cheaper to buy them there.

I have to admit though that I am not sure what I will do with this blog. I will keep updating with reviews and stuff (I think), but experience has taught me that my post-amount will drop (significantly!), because life tends to get a bit busier as an international student (which is why I made sure that I at least have more posts this year than in 2010!). The other thing is that I am not sure whether I will post non-detective/personal posts here. At one hand, this blog did start out as such, so I might just return to the origins. On the other hand, it might not be very interesting if you're mainly here to read about (Japanese) detectives (I guess that most people only know about the reviews) and you're suddenly reading about ramen. There is a big chance I will write about food.

Anyway, I will keep posting about detective fiction, just not as regularly as now I think.

And now that we have gone over that: short shorts! Where I write short pieces about detective fiction because I couldn't come up with longer texts. Today's victims: the 1946 movie Green for Danger, the 2011 movie Joseon Myungtamjung : Gakshituku Ggotui Bimil and once again an audio drama of Houkago wa Mystery to tomo ni!

Green For Danger (1946) is based on Christianna Brand's novel of the same name and widely regarded as one of the best, if not the best movie based on a Golden Age detective novel. And I have little to add to that. I haven't read the original book, but this is really a neat movie that oh, I don't know, deserves a Criterion Collection release. Oh, wait, that exists already? Great, great! Anyway, the story is set in England, 1944. The country is suffering under the V-1 bomber attacks and the people at Heron's Park Emergency Hospital, a rural war hospital, have quite busy days taking care of their patients. One day, their local postman is brought in having been injured by a flying bomb and has to undergo surgery. The postman never survived the operation, because he died on the operating table before the operation could actually start. Later, one of nurses claims that this was not just an accident or natural death, but she gets killed off before she is able to say more about it. Inspector Cockrill is brought in to investigate the case.

Like I said, I am not familiar with the original novel, but this movie really brought a nice puzzler, combined with captivating characters and especially the setting of the hospital is very memorable. Furthermore, Alastair Sim as the inspector Cockrill is just a delight to look at and he alone is enough of a reason to recommend this movie (though it is a great movie overall). The mystery behind the postman's death is somewhat easy to solve though, but this is just a splendid production.

It reminds me a lot of Team Batista no Eikou ("The Glory of Team Batista"), a popular Japanese mystery novel that has been turned into a movie and TV show amongst others. The main mystery there is also a series of death on the operating table of the elite Team Batista, experts in a very complex procedure. They pride themselves on a perfect record, but then more and more patiens of them die on the operating table, leading to the suspicion that one of doctors might be sabotaging the operations. It relies quite a bit on medial knowledge, but the movie is pretty awesome, starring Abe Hiroshi as the official in charge of investigating whether the deaths were accidents or deaths. Abe's usually stoic, yet at times very playful (almost mean), detective also reminds of Sim's inspector Cockrill.

From England to Korea. I finally got a chance to 2011's Joseon Myungtamjung : Gakshituku Ggotui Bimil ("Joseon Great Detective: Secret of the Wolfsbane Flower"), which has the international title of Detective K: Secret of the Virtuous Widow. The movie is based on a novel by Kim Tak-Hwan and is set in 1782, 16 years after king Jeongjo took the throne. A series of murders on magistrates and other officials, combined with rumors of large-scale embezzling force the king to appoint a secret agent to investigate the case. The unnamed detective (though apparently called "detective K" outside of South-Korea) starts off his investigation rather roughly (resulting in being accused of murder himself and leading to assault on soldiers and such) and the king is forced to 'punish' his detective by sending him off on another, less important investigation (which luckily is strongly related with the serial murders). Helped by a dog thief, the detective start to uncover an intrige of unbelievable scale. And he finds a lot of hidden Christians. Hmmm.

This movie was pretty fun to look at, but it really needed polishing. The overall plot seems too complex at times, but not for the right reasons. Some scenes show some interesting detective work by the protagonist, or Conan-esque emergency escape plans, but it never feels like one coherent story. The plot seem little more than a easy way to glue the scenes to each other, instead of the plot dictating the way the movie progresses. The plot also gets unneccesary complex at the end with plot-twists and reveals that add little to the story, but for the fact that they are so totally surprising and unexpected. Oh, and they could have made the subplot of the Christians suffering under the Confucian rule a bit less... obvious. Yes, I know that a large part of the South-Korean population is Christian, but this was waaaaay too obvious a religous agenda.

Overall, this movie seems highly influenced by Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes movies, providing a lot of comedy and action, but it is just less polished. Like those Holmes movies, it is possible to set your mind at cruise control and enjoy the scenery. A special mention for Kim Myung-min, who plays a wonderful unnamed protagonist though. At times sharp and brave, but mostly a coward: which means he is similar to Houshin Engi's Taikoubou. Which is never a bad thing (seriously, any protagonist who loudly proclaims that 'I need to find more friends. To have them do the fighting for me', is genius). The international title of this movie by the way seems highly influenced by Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame.

And finally, once again Higashigawa Tokuya's Houkago wa Mystery to Tomo ni. First of all, a drama series based on the book (and I suspect some of the uncollected stories) will start late next month! Yeah! And secondly, I finally listened to Momogre's audio adaptation of Houkago wa Mystery to Tomo ni. Yes, I have already reviewed NHK's adaption of the book, but I was also interested in hearing how Momogre did their version, as their adaptations of Swiss Dokei no Nazo, 46 Banme no Misshitsu and ABC Satsujin Jiken were fun. And I am just a big fan of protagonist Kirigamine Ryou, the vice-president of Koigakubo Academy's detective club (who never seems to be able to solve a case herself).

Momogre's version is based on the first two stories, Kirigamine Ryou no Kutsujoku ("Kirigamine Ryou's Humiliation") and Kirigamine Ryou no Gyakushuu ("Kirigamine Ryou's Counterattack") (translation available for the latter). For a review on the stories themselves, I refer to the NHK version review, as the stories are identical and even the scripts are very similar (even though Momogre's version of Kirigamine Ryou no Kutsujoku is a bit unfair because of something important is mentioned at a later moment). So if they are so similar, why discuss Momogre version? Well, I wanted to convey the feeling of surprise when I, halfway through the drama, finally noticed that this was a Men Only version, i.e. there were no female voice actresses here. Ad yes, Ryou is a girl, but she has a speech pattern similar to a boy anyway, so I wasn't really bothered by the voice. It gets a bit distracting when women who talk like... women are voiced by a man. Momogre's Ryou was also quite different from NHK's Ryou: the latter was an energetic, almost hyperactive girl who wanted to be a detective. Momogre's Ryou.... was a man trying to speak like a girl, resulting in a nagging voice who never seemed as powerful as NHK's Ryou. Which is a big part of Ryou's charm. So in short, NHK's version is superior. In all aspects.

So, I think that this will be the last post of this month and next month... might bring food. Or detective fiction. Maybe detective fiction and food.

Original Japanese title(s): 東川篤哉 (原)　『放課後はミステリのあとで』
Original Korean title(s): 조선명탐정 : 각시투구꽃의 비밀

「君をイッツ・ア・スモールワールドに閉じ込めることに決まったよ。はっは！」

底蟲村の　しん太郎どん

痛い痛いと　泣いてござる

何が痛いと　蟹コがきけば

悪たれ鼬の　ふうのしんに

喉を切られて　話ができぬ

それで痛いと　泣いてござる

びゅうびゅうびゅうの　ざんぶらぶん

びゅうびゅうびゅうの　ざんぶらぶん

『かまいたちの夜２　監獄島のわらべ唄』

Shintaroudon of Sokomushi Village

Cried: it hurts it hurts

The small crab asked what hurts

The evil weasle Fuu no Shin

Cut my throat and now I cannot spreak

That is why I am crying it hurts

Byuubyuubyuu no Zanburabun

Byuubyuubyuu no Zanburabun

"Night of the Kamaitachi 2 - The Warabe Uta of Prison Island"

So I did keep myself to my restraint of not buying new Japanese novels this month. But games? Games are something totally different! Even if it is a Japanese sound novel. Yes, that was the closest thing I could find to a novel that was not an actual novel.

I've already made clear that I absolutely loved Kamaitachi no Yoru, a mystery sound novel penned by Abiko Takemaru. The basic scenario, a locked room murder in the ski-lodge Spur (no idea whether I'm spelling that right) in a snow storm, was not particularly original, but the fact that the story developed according to the player's choices, the fact that the story featured multiple endings was really fun. If you were good, you could actually prevent more murders from happening in Spur, while the story would end in a paranoia horror-ending if the player was unable to solve the case as time progressed. It was definitely one of the best games I played last year.

So it shouldn't come as a surpise if I tell you that I had set my eyes on playing Kamaitachi no Yoru 2 - Kangokujima no Warabe Uta ("Night of the Kamaitachi 2 - The Warabe Uta of Prison Island"). The story starts by telling you that within the world of Kamaitachi no Yoru 2, the first Kamaitachi no Yoru was a hit videogame. The characters from the first game were based on actual guests that visited the ski-lodge Spur one night and apparently, some of the dialogue from the game was also based on dialogues the guests had then. There was of course no locked room murder that night though; that was all made-up by Abiko Takemaru, the writer of the game. Abiko has made a small fortune with the game and has bought an old unhabitated island, Moon Crescent Island (and the Moon Crescent Mansion on it) with the profits. He has now invited all of the guests that were present that night at Spur to his mansion as a thanks for having used their names for his story. The strange thing though.... Abiko Takemaru wasn't one of the guests at Spur that night, so how could he have based his story on the guests and events of that night?

When all of his guests (almost all of the cast of the first game and some persons involved with the production of a planned sequel to the game) have arrived at the island, they are told by the old servant Kiyo that Abiko Takemaru himself has not arrived at the island yet. They are also told about the origins of Moon Crescent Island: it used to be called Prison Island, property of the wealthy Kishizaru clan (which made a fortune with spinning factories during the Japanese industrial revolution). The Moon Crescent Mansion was actually a prison built to keep their workers under control, which explains the curious architecture of the building, like the fact that practically no rooms have windows. Genre-savvy people among the cast naturally understand that bad things are going to happen here and they decide to leave the island, but they are told that that is impossible. That night happens to be 'the Night of the Kamaitachi", which refers to a tremendously heavy storm that rages over the island once every 50 years. This is related to a belief that the island is haunted by the Sickle Weasle demon Fuu no Shin, who also appears in a local warabe uta ('nursery rhyme'-esque songs). Our cast is not able to leave the island that night and the mansion even gets locked up completely to prevent rain and wind from coming in. And then, in the early hours of the following day, a loud scream travels through the mansion. When they find out where the scream originated from, they find game producer Shintarou with his throat cut open in a locked room. Just like the first verse of the warebe uta. There are five verses.

The game-system is still the same, so I refer to my review of Kamaitachi no Yoru for more details on that. Short story: this is a novel (accompanied by background pictures and music), where you occasionally have to make choices (which may lead to bad endings etc.). It is up to the player to pick out the right choices to get to the good ending. Technically and contents-wise, this is a more=better version of Kamaitachi no Yoru. The first game was released on the Super Famicom (and later on the PlayStation), while the second game was released for the PlayStation 2 (and PSP), so graphically, there is quite a change, most prominently visible in the use of actually CG models for the characters and sporadic use of cut-scenes. I have to admit that this took a bit away from the creepy ambiance of the original game though, as the notion of motion, of characters and the camera actually moving, adds a sense of life, of safety to the game (which is not really needed for detective). The more=better philosophy is also carried over to the amount of unique ending sequences in this game, which number over a hundred! I've seen three: the good ending and two radically different bad endings (one with the protagonist Tooru getting a seizure because his love-interest Mari found someone else...).

I actually haven't completed the game yet, but I did finish the Warabe Uta Hen ("Warabe Uta Chapter"), the main story/mystery of the game (the game features several scenarios, some are humorous takes on the main story, some go towards science-fiction, etc.). With murders following a nursery rhyme pattern on an island formally called Prison Island, it is obvious that this is a reference to Yokomizo Seishi's Gokumontou. The mystery of whodunnit is not very hard to solve if you are genre-savvy, as Abiko mostly reuses familar patterns and tropes in this story (though it definitely helps if you have played the first game). Which might sound a bit disappointing, but the trick used for the first murder, a locked room murder, is really good and also fantastically hinted at. It is definitely the highlight of the whole story and even though it is still early in the year, I think this will rank among the best I will read this year. The overall atmosphere of the first game was better (though it is still good here), but this trick really makes it hard to decide which story was better.

The setting of Moon Crescent Island and the Moon Crescent Mansion is also fantastic. The mansion is definitely presented as expected from a yakata-mono (mansion-story), which both creepy descriptions and background pictures presenting a claustrophobic image of the former prison. The mansion is really terrifying, with swords sticking out of ponds preventing prisoners from jumping out of the windows and sickles hanging from the roofs to ward of the evil weasle demon. This is a location you will remember even long after clearing this game. Especially if you try out the other scenarios: I've just finished the Sokomushi Village Chapter, which is a horror science-fiction take on the main story, but IT IS CREEPY. The island is creeheepy~

I am not sure whether I should be disappointed or glad I arrived at the solution relatively fast. Yes, that means my deductions were right, but there were a couple of places I definitely screwed up, but I wasn't punished for that (game-wise). It seems like that the first Kamaitachi no Yoru was harder, with more difficult choices to make with fewer retry options. In this game, you could retry some of the (finger-pointing) segments and they even presented the major clues in a systematic way near the end of the story, making it a lot easier to solve the case.You couldn't even prevent murders from happening like in the first game, which makes this a much more linear experience.

Overall, the main storyline of Kamaitachi no Yoru 2 is awesome though. It's a great closed circle detective featuring a great locked room murder trick and it's interactive too! And now to play the other scenarios and to find the remaining 100 ending scenes...

Original Japanese title(s): 『かまいたちの夜２　監獄島のわらべ唄』

A Night of Fright is No Delight

「また博多？この会社、博多枠があるんか？いま博多スリーカードやで」

『ゲームセンターＣＸ　#31 「海腹川背」どうでしょう?課長リターンズ』

"Another one from Hakata? Does this company have a Hakata quotum? We have three Hakata cards here!"

"Game Center CX #31 - How about 'Umihara Kawase'? The Section Chief Returns"

Another historical mystery? Do I have a historical mystery quotum? We've had three historical mysteries in a row now!

I wrote rather extensively about Judge Dee last week, so I'll just refer to that post for the basics and characteristics of that series. Anyway, this week I finally had a chance to look at Judge Dee and the Monastery Murders, a 1974 telefilm based on van Gulik's 1961 novel The Haunted Monastery. I haven't read that book, so I have no idea whether it is faithful to the original story or not, but most people on the internet, to refer to an anonymous entity, seem to agree that it is mostly faithful. Anyway, the story starts off very Scooby Doo-like. Judge Dee, his three wives and Tao Gan (and other servants) are forced to spend a night at a Taoist monastery because the axle of the Mystery Machine their coach broke down during a dreadful storm. That night also happens to be the anniversary night of the monastery and the judge, despite having caught a cold, naturally has to join the monks in their celebrations because of his rank. But there is more than meets the eye to his monastery, or else it would make for a rather boring story. A window that disappears before the very eyes of the judge, the murky past of the monastery that involves the death of no less than three girls that once stayed here and even the previous abbot and more. Dee has a busy, busy night trying to solve all the mysteries that lurk in this dark place.

And just like that most of Scooby Doo's episodes are fun, this is a truly entertaining telefilm. Which is partly because of the great production values. The titular haunted monastery really seems haunted, as the sets are wonderfully gloomy and eerie. There is a distinct atmosphere of pressure and fear throughout the story, as the judge wanders through the lonely hallways of the monestary and you never know what might be hiding around the corner. Indeed, just like a Scooby Doo episode.

One thing I really liked about this production were the use of still frames that turn into illustrations (I suppose they functioned as eye-catchers for the commercial breaks). It was reminiscent of the late anime director Dezaki Osamu's 'postcard memories' technique, where he would also use still frames that turned into actual illustrations (instead of motionless animation) at dramatic moments. In fact, the overall production values for this telefilm are quite high, and while some of the artistic decisions were a bit doubtful (I was not a fan of the color-schemes of the clothing, for example), this is a really well-made movie.

The sets form a great background to the judge's investigations and while the story is more about the judge's spooky adventures in the building than about bringing a classical orthodox story, there are actually quite some interesting things to be seen here. Most impressive was the deduction the judge shows concerning a picture of a cat by the late abbot and the overall story really comes together nicely near the end, where the judge has one of those moments when everything comes together and the case is solved.

While Khigh Dhiegh physically does not resemble the Judge Dee of the illustrations by van Gulik, I was not really bothered by that. In fact, the whole production conveyed the atmosphere from the series very good (even though I have not read this specific story) and I suspect that some of the dialogue are lifted (almost?) completely from the book. I also think that the reason this telefilm works so well is because the story is located in one specific place without too many references to the outside world. It works perfectly as a stand-alone telefilm, with not too much series-luggage and not too many (temporal specific) cultural references. The down-side is that the setting sometimes leans towards very non-specific, stereotypical depictions of 'Ancient China', but it works in the context of this particular story. It's a shame they didn't continue with a whole series based in this telefilm.

Anyway, I had fun watching this movie and it is certainly recommended to fans of the Judge Dee series.

One, Maybe Two, Ways Out

「それに有罪無罪をあやつるのが最高のライバルだというならば、裁判官である、あなたが一番ふさわしいのではないか！！」

「ええッ、ま、まさか！それって」

「裁判長！あなたが本当の新ライバルなのだろう！」

『逆転検事２　特別法廷』

"Furthermore, if you say that the strongest rival is the person who can decide who is guilty or not, than you, the judge, are the person most fit for that role!!"

"Whaat? You mean..."

"Your honor! You are the real new rival!"

"Turnabout Prosecutor 2 - Special Trial"

You have activated my trap card. I turn my face-down card around to reveal Another Historical Mystery and set Bertus Aafjes to attack-mode. ....No idea if I am following the rules.

This post is basically just a continuation of the previous post: Paul Doherty's The Devil's Domain was not the only book I read in the park (Yes, I read a lot for a long time in the park). At the same store, I had picked up Bertus Aafjes' De Koelte van een Pauweveer ("The Coolness of a Peacock Feather"), a collection of short stories starring Judge Ooka. The collection is pretty much the same as Een Ladder Tegen Een Wolk, the first Ooka collection: a series of (fairly) short stories where judge Ooka (a highly fictionalized Ooka Echizen) has to solve... problems. Not crimes per se, but Salomon-esque problems that seem impossible to solve in a satisfactionary way. The way Ooka manages to resolve these ironic and seemingly contradictory problems is entertaining, reminiscent of Father Brown-esque situations.

This collection has the same merits and demerits of the first collection, I think. On one hand, the stories are irononically fun and the solutions Ooka presents are often very satisfying. The problem is that the stories are really short and most of them also based on old (Chinese) court records. Persons familiar with Parallel Cases Under the Pear-Tree may be familiar with them, but these court records are really short descriptions of actual (and often strange) cases. In afterword, Aafjes praises van Gulik having expanded upon these court records, changing them into actual stories, but Aafjes' effort is less impressive. His stories are short, adding little of his own to the original plot except for some framing narratives and his own personal observations and opinion on Japanese culture he throws in. The latter can be troublesome at time. I know that Aafjes' observations are his own, personal observations, but at times his writings tend to lean on very Orientalistic views on Japanese culture, which can feel a bit annoying at times.

Wie begint met een lik uit de pan eindigt met het stelen van de rijst of de zaak van de drie goudstukken ("He Who Starts Stealing A Taste Of The Pan Ends Up Stealing The Rice or The Case of the Three Gold Coins") is a pretty fun story, where a tatami maker Saburoubei loses three gold coins he had borrowed to threat his family for New Year. A screen maker called Choujuurou happens to find the three gold coins and spends five days searching across town for their rightful owner. Saburoubei however refuses to accept the money, saying that he was the one stupid enough to drop the coins and that Choujuurou should accept the money for the trouble. Chuujuurou however refuses to accept the money, saying that Saburoubei is the rightful owner and that he would consider it an insult if he was forced to accept the money himself. The two get into a fight, leaving judge Ooka with the problem of two men who refuse to accept three gold coins because of their honesty.

Men kan de hemel zien door het oog van een naald of de zaak van de venter op het festival ("One Is Able To See The Heavens Through The Eye Of A Needle or The Case of the Festival Salesman") is a variation on a very old and classic problem (with the same solution). A man accidently threw the senbei of a salesman on the ground, breaking all of it. The man is willing to pay for the wares he broke, but the problem lies in the price: the man swears the salesman only had 50 senbei over when he bumped into them, while the salesman says he had 150 senbei. With only the crumbs left, how is judge Ooka going to be able how many senbei the man broke? And that answer that first came into your mind as you read this? It's correct.

In Wat de ene mens doet overkomt een ander mens of de zaak van het omstreden lamsvel ("What One Man Does, Is Done To Another Man or The Case of the Disputed Lambskin"), judge Ooka happens to be witness to a fight between a dock-worker and a ferryman. The reason: a lambskin coat. Both men claim to be the owner of the new, fine coat, but how is the judge going to find out which of the two is lying? The solution is brilliant in its simplicity.

Judge Ooka has to solve a problem of emperial proportions in Daglicht dringt door een klein gat of de zaak van de keizerlijke erfgenamen ("Daylight Enters Through A Small Hole or The Case of the Imperial Heirs"). Two heirs have been making a ruckus about their inheritance. With two heirs and two grand mansions, you would think that dividing the inheritance would be easy, as you can just give one mansion to one person and the other to the other person. But the two both claim that the other mansion (the one they　didn't get) is better and thus refuse to accept that division. The solution to the problem is very simple and not particularly impressive (it's basically the same as an old riddle also concerning the division of a wanted item).

Rival judge Kujou tries to trick judge Ooka into a loss of face in Wie de generaal wil doodschieten moet eerst zijn paard doodschieten of de zaak van het ondeelbare paard ("He Who Wants To Shoot The General, First Has to Shoot His Horse or The Case of the Undividable Horse"). Ooka is to solve the problem of two rich and influential land-owners who wish to terminate their horse-breeding joint-venture. The problem: they have 13 horses and while they have agreed to pick out six horses each, they can't come to an agreement regarding the last horse Neither of the two men are willing to give up the last horse. How is Ooka to come to a solution that benefits everyone? The solution is eerily similar to the first story in this bundle and I thought this was not as fun as that story.

But Niets is zo zichtbaar als wat men verbergen wil of de zaak van de vele gauwdieven ("Nothing Is As Visible As What One Wants to Hide or The Case of the Many Thieves") is a fun story. A bunch of lower-ranking officials want Ooka to lose face and officially request that Ooka, as the highest official in Edo, to solve the problem of the thieves running wild in town. The solution Ooka has is brillant and more importantly, hilarious.

I am pretty neutral about Een rijke en een vuilnisvat worden vuiler naarmate zij meer bevatten of de zaak van de bekeerde timmerman ("A Rich Man And A Dustbin Become Dirtier The More They Have or The Case of The Converted Carpenter"), where a group of people practicing Nichiren Buddhism tried to convert a carpenter who practices Jodo Buddhism by paying him. The carpenter converts to Nichiren Buddhism for half a year, but reverts back to Jodo Buddhism, saying that practicing the latter is less demanding for the same results. The group of men practicing Nichiren Buddhist claim that the carpenter had deceived them and sue him for the money. The judge's solution is funny, but not particular memorable.

Als de dag aanbreekt wordt ook de vuurvlieg weer een insekt of de zaak van de vergeetachtige geldschieter ("When Day Breaks a Firefly Turns Back Into An Insect or The Case of the Forgetful Moneylender") has the judge trying to help a poor woman who laid fire to a moneylender whom she had given money to for investments. The moneylender took the money, but now claims to never have received money from the woman, driven her to her act of madness. Her sentence is already set, death by fire, but the judge still wants to help the woman who was deceived by the heartless moneylender. The trick judge Ooka pulls off is really satisfying and feels almost similar to those moments in Gyakuten Saiban when they reveal some kind of judicial magic that saves the case.

Bij het rijden leert men het paard kennen, bij het praten de mens of de zaak van de leerjongen op zijn vrije dag ("One Gets To Learn The Horse While Riding, The Man While Talking orThe Case of the Page on His Day Off") is a somewhat bland ending to this volume. The tongue of the cow of Judge Ooka's neighbour (of his second house) has been cut and the only suspect in the neighbourhood was a page on his way home. The page himself also confirms that there was nobody in the neighbourhood when the crime happened, leaving himself as the only suspect. The case is not particularly exciting, but the way the judge reveals the truth to the page is nicely done (through haiku/haikai).

Overall, I found this collection better than Een Ladder Tegen Een Wolk as the stories were more like actual stories rather than short plot-outlines, though it is still far away from what van Gulik accomplished. Actually, the most satisfying Judge Ooka story I've read until now was Een Lampion Voor een Blinde of de Zaak van de Hollandse heelmeesters ("A Lantern for the Blind or the Case of the Dutch Surgeons"), which was completely different from the short stories presented here: being both longer and constructed more like a classic detective novel. I find the Ooka stories entertaining and I think I will pick the remaining volumes up if I happen to see them again in a store, but I don't think I will actively look out for / order those volumes to complete the series.

「ペロッ・・・ これは・・・青酸カリ！！」

「信用を得るには長い時間がかかりますが、失うのは一瞬のようですね」

『犬のみぞ知る　ＤＯＧ ＫＮＯＷＳ』

"It takes a long time to gain trust, but just a second to lose it"

"DOG KNOWS"

I think that the first historical mysteries I've read were the Roma Sub Rosa novels by Steven Saylor. They were recommended to me by my Greek/Latin teacher and I really did find them amusing. Sure, Saylor's writing style seems to swing between good and not-so-good at times and the detective plots miss the grandeur of the Great Classics, but they were really fun for those interested in the Roman Empire. The adventures of Gordianus the Finder were full of little (and big) references to the grand empire and I absolutely loved Roman Blood, the first novel, for its detailed plot concerning the Sextus Roscius Patricide case, the first big case Cicero handled as a laywer. I liked that Cicero a bit more than the Cicero I had to read and translate for my exams.

The historical mysteries by Paul Doherty seem to have been a popular topic of mystery bloggers the last few months. Which is why I picked up one of his books I happened to find at a second hand bookstore. Yes, I said I wasn't going to buy books this month, but hey, I was forced to spend a couple of hours waiting for some documents to be returned to me, so I thought I might as well spend my time reading under the sun in the park. The book was also signed, I discovered later. I assume that it's Doherty's signature. Not sure though.

The Devil's Domain is an entry in The Sorrowful Mysteries of Brother Athelstan series by Doherty. The time: the late fourteenth century! The place: England! The titular Brother Athelstan is a Dominican friar in St Erconwald’s in Southwark and the secretarius of Sir John Cranston, the King's Coroner. Together they fight crime! This time, the dynamic duo are forced to solve a case of international importance. Five French sailors have been caught at sea and are held captive in Hawkmere Manor, awaiting their release when the ransom money from their families arrives. Their host/warden is Sir Walter, who does not bother to hide that he really dislikes French men. But still, he is responsible for his prisoners and according to the international treaties, he is supposed to treat these hostages (relatively) well. And then one day one of his prisoners is found dead, poisoned in his cell. But how was the man poisoned? There are no signs of injection on the body, the man had only eaten and drunk foodstuffs his fellow-prisoners had also eaten/drunk, his prison room was locked and nobody could have entered through the barred window. And as killing of hostages is considered rather rude and it might also endanger an English-French treaty in-the-make, Sir Cranston and brother Athelstan have to work fast to protect England's face.

I have to admit that I know next to nothing of English history. Ancient Rome, Greek, Egypt I have covered. Depending on the period, I'm also comfortable with Chinese and Japanese history. I really have no idea of medieval England, except for the standard images. In fact, the only thing I knew that came even remotely close to the setting of The Devil's Domain was... Discworld. Yes, that was the closest thing I have in my arsenal of random knowledge. But I have to admit: Doherty writes in a pleasant style and he manages to describe the place and period in a way that never feels overwhelming, yet informative enough to avoid falling into the trap of just describing a Generic Medieval England. I could hardly pretend to have become an English history expert by reading this book, but it was certainly educative.

With historical mysteries, the same as with books set in another culture than your own, there is always the problem of how to position the factors of time/culture in your book and what to expect from the reader. Address the topic too lightly and you risk the danger of writing about a Generic Time/Period that is little more than a stereotype. Address the topic too detailed and you risk the danger of being too overwhelming. Footnotes/explanatory notes don't even help that much, as few notes just don't help, while many notes have the tendency to pull the reader out of the actual narrative.

I was less enthusiastic about the impossible poisoning story though. There are some other sub-plots in the story by the way, which were entertaining and tied up nicely with the main story in a Judge Dee-style, but the main puzzle, the poisoning of the prisoners (yes, plural!) in Hawkmere Manor was less satisfying. The set-up is certainly good: Hawkmere Manor forms an excellent (and gloomy) background to the horrifying fact of prisoners not being safe in their cell. But I don't think the solution lives up the set-up. Throughout the story, allusions are made that the poisoning was not possible unless circumstance X is true. Then Sir Cranston and Athelstan have some adventures and at the end of the story, it is revealed that *gasp* circumstance X is true. Not because of an ingeneous trick the murderer came up with or something like that. It is just true. It almost feels like saying that only a ghost could have commited the murder, only to reveal that ghosts exist. It is a whole lot less ridiculous than that and it is only part of the bigger picture, but still, the solution to the puzzle is just not as satisfying as when an actual trick has been used. In fact, there are variations on this solution that actually rely on a trick instead on invoking circumstance X, which are a lot more fun to read (the one that comes up in my mind is one of the short stories in Conan).

I already said that Discworld was pretty much my only point of reference and if we're talking about an impossible poisoning story in Discworld, then we're talking about Feet of Clay, part of the City Watch subseries. And yes, I kept comparing The Devil's Domain with Feet of Clay in my mind as I was reading the first, that was just something that couldn't be avoided. And Feet of Clay is definitely the better impossible poisoning story of the two. It has an awesome trick, smart hinting and it's funnier too. The Devil's Domain is good on a narrative/writing level, but the solution to the main problem is just not nearly as satisfying as that of Feet of Clay.

I might sound very negative, but I did like Paul Doherty's writing style and the setting, so I might try another book in the future (another Brother Athelstan or maybe another series). This is one of those instances where I think I just happened to have picked out the wrong book and that the writer deserves a second chance.